SWINOMISH PLACE-BASED SCIENCE, CULTURE, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: AN INDIGENOUS APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE ISSUES

The Swinomish People have long-standing traditions of protecting, honoring, and thanking Mother Earth for the gifts that nourish our People. These relationships between the People and their natural environment are central to Swinomish culture and sustaining environmental health is critical to maintain them. While some of our work is directed at addressing immediate and specific environmental or ecological concerns, our objectives focus on the long-view of sustaining Swinomish culture. We use the place-based knowledge and Indigenous science (e.g., Traditional Ecological Knowledge) of our ancestors combined with scientific research to develop innovative ways to protect our resources not just for ourselves now but for the next seven generations. Ancestral Knowledges from our Elders are used and protected through data stewardship and sovereignty practices, which uphold honorable community engagement and strengthens the connections between Swinomish culture and Traditional language to our lands, environment, and Treaty-reserved rights. Such Knowledge facilitates Tribally designed and led placed-based science, research, management, and habitat restoration on the Swinomish Reservation and allows us to bring Swinomish- specific Indigenous science curriculum to the Tribal youth in the Community. For Swinomish, it is not enough to simply work for the survival of a species or habitat: we strive to protect and preserve resources and their place in Swinomish culture.