Coast Salish Youth Stewardship Corps

In 2017, the Madrona Institute launched a summer youth program, the Coast Salish Youth Stewardship Corps, for youth from Coast Salish Tribes in our region. 

As the Madrona Institute’s primary youth program, the Coast Salish Youth Stewardship Corps serves indigenous youth ages 14+ from the Lummi, Samish, W̱SÁNEĆ, Swinomish, Tulalip, Stillaguamish and other Coast Salish Tribes who have ancestral ties with the San Juan Islands and whose families were disconnected from their traditional homelands during the time of the Indian Appropriations Act.  Working with the public land managing agencies, the aim is to develop a cross-cultural youth-focused program that integrates the regional Tribal cultural restoration initiative with the need to address the diaspora of the Coast Salish people. The youth program reconnects Coast Salish natural heritage learning traditions with their place of origin, while building relationships with the local youth and communities. The teachings are integrated into the stewardship ethic of the San Juan Islands and are used to guide future conservation and restoration efforts by informing habitat management practices on public lands. 

A unique feature of the program is the Canoe Mini-Journey, modeled after the Annual Tribal Canoe Journey – a celebrated event for the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.  Stewardship Corps members paddle around three San Juan Islands over the course of several days exploring traditional sites and their history.  A central feature of Coast Salish culture is the cedar canoe, and the ability to travel the ocean and respect the ocean’s contributions is imbedded in their spiritual traditions. 

The ancestors of the Tribal communities who historically occupied the San Juan Islands utilized the area as their seasonal subsistence grounds. They were in fact, the first natural resource managers of this landscape cultivating native plants, monitoring the salmon runs, and managing timber stands for resource harvest. 

The Coast Salish Youth Stewardship Corps empowers native youth and Tribal communities to reconnect with their way of life by providing youth with the opportunity to explore their native heritage and steward their ancestral home. A component of the program also engages with Tribal elders and provides cultural learning experiences for the community at large. This engagement with Tribal members is welcomed and encouraged by the federal, state, and local land managing agencies in the San Juans. 

Starting in 2020, the program began forming an inter-tribal advisory coalition which guides our work and is continuing to grow.

Our current Coast Salish Youth Coalition advisors include: Marco Hatch (Samish Nation/WWU), Patti Gobin (Tulalip Tribes), Molly Walker (Samish Nation), Lisa Nash Lawrence (Swinomish/Mitchell Bay Band), and Tracy Boser (Stillaguamish Tribe), with special advisory and support by Debra Lekanoff (Tlingit).