QIN announces closure of tribal land to visitors

The Quinault Indian Nation has announced that tribal land is closed to visitors until further notice. 

In a notice from President Fawn Sharp, she shared the action looks to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. 

The Quinault Indian Reservation is closed and will now be operating under restricted access until further notice.

Access is restricted to:

• All village residents;
• Quinault Tribal Members;
• QIN Government Employees and Enterprise Personnel
• Delivery, Postal, Food Service, and other pre-approved agency personnel 

This closure would not impact businesses on tribal trust lands such as the Quinault Beach Resort & Casino and Q-Mart locations.

President Sharp issued a separate statement that acknowledged that since because both Hwy 109 and Hwy 101 are state highways, the QIN cannot close the roads, although they had been in talks with  WSDOT regarding signage to limit access to local traffic only.

 

 This closure  is in addition to the government shutdown that starts today. 

Through March 27, Quinault Indian Nation will close its operations, with the expectation of continuing essential government services, to protect our citizens and employees from the spread of COVID-19.

 Essential services will be identified by Division Directors, who will notify staff if they have been deemed essential. If you have questions, please go through your chain of command and ask your supervisor.

 Essential staff who do not report to work and who have not been excused by their Division Director as high risk, will not be afforded Emergency Leave and may be subject to disciplinary action.

 President Sharp says;

“This crisis affects the Nation and its citizens in ways many never anticipated. News stories appear everyday describing the risks the pandemic is having not only to our health but also to our finances, work and school schedules, the availability of necessary supplies, and many other aspects. It’s easy to feel uneasy.

But it’s important to remember we now have a team in place to address all the different ways this crisis impacts our Nation and its citizens. We are expanding our communications network and regularly updating our website.

In addition, we have established a text message notification system that you can sign up for to receive rapid and real-time announcements from the Nation.

 We understand our citizens look to the Nation for reassurance, stability and predictability. Although we are in new and uncharted territory, our Incident Response Team is proactively investigating and confronting each new development, safeguarding and protecting both Quinault Nation interests and its citizens.”