The Tribe’s purchase of  the Salish Lodge and Spa and sacred land alongside to sacred Snoqualmie Falls marks a hard-fought victory for the Snoqualmie People.

 

Historic Purchase Marks Victory After Generations of Activism

The Snoqualmie Tribe has spent decades fighting to protect our most sacred site from development, and finally this dream has been realized. The Snoqualmie Tribe is grateful and honored to be able to make this purchase, which so perfectly aligns with our Tribal values and allows us to protect our sacred lands. The Falls is a world-renowned attraction, drawing an estimated 2 million visitors every year. The Snoqualmie Tribe will continue to care for the Falls for all people, for all time.

Since the beginning of time when the Transformer changed the world to a home for the people, the Snoqualmie People have been the Spiritual Stewards of Snoqualmie Falls and its surrounding lands. This area was given to the people to take care of and to gain nourishment from, both physical and spiritual.

The Snoqualmie Tribe is deeply grateful for the sacrifices made by our ancestors and elders who safeguarded our heritage and ensured that we had the economic stability to make this purchase. We are proud to continue this inherited sacred duty and share this place of cultural significance for the millions of people who visit each year and feel that special connection. 

 

Snoqualmie People Reclaim Sacred Land

The purchase of 45 acres of sacred land by the Snoqualmie Tribe means that for the first time in generations, the Snoqualmie People will legally own our ancestral land, and have full control over what takes place there.  

The purchase ensures that the site of the Tribe’s creation history, Snoqualmie Falls, will remain protected and available for future generations to experience its power and significance.

The purchase also halts a planned development that would have disturbed generations of Snoqualmie ancestors in their final resting places.

 

Snoqualmie Tribe’s Purchase Permanently Halts Planned Development

Exactly one year after the City of Snoqualmie approved the development of up to 210 homes, 182-room hotel, and a convention center, on land sacred to the Snoqualmie People, the Snoqualmie Tribe has become the legal owner of that land, permanently stopping the development from moving forward. The Tribe has been protesting the development since 2012, as the planned development would have desecrated ancestral burial grounds and degraded one of the most significant cultural sites in the Pacific Northwest.

In 2015, the Snoqualmie Tribe launched the Save Snoqualmie Falls campaign, with the goal of stopping irresponsible and unjust development on sacred Snoqualmie land. The Snoqualmie people have never stopped fighting to reclaim land that is rightfully ours, and with this purchase we are finally able to permanently protect this sacred site from irresponsible development.

The Snoqualmie Tribe is proud to stop irresponsible development and the Snoqualmie people will continue to be the stewards of the entire Snoqualmie Falls area. Our stewardship of this land is a duty we have inherited from our ancestors, and which we will pass on to future generations.

A historic victory for a Seattle-area tribe is a win in the fight for justice for Indigenous people.

 

Historic Purchase Marks Win for Indigenous Peoples

This purchase is truly unique. The Snoqualmie Tribe is proud to use its economic resources to reclaim land that holds significant cultural and spiritual history.

The Snoqualmie people have cared for this area since time immemorial. Like indigenous people around the globe, we have had to watch as unjust development destroys our sacred land. Today marks the end of the destruction for at least one of those sacred sites, and a monumental success for the Snoqualmie people and other indigenous peoples around the world.

  

Snoqualmie Victory Adds to Momentum of Indigenous Rights Movements

Across the globe, indigenous people are standing up to advocate for policies and actions which allow them to legally protect the land that is rightfully theirs. The Snoqualmie Tribe is honored to stand in solidarity with these movements, and share this significant victory with all indigenous people, as we strive for the justice we deserve.

The reclamation of the Falls and its surrounding sacred land isn’t just a significant success for the Snoqualmie people. It is emblematic of the broader movement towards a more just society for the world’s indigenous communities.

The Snoqualmie Tribe will continue to use its resources to exercise our sovereignty and cultural values in the region and to stand beside our fellow indigenous people across the globe. Whether it’s the Sioux tribe protecting their precious land and water at Standing Rock, native Hawiians preserving their most sacred mountain Mauna Kea, or the coalition of tribal nations standing up to threats at the Bears Ears National Monument, we are honored to be a part of this group of inspiring, brave indigenous activists.

 

Snoqualmie Supports Efforts to Pass Sacred Sites Legislation in Congress

We are committed to helping all native people experience the victory of reclaiming their sacred land, and we are asking our friends to join us in supporting sacred lands legislation in Congress. These sacred sites must be protected from the irresponsible development which threatens them every day, and we will continue to work toward that goal.

Snoqualmie stands with other indigenous people around the world in the mission to protect and preserve culturally sensitive sites with which we are one. We are not separate from the lands, and what happens to our lands, happens to us. Indigenous communities have been, and will always be, the best stewards of their lands.