WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved land-exchange legislation today that would allow the Quileute tribe to move its headquarters, school, day care center and elder center out of a tsunami zone and ensure unfettered public access to popular beaches along Washington’s coast.
In the first step toward final approval, the legislation, approved 381-7 late Monday afternoon, would give the tribe 785 acres of Olympic National Park in return for the Quileute ensuring access to Rialto, Second and other stunning beaches that skirt the coast but which are reached by trails that pass through tribal land.
The legislation includes the transfer of 492 acres of parkland at the northern part of the reservation to the tribe, ending a half-century boundary dispute with Olympic National Park.
“This resolves all that outstanding controversy,” said George Behan, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, a Belfair Democrat whose district includes Clallam and Jefferson counties and who sponsored HR 1162.
A similar bill co-sponsored by Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, and Patty Murray, D-Bothell, awaits Senate approval.
“The Senate does understand the immediacy,” Behan said Monday. “We expect it to move this spring.”