The Snoqualmie Indian Tribal Council has designated the Snoqualmie River as a Cultural Waterway to ensure the proper regulation and management of the River and to preserve and protect it for generations to come.
The Tribe has determined that waterways within its ancestral homelands are in need of protection and restoration to ensure the continuance of Snoqualmie Tribal cultural practices handed down through time from one generation to the next. Increasing demands for water that exceed the natural water supply are causing adverse impacts upon the Tribe’s sovereign rights and interests and the resources of the Snoqualmie People. Critical conditions associated with climate change – from drought to flood – are worsening and pose a serious threat to all the ecosystems and communities within the waterway.
“The Snoqualmie Tribe commits to take such action as is necessary, including the knowledge learned from our ancestors, to protect and restore our Cultural Waterways for the benefit of future generations,” says Chairman Robert M. de los Angeles. “Water is among the most valuable and fragile of the cultural and natural resources of the Snoqualmie People sdukʷalbixʷ and the presence of abundant clean water in lakes, streams, and rivers in the Snoqualmie watershed is of paramount importance to the Tribe,” he continued.
“The Tribe has inherent sovereign authority, confirmed in the Tribe’s Constitution, to protect its cultural resources and practices, as well as the health and welfare of Tribal members reliant upon cultural waterways,” said Professor Monte Mills, Director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington Law School. “The Tribe’s forward-looking request for cooperation to find solutions for sharing the limited and diminishing water resources on which we all depend is to be applauded.”
The Tribal Council’s Resolution designates as a priority Cultural Waterway the 45-mile Snoqualmie River, its tributaries and all its associated waters, including but not limited to Snoqualmie Falls, the Tribe’s most sacred site.
Read the full Resolution here: View Resolution in PDF Format
The Snoqualmie Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Known as the People of the Moon, Snoqualmie were signatories to the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855. For more information, visit www.snoqualmietribe.us
