"Tribes win ruling on salmon"

Robert McClure writing in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on a decision in a major federal case concerning salmon and the problem of culverts.

"The state has breached its duties to Indian tribes under treaties dating to the 1850s by failing to maintain the road system, cutting off salmon from spawning grounds and robbing tribes of fish they were promised, a federal judge in Seattle ruled Wednesday. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez puts the state under the gun for tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars' worth of repairs to culverts, the pipes that carry streams below roads."