zis a ba: A Big Song for Restoration
Wetland restoration efforts at zis a ba III will have significant impact on nearby Indigenous communities and support reestablishing Stillaguamish land sovereignty.
Leah Palmer, TNC; Sam Barr, Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians Cultural Resources/THPO Supervisor
ləhigʷalikʷ is the Lushootseed word describing the creative activity of making something big. It is often used to honor, lift up or give reverence. As 2023 came to a close, The Nature Conservancy in Washington came alongside the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians in the spirit of ləhigʷalikʷ by offering a significant award in support of reacquiring lands that neighbors TNC’S Port Susan Bay Preserve.
The Tribe’s 537 acre purchase, called zis a ba III, is the center puzzle piece connecting zis a ba I and II to its north and south, respectively. TNC’s Port Susan Bay property abuts the Tribe’s zis a ba II to its east. Both TNC and the Tribe identify these lands and waters as critical for Chinook salmon populations, co-stewarding habitat restoration of tidal wetlands together. These efforts will have significant impact on nearby Indigenous communities along the North Puget Sound. Furthermore, reconnecting these waterways supports reestablishing Stillaguamish land sovereignty.
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Read Our CommitmentOn November 2, 2023, TNC gathered with the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians for a gifting ceremony to celebrate. The ceremony took place in the Tribe’s beautiful council chambers, where a full council and cultural staff joined to sing and drum a big song with a big sentiment: ləhigʷalikʷ. Sam Barr, Stillaguamish Cultural Resources Supervisor introduced the singers by saying, “today is a big day that we want to celebrate and lift up” in reverence. Then, each person present gave a greeting and introduction.
The Stillaguamish Cultural Department representatives were present for this ceremony to honor TNC for the meaningful gift and to show the resilient cultural spirit of the Stillaguamish, which is still carried on in the next generation. The ceremony, however, is not just for the living, and an explanation for the reason to celebrate was voiced in the traditional dxʷləšucid (Lushootseed) language so ancestors of this place could hear and understand.
TNC Executive leadership, trustees and staff met with the Stillaguamish Board of Directors, Tribal members and staff to express mutual gratitude for the latest milestone in an ongoing partnership rooted in healing. As TNC humbly acknowledged the lasting impact of colonization—which not only harmed Indigenous peoples but also deteriorated landscapes—the Stillaguamish Tribe expressed appreciation for TNC’s generous support towards raising the $4.6 million needed to purchase the zis a ba III property.
Restoring and Reconnecting to Place
An estuary is a crucial place of biodiversity, with salt and fresh waters mixing to host a variety of species. It is where calm, productive waters allow juvenile salmon to feed on the abundant prey produced in the tidal wetlands. Traditionally, these lands play a crucial role in supporting Stillaguamish identity by serving as a physical, cultural and spiritual connection to their heritage. The estuary provides a sense of place and continuity, reinforcing the Tribe’s community and unique practices.
Before European colonization, tribal villages were situated nearby the estuary, as it was a place of significant biodiversity. After the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliot, Indigenous peoples living along the Stillaguamish River were removed from their traditional lands and relocated to reservations. The Stillaguamish were asked to relocate to the nearby Tulalip reservation, yet many stayed and continued to live along the river.
There are villages and camp sites up and down the Stillaguamish River and all over the delta. Stillaguamish people found a way to stay close to home in order to protect those places by making a hard choice to not follow others to the Reservation during those dark and confusing times. There is an obligation of protecting the ancestors and their places that could only be fulfilled if they stayed home.
Misinterpretations of the 1855 treaty significantly damaged the Stillaguamish people’s ability to hunt, fish and gather traditional foods and materials. In 1974, Judge Boldt reaffirmed the Tribes’ treaty rights in the landmark case known as U.S. v. Washington. Five generations after the Treaty, the Stillaguamish Tribe finally gained an invitation to fish in the estuary once again. However, the land was not as they managed it 129 years before.
Mercedes MacCurdy, a Stillaguamish Indigenous Plants Specialist, expresses a mixture of emotions regarding the return of lands to the Tribe for environmental protection. "We have to buy it back," she says, with resignation intertwined with pride. "I’m proud of my Tribe for finding ways—such as partnering—to reclaim our ancestral lands and restore them to the healthy state they should have always been in." As stewards of these lands for millennia, she believes it is their duty to strategically restore key areas of the Salish Sea and its surrounding rivers, bearing the weight of repairing the damage inflicted upon their ancestral territories.
The Stillaguamish River Basin, especially sections immediately surrounding The Nature Conservancy’s Port Susan Bay Preserve, was transformed over the last hundred years by European farming practices, including habitat alterations like dikes, which hold back the river and tides. These dikes allowed farmers to drain the water off the land and grow a variety of introduced crops, like corn, peas, potatoes and other plants for seed.
Kadi Bizyayeva, Stillaguamish Tribal member and Fisheries Director, says, "While our local farmers provide an important economic component to this state, The Tribe likes to say that by restoring salmon habitat we’re farming a different type of crop—one that sustained our people since time immemorial." Thus, TNC in partnership with the Stillaguamish, are deeply motivated to restore the habitat for keystone species and diversify the crops produced by the Stillaguamish delta. The work of diversifying food production will take time.
Jason Griffith, Environmental Manager, Stillaguamish Tribe, says this acquisition is, “the first step towards linking all of the phases of the project into one continuous expanse of tidal wetland habitat for the benefit of the traditional foods of the Stillaguamish people. In the coming year the Tribe will start the work of designing the zis a ba III tidal wetland restoration project. This design and permitting process will take several years, during which the Tribe will continue to lease the land to local farmers for the production of European crops. Once funds are secured to construct the zis a ba III project, the Tribe will pivot to farming new crops at zis a ba III.”
TNC preserve stewards and scientists estimate it would take this restoration area roughly 80 years to naturally restore itself after the degradation that resulted from European farming practices. Though the Earth is capable of restoring itself, both TNC land stewards and the Stillaguamish Tribe’s Natural Resources Department are working to gently accelerate habitat restoration.
Within a respectful partnership with the Stillaguamish and Tulalip Tribes, TNC scientists and land stewards are taking an adaptive approach to climate change, recently using amphibious excavators to deconstruct dikes and dig new water channels that will soon connect Port Susan Bay Preserve to zis a ba.
Sharing an aligned vision for the future of the estuary, this partnership is ripe for healing both the land and establishing right relations—putting the Stillaguamish back in a position of sovereignty, protected by treaty rights.
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