Growing Resiliency with Clam Gardens:
The Swinomish Indian Nation takes proactive steps in adapting to the impacts of climate change
Over a decade ago, The Swinomish Tribe took a proactive approach to strengthening their climate resiliency by developing the Swinomish Climate Adaption Action Plan. In the foreword, Chairman M. Brian Cladoosby wrote, “Indeed, it is the enduring heart, spirit, and strength of our community in facing previous challenges that shows us the promise of the future. If adaptation is to be our future, we at Swinomish have already proved ourselves equal to the challenge.” This lasting endurance is exemplified by on-the-ground efforts, like the Swinomish clam garden, that look to the wisdom of the past and focuses on adaptation in the face of changing environmental conditions.
The Swinomish Reservation is home to a community of Coast Salish people and is located on the southeastern peninsula of Fidalgo Island, south of what is known today as Anacortes, and adjacent to low-lying mainland areas of western Skagit County, in western Washington. Ninety percent of the Swinomish reservation is surrounded by water, which means climate change impacts, like sea-level-rise could be significant and long term to the region. So, in 2007 the tribe issued a landmark proclamation to take action and respond to the challenges of a changing climate.
Marine resources like shellfish were one of the many environmental and cultural concerns the plan addressed. The report also emphasized the use of indigenous knowledge to respond and adapt. One solution that incorporates all of these aspects is clam gardens. Clam gardens are an ancient indigenous practice that results in faster growth rates, higher densities and greater biomass in native clam species that are important to Swinomish and other Coast Salish Tribes.
Courtney Greiner is the clam garden Project Manager. For the last seven years, she has worked in the Fisheries Department for the Swinomish Tribe, taking on the clam garden effort in 2015. The project receives funding from critical federal programs through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Puget Sound Tribal Capacity Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Aquaculture Collaborative Program and Washington Sea Grant.
“I am excited to help revitalize an ancient mariculture practice that will address current challenges including climate change, food security, and tribal sovereignty. I’m excited to collaborate with the Community Environmental Health Program to ensure we are addressing all elements of the socio-ecological system. And I’m honored to be working alongside Swinomish community members and First Nations members to restore the health of the environment and native communities.”
What exactly is a clam garden? Imagine a terraced beach that extends from the shorelines to a porous rock wall that is only visible during low tide. These modified beaches have lots of broken shell and gravel that are ideal for clam habitat. The beach also slopes in a way that increases the area where clams prefer to grow. Just like vegetable gardens, you have to tend and maintain them in a specific way that promotes growth and abundance. Other resources like urchins, sea cucumbers and kelp that are important to the Swinomish Tribe also inhabit the clam gardens, which improves the overall richness of the nearshore habitat.
As a practice that is thousands of years old, clam gardens are likely to withstand the effects of changing ocean conditions from climate change. One of the goals of the project is to understand changes to the nearshore over time both on and off the clam garden. Monitoring will help scientists understand if clam gardens can provide any additional benefits for mitigating climate impacts as well as see if the garden promotes resiliency in the nearshore through increased biodiversity.
“Tribes and First Nations are place-based, resource-dependent communities that have been living off the land and managing resources sustainably for millennia,” said Greiner. “They have survived the booms and busts in resource abundance as the environment has changed around them by developing a robust portfolio of diverse management strategies based on reciprocity and stewardship. These strategies need to be supported and uplifted within Indigenous communities which are disproportionately impacted by climate change.”
In thinking about resiliency, the Swinomish Tribe are taking a multidimensional approach focusing on the interconnectedness of physical, cultural, social, mental and spiritual health that is tied to marine resources and the environment. Two Swinomish staff, Jamie Donatuto and Larry Campbell, who is also a community member, led an effort to understand how the community defined health and found that the reoccurring themes were not included in traditional health assessments. In collaboration with the community, they identified six Indigenous Health Indicators (IHIs) — natural resources security, cultural use, education, community connections, self-determination, and resilience.
“Not only are clams a first food or traditional food for Swinomish that provides physical, spiritual, and cultural sustenance, but the practice of clam gardening includes human participation which provides opportunities for community members to strengthen relationships with the tidelands and with each other. For this project, success is creating a space on the Reservation where all of the IHIs are supported and promoted,” said Greiner. “And hopefully result in greater clam abundance!”
Projects like the clam gardens are a critical step in ensuring our communities are healthy and resilient. If federal investments from NOAA and EPA decrease or disappear this project would no longer continue, setting us back even further in developing durable solutions for clean water and for our local Tribes and other communities to adapt to a changing climate.
