Tulalips look to extend protection of Camano Island site

The Tulalip Tribes are hoping to expand historic protection of what they say is an ancient fishing village and burial ground on the southwest side of Camano Island where the state plans to open a state park next year.

The Tribes have nominated Cama Beach for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. Tulalip Chairman Mel Sheldon said the designation would give more protection to what the Tribes believe is a 2,000-year-old Coast Salish midden and village.

"This is a part of our history. We don't have a lot of spots that tell us who we are as a people," Sheldon said.

But the Washington state Parks Department, which is renovating a former fishing resort at the site and adding a 15-room lodge, dining hall and interpretive facilities, says the resort is already on the National Register. And the state's development plans for the park were significantly modified in response to tribal concerns, said Parks spokeswoman Virginia Painter.

"The Tribes' new request extends the historic designation to areas we were planning to leave untouched," Painter said. Cama Beach State Park is scheduled to open in May.

The state acquired the 430-acre Camano Island fishing resort and surrounding property in 1994. The collection of 50 waterfront cabins and associated buildings operated from the 1930s through 1989. The state estimates the project will cost about $39 million, including land acquisition, development and construction.

But that level of commercial activity alarms the Tulalips. Although they reached an agreement regarding development of the site in 2002, the bones of four Native Americans were unearthed in 2005.

Archaeologists have also uncovered tools and other artifacts. Sheldon said historical accounts also show as many as 22 Indian remains were found when the resort was first built.

The Tulalips said they want greater buffers between ancient burial sites and public park spaces as well as restricted public access to the northern portion of the park, where most remains have been found.

The fishing resort is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but the ancient Indian village is not. A Superior Court judge in 2006 denied the Tribes' request to stop renovation at the park pending further archaeological analysis.

As a result of negotiations with the Tribes, the state parks department agreed to put the new lodge and dining hall to a hill above the resort. Painter said the agency has also agreed to dig shallow trenches for utilities into the cabins and to eliminate all development on the north portion where the Native American remains were found.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com