Swinomish reservation expansion plan draws county ire

Skagit County has objected to a request by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community to turn an Anacortes gas station into reservation land.

Swinomish purchased the Shell gas station on Christianson Road in Anacortes for $1 million in May, according to county records. It is located across the street from the tribe’s Swinomish Links golf course and is more than a mile west of the Swinomish Reservation.

Late last month the county was notified that Swinomish had applied to the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs to put the Shell station into trust for the tribe.

When tha...