The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, also known as the Swinomish Tribe, is a federally recognized Tribe located on

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, United States."Who We Are."
''Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.'' Retrieved 15 Sept 2013. They are an

Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are composed of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities. They share certain beliefs, traditions and practices, such as the centrality of sal ...

that includes the Central and Coast Salish peoples who lived in the

Samish The Samish are a Native American people who live in the U.S. state of Washington. They are a Central Coast Salish people. Through the years, they were assigned to reservations dominated by other Tribes, for instance, the Swinomish Indians of th ...

and

Skagit River The Skagit River ( ) is a river in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington in the United States, approximately 150 mi (240 km) long. The river and its tributaries drain an area of 1.7 million acres (690,000& ...

valleys, nearby coasts, and islands. The Tribe's population includes

Swinomish The Swinomish are an historically Lushootseed-speaking Native American people in western Washington state in the United States. The Tribe lives in the southeastern part of Fidalgo Island in northern Puget Sound, near the San Juan Islands, in ...

Lower Skagit The Lower Skagit (sometimes called Whidbey Island Skagits) are a tribe of the Lushootseed Native American people living in the U.S. state of Washington. Today they are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe, the Swinomish Indians of the Swin ...

Upper Skagit The Upper Skagit Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in the state of Washington. Before European colonization, the tribe occupied lands along the Skagit River, from as far downstream as present-day Mount Vernon, Wa ...

, Kikiallus, and

peoples.

Reservation

The Swinomish Reservation is located on Puget Sound, on the southeastern side of

Fidalgo Island Fidalgo Island is an island in Skagit County, Washington, located about north of Seattle. To the east, it is separated from the mainland by the Swinomish Channel, and from Whidbey Island to the south by Deception Pass. The island is named af ...

Skagit County, Washington Skagit County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,523. The county seat and largest city is Mount Vernon. The county was formed in 1883 from Whatcom County and is named for the Skagit I ...

. It was established in 1855 by the

Treaty of Point Elliot The Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855, or the Point Elliott Treaty,—also known as Treaty of Point Elliot (with one ''t'') / Point Elliott Treaty—is the lands settlement treaty between the United States government and the Native American tribes ...

. The reservation is square miles in area, including of upland and of tidelands. The Seattle and Northern Railroad Company constructed a rail line over the reservation in 1889 without permission. The line is operated by BNSF Railway under a 1991 easement agreement. According to the 2000 census, the resident population of 2,664 persons, with 23 percent being of full Native American ancestry. Prominent sites on the Swinomish Reservation include: * Swadabs Park, on

Swinomish Channel The Swinomish Channel is an long salt-water channel in Washington state, United States, which connects Skagit Bay to the south, and Padilla Bay to the north, separating Fidalgo Island from mainland Skagit County. The Swinomish Channel is the s ...

: The park features three pavilions resembling woven cedar hats, interpretive panels, and a native plant garden. The park was developed for the 2011 Canoe Journey/Paddle to Swinomish. Canoe races also take place here in the channel. * Kukutali Preserve: the first Tribal State Park in the history of the United States to be co-owned and jointly managed by a federally recognized Native Nation and a state government. The preserve is entirely on the Swinomish Reservation and encompasses 83 acres spanning three islands, with more than two miles of natural shoreline, and is adjacent to 38 acres of Swinomish-owned tidelands.

Government

The Tribe's headquarters is in Swinomish Village. The Tribe drafted its constitution and by-laws in 1936, following the Indian Reorganization Act, which encouraged Tribes to re-establish self-government. Swinomish is governed by a democratically elected, 11-member Senate; members serve staggered five-year-terms. Cladoosby has served as chairman since 1997, succeeding Robert W. Joe, who was elected chairman in 1978. In October 2015, Cladoosby was elected to a second term as president of the

National Congress of American Indians The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilati ...

, the fourth Native American leader from Washington state to serve in that position. Craig Bill, Swinomish, is director of the Governor's Office of Indian Affairs. Janie Beasley, Swinomish, is a member of the La Conner School Board. The Swinomish Medical Center provides healthcare services for local Native Americans. Opened in 2000, the clinic building also houses a fitness center and diabetes program."Swinomish Tribe."
''Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board.'' Retrieved 16 Sept 2013. A dental clinic is located nearby.

Culture

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is commonly spoken by Tribal members. Some elders speak

(also known as Skagit), a

Lushootseed language Lushootseed (txʷəlšucid, dxʷləšúcid), also Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish or Skagit-Nisqually, is a language made up of a dialect continuum of several Salish tribes of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is one of the Coast Salis ...

that is part of the Central Salish language family. Some also spoke

, another Central Salish language. The Swinomish traditionally cultivated

clam garden A clam garden (k’yuu kudhlk’aat’iija in the Haida language, lux̌ʷxiwēys in the Kwakʼwala language) is a traditional Indigenous management system used principally by Coast Salish peoples. Clam gardens are a form of mariculture, where F ...

s and are reviving the practice to build

climate resilience Climate resilience is defined as the "capacity of social, economic and ecosystems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance".IPCC, 2022Summary for Policymakers .-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, M. Tignor, ...

Global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and its effects, such as

ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the reduction in the pH value of the Earth’s ocean. Between 1751 and 2021, the average pH value of the ocean surface has decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14. The root cause of ocean acidification is carbon dioxid ...

, affect the development of shells of marine animals vital to Swinomish food supply. As such, the Swinomish consider Indigenous health indicators a metric of climate change.

Economic development

The Swinomish Tribe owns and operates the Swinomish Casino & Lodge, overlooking Padilla Bay; Swinomish Golf Links, nearby on Highway 20; Swinomish RV Park, on Swinomish Channel; Swinomish Fish Co., which processes and cans salmon marketed worldwide under the "Native Catch" label; and two Chevron stations and convenient stores."Swinomish Casino & Lodge."
''500 Nations.'' Retrieved 16 Sept 2013.

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

External links

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
official website {{authority control Coast Salish governments Native American tribes in Washington (state) Geography of Skagit County, Washington Federally recognized tribes in the United States Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast