Honoring a Commitment to Land and Water Stewardship on Snoqualmie Rights Day

October 6 marks an historic day for Oxbow’s partners at the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe. Snoqualmie Rights Day commemorates the anniversary of the Tribe’s 1999 victory in obtaining full federal recognition as a sovereign Tribal Nation, 144 years after their ancestors signed the Treaty of Point Elliott with the United States in 1855.

This day also honors the legacy of the Tribal leaders and community members who came together to advocate for Tribal recognition and civil rights, and encourages us to amplify the Tribe’s ongoing fight to protect its sacred connections to its ancestral lands, Snoqualmie Falls, and the Snoqualmie River.

The Snoqualmie River provides an important point of connection to culture and the generations that came before. With the river flowing around three sides of our site, Oxbow is honored to work alongside the Tribe to steward this cultural waterway through our riparian habitat restoration and salmon-safe, agroecological farming practices.

Native plants integrated along the edges of Oxbow’s fields attract pollinators and promote agricultural production.
Oxbow’s Kids’ Farm pollinator strip in bloom

One day each July, we also have the pleasure of welcoming the Snoqualmie Tribe Canoe Journey Family as they travel the river from the Snoqualmie Valley out to Puget Sound to join dozens of other Indigenous Peoples in an annual inter-tribal celebration.

Oxbow hosts a rest stop on the banks of the Snoqualmie River midway between Carnation and Duvall. We watch for the canoe pullers (called so because of the pulling motion of the paddle) to come around the bend in the river and welcome them with shade, sandwiches, and snacks. This early afternoon break also offers an opportunity for fresh pullers (rolling up riverside in a support van) to rotate into the canoes, providing a rest for those who pulled through the morning.

Snoqualmie Tribe Canoe Journey Family members and Oxbow staff
Canoe Journey pullers heading down the Snoqualmie River

At Oxbow and other stops along the way, the Canoe Journey Family shares its gratitude to its hosts with gifts of beautiful beaded jewelry or traditional medicines like arnica salve. The pullers’ ultimate destination varies from one year to the next as Tribal Nations rotate hosting the inter-tribal gathering, with the 2026 Canoe Journey culminating in the Paddle to Nisqually Medicine Creek Potlatch.

Working to restore riparian habitat and monitor water quality is essential for the health of the Snoqualmie River and an important way to balance the needs and honor the relationship between the many living things that depend on it—including people. As we mark Snoqualmie Rights Day, Oxbow is grateful to join the Tribe in this work.

Learn more about the Snoqualmie Tribe’s river restoration efforts and Oxbow’s on-site conservation work and year-round volunteer opportunities.