The people of the lummi nation are strongly connected to their cultural and traditional foodsincluding animals, berries, birds, fish, plants, and shellfish that physically and spirituallysustain…

The people of the lummi nation are strongly connected to their cultural and traditional foodsincluding animals, berries, birds, fish, plants, and shellfish that physically and spirituallysustain them as people. Disease spread amongst these important wildlife species is a direct threatto the lummi community, their way of life, and their goal to maintain and defend treaty rights, including hunting and fishing within traditional hunting and gathering areas. The wildlife divisionwas recently added to the lummi natural resources (LNR) department with the goal of furtherdefending and protecting treaty rights related to wildlife, hunting, and gathering. In order toproperly manage wildlife amongst current and future climate conditions, IT is important toincorporate plans for monitoring, testing, and responding to wildlife disease for the protection ofthe wildlife species and the people that are sustained by this wildlife. The plans should alsoinclude adaptation strategies as wildlife disease spread may increase with climate changeconditions. Wildlife diseases like adenovirus hemorrhagic disease (AHD) and treponeme associatedhoof disease (tahd) are already present in deer and ELK populations in northwest washington andwill likely continue to spread and grow more prevalent within these species, threatening populationhealth and sustainability. Now there is an added concern that chronic wasting disease (CWD) is fastapproaching washington and could soon be impacting local wild cervids as IT has in many otherstates and provinces. The potential zoonotic disease threat of these wildlife diseases to humanshas not yet been proven, but monitoring and research is being conducted to more confidentiallyidentify the zoonotic threat of wildlife disease within significant wildlife species utilized bytribes for subsistence, cultural and spiritual purposes. The time to be prepared for wildlifedisease and potential zoonotic impacts is now and that s why building the structure and foundationfor managing, researching, monitoring, responding and educating about wildlife disease is crucialfor all wildlife programs to best manage wildlife species and sustain communities for generationsto come.