LAPUSH — Quileute representatives have sweetened the tribe’s offer in an effort to acquire higher ground currently within Olympic National Park.
The tribe is now offering that it will give up claims to Rialto Beach and promising permanent access to Second Beach if the park offers them enough land to meet their needs.
Although the tribe has previously offered to give up claims to Rialto Beach, which provides access to the breakwater, the promise to keep access to Second Beach open is a new negotiating issue.
Paul Seiwell, the tribe’s legal representative, said the park has yet to make a firm offer on a potential land swap.
The Second Beach amendment was included in a press release issued by the tribe on Friday regarding its tsunami drill.
The two sites are popular tourist destinations and offer some of the most spectacular views on the Washington coast.
No comment from park
On Friday, Olympic National Parks spokeswoman Barb Maynes said negotiations between the park and Quileute tribe are ongoing.
Calls to park Superintendent Bill Laitner on Saturday for reaction to the tribe’s Second Beach offer were not immediately returned.
If the national park accepts the tribe’s newest offer, it could end a more than 50-year dispute over the northern boundary of the reservation at Rialto Beach, and provide higher land for the tribe to move the center of its village out of a tsunami zone.
The tribe proposed in its original land swap offer to give up claim to Rialto Beach for higher ground about a year ago after witnessing the devastation caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.