Historic partnership's economic impacts to be felt for generations

Business Journals

25-07-2025

A planned port expansion on the Blair waterway in Tacoma — representing an agreement 40 years in the making and a historic collaboration that is a first between a port and a tribe — adds to the Puyallup Tribe's economic force, setting up generations to come.
'As the first tribally owned deep-water port in the country, it sets an example that can serve to inspire the way other governments, tribes and businesses collaborate,' wrote the Seattle Times editorial board in March. 'And it marks the latest chapter in a comeback for a tribe that, in 1950, had only about 10 families left that still owned U.S. government-assigned allotments in and around the path of the Puyallup River.'
Current Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) Co-Chair and Port of Tacoma Commission President John McCarthy said, 'to be the first major United States port to enter an agreement with a tribal sovereign nation to jointly operate properties on reservation lands' is both a 'dream' come true and a historic 'first.'
Seaport expansion in Tacoma
The Puyallup Tribe and the NWSA, the maritime cargo operating partnership between the ports of Tacoma and Seattle, signed an agreement that roughly outlines a new pier and facility, known as the Puyallup Tribal Terminal, on the East Blair Waterway in Tacoma. This put into words the joint commitment the two entities have for bolstering one of the United States' largest international gateways to the tune of about $200 million.
The tribe will pay for the terminal's construction, as well as ongoing maintenance and repairs, according to the agreement. The tribe will own the terminal and it will be co-managed with the NWSA. The terminal will focus on RoRo (roll-on roll-off) and other breakbulk cargo, like the NWSA's adjacent EB1 terminal.
The terminal, expected to be built in three to five years, will be an economic boon to the Puyallup Tribe. The agreement also includes an employment and developmental program for the tribe.
'This is an investment in the tribe's future,' said Jed Boba, port executive director with the Puyallup Tribal Enterprises. 'This is generational.'
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A long history
The ancestral lands of the Puyallup people were included in the 1854 Medicine Creek Treaty, in which Western Washington tribal leaders ceded to the federal government approximately 2.24 million acres of land. This was the first of many U.S. government acts that would further restrict and define the Puyallup people's land. The Medicine Creek Treaty created the Puyallup Indian Reservation and, among other things, guaranteed fishing and hunting rights in and around that territory.
However, it would take many decades before the U.S. government and Washington state recognized the Puyallup Tribe's rights to the land and fishing and hunting rights. In the 1960s and '70s, fishing rights came to a head during the 'Fishing Wars,' in which members and supporters — including celebrities — were arrested for fishing on the Puyallup River. A federal ruling in 1974, known as the Boldt decision, upheld and reaffirmed the rights of tribes to fish on and around their lands, including the Puyallup Tribe. Several other key court cases solidified the tribe's fishing rights.
In 1984, the Puyallup Tribe filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming ownership of land that was occupied by the Port of Tacoma and the Union Pacific Railroad, challenging the ownership of the Tacoma waterfront, which, at the time, was valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Through negotiations, the federal and state governments, local municipalities, the Port of Tacoma and the tribe reached the Puyallup Land Claims Settlement in the late '80s. The settlement, valued at $161.8 million, resulted in the transfer to the tribe, among other things, a parcel of land on the Blair Waterway, which is where the new pier and terminal will be built.
McCarthy, who began his career as a Port of Tacoma commissioner and was involved in the negotiations throughout the late '80s, saw it as the first phase to working hand-in-hand with the Puyallup Tribe.
Fred Felleman, NWSA Managing Member and Port of Seattle Commissioner, said that the agreement reached in March to expand the Blair waterway is part of a 'shared future' with the tribe.
The agreement will allow the Northwest Seaport Alliance to expand cargo capacity and create jobs, said Don Esterbrook, Deputy CEO of the NWSA.