The Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area (Greenway NHA) is a landscape whose valleys, waterways, and rugged peaks form a network of travel and trade, migration, and connection, that stretches back millennia. Salmon and the first people made their way inland on rivers that drained into Puget Sound, while in the snow-fed rivers of the Upper Yakima, water and wind shape the patterns and habits of fish, animals, and agriculture. The landscape of the Greenway NHA defines the region’s history, culture, and heritage.
Discover Greenway NHA Themes
The five themes below articulate the distinctive and defining characteristics of the Greenway NHA and serve to guide deeper exploration and understanding of the landscape and its history and heritage. These themes describe how the landscape of the region has been shaped, and how this, in turn, has shaped the region’s culture, history, and footing toward the future.
Inclusive Practices for Interpretation and Management
A central tenet of incorporating “an integrated and cooperative approach for the protection, enhancement, and interpretation of the natural, cultural, historic, scenic, and recreational resources of the National Heritage Area” has been the need to expand the narratives and thematic stories of the Greenway NHA to include historically marginalized voices and to actively reverse the erasure and omission of these communities and their role in the region’s history and culture. An important first step in this process has been to proactively invite new partners to the table and to center their stories and their perspectives in planning discussions. We hope that we have laid the groundwork for new partnerships and that this, in turn, will transform our experience of the Greenway NHA and help to create more just and equitable communities within our boundaries and beyond.
Learn More About the National Heritage Area
Curious how this national designation came to be and what it means for the Greenway community?
Bee and sunflower photo by Merrill Images; Wildlife overpass photo courtesy of WSDOT; Space Needle photo by Merrill Images; Snoqualmie Valley photo courtesy of King County.