Alliance of National Heritage Areas Spring Conference

Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area, Washington State

Monday, May 17 – Thursday, May 20, 2026

About the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area

The Mountains to Sound Greenway was designated by Congress as a National Heritage Area in March 2019. The Greenway NHA is an ecologically diverse corridor, stretching 100 miles from Seattle to Ellensburg in Washington state, where cultural heritage is stitched closely to a dramatic landscape of water, mountains, forests, and farms.

Even before our NHA designation, the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust has been working for more than 35 years to care for this incredible landscape — supporting land conservation, building and maintaining trails, restoring wildlife habitat, and connecting youth to the outdoors through environmental education. Through our mission, we strive for a long-term balance between people and nature.

What to Expect During the Conference

During the conference, you can expect fun programming that will showcase our NHA themes:

• The eyes, voices, and teachings of the FIRST PEOPLE of these lands impart understanding of the Heritage Area from time immemorial to the present day.
• The powerful forces of geology and climate create a LANDSCAPE of cultural and natural diversity across the Greenway.
• The Greenway provides CORRIDORS for wildlife migration, fish passage and human travel.
• Human RELATIONSHIPS WITH NATURE have shaped the landscape and the culture of the Greenway.
• The cultural and natural heritage of the Greenway informs our future RESILIENCE and the restoration and renewal of the ecosystems that sustain all life.

While we will do our absolute best to keep everyone comfortable, it’s worth noting that much of the conference programming will take place outdoors. The agenda will be light on museums and heavy on nature and outdoor tours. While we promise we won’t take you up any strenuous mountains, we cannot guarantee that it won’t rain (it is spring in Seattle, after all!).

But that rain is what makes our National Heritage Area so beautiful. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience the vast diversity across our landscape, spanning from Puget Sound and a peek at Seattle’s maritime heritage, to salmon-bearing streams, vibrant mossy forests, a high-alpine pass, and across to the rolling farmlands and Ponderosa forests of Kittitas County.

Getting to and from the Greenway NHA

Conference attendees should book flights in/out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Plan to arrive by Monday May 17 (in the AM if you are going to join the Flying Monkey). Departures can be booked for anytime on Friday May 21 (or later if you plan to extend your stay, which we highly recommend!). Taxis and rideshares are readily available to transport you to the hotel or directly to the Flying Monkey and welcome reception. We will also share information about public transportation options as the event gets closer.

Getting Around in the Greenway

During the conference, we will journey the full expanse of the Greenway NHA, from Seattle to Ellensburg, which spans about a 2-hour drive over a mountain pass. We will be providing a charter bus to transport ANHA members between activities happening Monday through Thursday.

Traffic in our NHA can be bad, so we do recommend riding the bus if possible so you can relax and enjoy the mountain views. If you do not want to ride the bus, you will need to rent a car. We would appreciate you giving us a heads up in the survey linked above to help us plan for bus capacity.

Conference Hotel

We will be reserving a room block at the Hilton Garden Inn in Issaquah. We anticipate rooms to cost roughly $165 per night. The hotel is located about 30 minutes from the airport and is conveniently located for conference activities.

Conference Schedule

We are still in the early stages of planning – this schedule is subject to change but will give you a sense of where we will be.

Monday, May 17

• Afternoon – Flying Monkey: Argosy Cruise to take in the Seattle waterfront and transit through the historic Ballard (Hiram M. Chittenden) Locks
• Evening – Welcome reception at the Center for Wooden Boats, co-hosted with our friends at the Maritime Washington National Heritage Area

Tuesday, May 18

• Morning – Explore Gold Creek restoration efforts and the historic communities of Cle Elum and Roslyn
• Afternoon – Yakima River Canyon site visits
• Evening – Tours and dinner in Ellensburg

Wednesday, May 19

• Morning – Business meeting at Meadowbrook Farm in North Bend
• Afternoon – Tour and conversation with the Snoqualmie Tribe and visit to Snoqualmie Falls
• Evening – Dinner at Formula Brewing near hotel

Thursday, May 20

• Morning – Guided nature experiences in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Valley
• Afternoon/Evening – Tours, dinner, and farewell at Lake Sammamish State Park