Swinomish Tribe builds US’s first modern ‘clam garden,' reviving ancient practice

By the time you read this story, what it describes will probably have disappeared beneath the waves.

That’s how it was meant to be — and how it used to be.

Since time immemorial, as the saying goes, people in what is now Washington and British Columbia farmed the sea with a type of environmental engineering called clam gardening.

Around the time Europeans showed up here, the practice was lost.

“It was stolen from us,” said Swinomish Tribal Senator Alana Quintasket. “All of our teachings, all of our practices, our connections to this place, our connections to each other, our connections to all living things was stolen from us with settler colonialism.”

Quintasket stood in the mud where Skagit Bay becomes Kiket Island.

“We’re working hard to restore these practices, to bring back these teachings, and to restore our relationships,” she said.