HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2025-4634
HR 4634
By Representatives Lekanoff, Stearns, Wylie, Timmons, Bronoske, Leavitt, Pollet, Ryu, Thomas, Mena, Rule, Zahn, Taylor, Goodman, Reeves, Cortes, Ortiz-Self, Duerr, Salahuddin, Parshley, Obras, Fosse, Doglio, Santos, Bernbaum, Nance, Thai, Barkis, Jinkins, Fey, Paul, Macri, and Dent
WHEREAS, In memory of what would have been Billy Frank Jr.'s 94th birthday, we honor a man whose steadfast beliefs and actions led to the reaffirmation of treaty rights across the land. Known as an architect of consensus solutions, he brought people together with genuine respect endeavoring to find resolution for the good of all people in order to protect and cultivate salmon and their natural surroundings; and
WHEREAS, Binding promises made by the United States acknowledged, through treaties, the rights of tribes to take fish "at all usual and accustomed stations," and "in common with the citizens of the territory" of Washington; and
WHEREAS, Frank's father, Willie, and his predecessors, lived in a time of abundance, with strong salmon runs and plentiful clams, oysters, geoducks, wild berries, and camas roots; and
WHEREAS, Born on March 9, 1931, to Willie Sr. and Angeline Frank, Frank Jr., a member of the Nisqually Tribe, was raised in the tradition of his ancestors, with stories of the land, the river, the salmon runs, and the art of preserving fish; and
WHEREAS, Frank grew up on six acres along the banks of the Nisqually River in Thurston County. Known as Frank's Landing, the property was purchased after the Nisqually people were driven from their reservation during the development of the Fort Lewis Army Base in 1917; and
WHEREAS, At the age of 14, Frank began what became a lifetime of advocacy, leadership, and statesmanship. In 1945, he protested his arrest by two game wardens, simply for fishing on the Nisqually River near his family's property. He would spend his lifetime challenging the state and nation to live up to its promises; and
WHEREAS, In 1952, at age 21, Frank fulfilled a dream to join the Marines, proudly serving in the Marine Corps for two years as an expert marksman; and
WHEREAS, Treaty rights were increasingly eroded during Frank's lifetime through commercial and recreational fishing by nontribal actors and unjust state regulations and aggressive policing of tribal fishing. This, combined with expansive growth, construction, property development, and pollution, further depleted the plentiful salmon and other natural resources that had traditionally sustained tribal people in Washington; and
WHEREAS, By the mid 1960's Frank's Landing was a focal point for the assertion of treaty rights and tribal sovereignty. Over the next decade, Washington State would raid, arrest, and campaign against the fishing rights of Pacific Northwest tribes; and