Southwest Seattle Historical Society, Duwamish Alive, and Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association bring together experts and advocates to celebrate an urban creek and its wildlife.
Wednesday, November 8
Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center
6 pm, reception at 5:30 pm
Once a mighty salmon-spawning stream known by Coast Salish People as t?awi, Longfellow Creek has a storied past. People and this creek have been in a close relationship for many thousands of years, from when salmon first chose to make their home here, through intense urbanization in the late 19th and 20th centuries, through today when the creek and its people are beginning to tell a new story – one of renewed hope.
Next week, SWSHS, Duwamish Alive Coalition and Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association are hosting an event at Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center, located along the creek, to tell this story. Billed as a celebration of Longfellow Creek, the event brings together local experts to discuss the history of the creek, to unpack new, ground-breaking research on tire dust toxins and its impacts on local coho population, and discuss how community organizers are advocating for its protection.
The event also features a reception with a slideshow of Reese’s photographs.
Participants include Caroline Borsenik, Director of Environmental Education, Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, Ed Kolodziej, Researcher, Center for Urban Waters, University of Washington, Katherine Lynch, Urban Creeks Biologist, Seattle Public Utilities, Kelly Brenner, naturalist, author, The Naturalist at Home: Projects for Discovering the Hidden World Around Us, and Tom Reese, journalist, photographer, author, Once and Future River: Reclaiming the Duwamish
The event is hosted in conjunction with the exhibit t?awi: Creek of Hope, currently on view at SWSHS’s Log House Museum at Alki Beach. The exhibit features photographs of Longfellow Creek from award-winning photojournalist Tom Reese and tells a new story of the historic creek.
From its headwaters at Roxhill Park in Southwest Seattle, Longfellow Creek flows north for four miles through the Duwamish Peninsula, navigating culverts, private property, a city-owned golf course, and a patchwork of public parks before reaching Elliot Bay – its last 2/3 mile journey is through an underground cement pipe.
Despite these challenges, coho spawn here each fall, families of beavers are active along the creek, and diverse wildlife is present throughout. “The exhibit has provided a unique opportunity to talk about the natural environment in highly urbanized and industrialized areas,” says SWSHS’s program director, Elizabeth Rudrud. “The photos stunningly describe both the power of this creek to support wildlife and persevere, but also how human impact – both negative and positive – can effect change.”
Organizers are also working with the Duwamish Tribe to contextualize the relationship of the creek to indigenous peoples through newly displayed artifacts and are planning a guided hike along the creek to observe salmon habitat with environmental educators.
Registration and information are at loghousemuseum.org.
Southwest Seattle Historical Society preserves local history through education, preservation, and advocacy. The Log House Museum, located one block from Alki Beach, is a City of Seattle Landmark. The museum is open Fridays and Saturdays from 12-4pm.
Duwamish Alive Coalition has collaborated with community, municipalities, non-profits and businesses within the Duwamish River Watershed to preserve and enhance habitat for people and wildlife, towards improving the health of the Puget Sound.
Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) is a non‐profit organization devoted to social, racial and environmental justice. DNDA is dedicated to preserving and increasing affordable housing for a range of incomes, enhancing the natural environment, and providing such vital resources as arts and cultural opportunities, education and youth programs for our neighbors. DNDA programs for affordable housing and wetland restoration have become models for other communities.
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