TNC Government management, trustees and employees met with the Stillaguamish Board of Administrators, Tribal members and employees to precise mutual gratitude for the newest milestone in an ongoing partnership rooted in therapeutic. As TNC humbly acknowledged the lasting impression of colonization—which not solely harmed Indigenous peoples but in addition deteriorated landscapes—the Stillaguamish Tribe expressed appreciation for TNC’s beneficiant assist in direction of elevating the 4.6 million {dollars} wanted to buy the zis a ba III property.
Restoring and Reconnecting to Place
An estuary is an important place of biodiversity, with salt and contemporary waters mixing to host a wide range of species. It’s the place calm, productive waters permit juvenile salmon to feed on the considerable prey produced within the tidal wetlands. Historically, these lands play a vital function in supporting Stillaguamish id by serving as a bodily, cultural and non secular connection to their heritage. The estuary gives a way of place and continuity, reinforcing the Tribe’s group and distinctive practices.
Earlier than European colonization, tribal villages have been located close by the estuary, because it was a spot of great biodiversity. After the 1855 Treaty of Level Elliot, Indigenous peoples residing alongside the Stillaguamish River have been faraway from their conventional lands and relocated to reservations. The Stillaguamish have been requested to relocate to the close by Tulalip reservation, but many stayed and continued to dwell alongside the river.
There are villages and camp websites up and down the Stillaguamish River and all around the delta. Stillaguamish folks discovered a method to keep near residence so as to defend these locations by making a tough option to not comply with others to the Reservation throughout these darkish and complicated instances. There’s an obligation of defending the ancestors and their locations that would solely be fulfilled in the event that they stayed residence.
