Reconnecting to the Land: Indigenous Knowledge Systems Help Shape City of Seattle’s Native Plant Policy

For Coast Salish peoples, plants are more than resources: they are relatives, teachers, and the foundation of life. Since time immemorial, native plants like camas, chocolate lily, Garry oak, and Western red cedar have nourished bodies, healed communities, and built homes and canoes. What some may see today as untamed wilderness are, in fact, the living remnants of Indigenous gardens; lands carefully tended and stewarded for thousands of years. Through this deep relationship, Native communities not only sustained themselves but also cultivated thriving ecosystems, weaving together culture, survival, and the spirit of the land.

Today, decades of land development, urbanization, and climate change have contributed to the destruction of habitat. To address this environmental degradation and r