With more than 10 feet of rain per year, a river that often changes its mind and an ocean constantly gnawing at the land, the remote Hoh Indian Reservation on the Olympic Peninsula is familiar with water. Situated on a breathtaking one-square-mile of land where the Hoh River meets the Pacific, the reservation is threatened from all sides. It has been repeatedly inundated by the river while tsunamis have occasionally swallowed the land as well. (Most of the reservation is in the flood plain and tsunami zone.) Proof of that, the tribal office is permanently surrounded by sandbags; this winter, tribal members filled about 7,000 of them. But that's down from 10,000 in recent years. However, after a long wait, hope appears to be on the way.

A bill in Congress would allow the tribe to move to higher ground. The key is a 37-acre parcel of land overseen by Olympic National Park that would be transferred to the tribe. It's a previously logged tract that already has a road through it. That piece of land would allow the tribe to connect to another 400 acres farther inland that it partly purchased from a logging company and partly received in transfer from the state. The tribe's 133 residents would then rebuild on this higher ground, out of the flood plain and away from the tsunami zone.

Tribal leaders recently lobbied Congress for passage of a bill that would push the land transfer forward. The House's sponsor, Congressman Norm Dicks, tells me he expects the bill to pass once it gets a committee hearing. While land transfers can be complicated and sometimes controversial, it appears an eye toward public safety will carry the day -- and carry the Hoh to higher ground.

It also means Mary Leitka's abandoned childhood home will fall into even greater disrepair. Even though the structure is in an especially flood-prone area of the reservation, Leitka hoped it might be refurbished and used as a drum house. That looks less likely should the tribe move up farther inland. "It has a lot of memories and I don't want to let it go," she said as tears welled in her eyes. But for her fellow tribal members to thrive, they need to move away from where the land gives and the water takes.