Alukw’át Nisháykt
Frog's home
Yakama Nation Ancestral Initiative
A Timeless Place for the Yakama
Some nations and people have a place where their hearts and souls are inextricably linked to the land. For the Yakama Nation one of those places is Páxutakyuut or Union Gap. Here, the Creator’s story lives in the hills, river, and towering cottonwoods. To hear the Creator’s story is to return to a time before people and before the formation of Day and Night. This legendary story and beautiful landscape with all its living things guide Yakama’s traditional teaching on how to live well and honorably. This guidance is recognized by the inseparable connection between life and the sustaining resources, namely: earth, water, air and living things that provide nourishment. Alukw’át Nisháykt “Frog’s Home” is where the land speaks and guides the Yakama people to make good decisions for themselves and everything around them.
What’s in a name?
Alukw’át Nisháykt or “Frog’s Home” is a story of animals and competing philosophies. Anahoy (Bear) and Alukw’át (Frog) were getting ready for the coming of people but needed to decide how day and night would be organized. Anahoy wanted people to hibernate and give the earth time to heal. Alukw’áts’ constant chorus pushed for half-day of awake time and half-night asleep time. While Alukw’át ultimately got his way, the Creator tasked Alukw’át with keeping the river water clean and cared for. It is this very location along the Yakima River, Páxutakyuut, Union Gap that is Frog’s Home today.
A River on the Land
Frog’s Home is located south of Union Gap, near Yakima, where the Yakima River flows wide through the landscape forming braids of new and old water patterns. For millions of years this river, the longest in Washington, has shaped the landscape by constantly altering its course. In doing so, it has created a thriving wetland, rich in plants and wildlife; miles of cottonwoods and water stargrass provide habitat for hundreds of migratory bird species, all kinds of salmon and trout, deer, elk and big horn sheep. Frog’s Home is 180 acres of significant ancestral and cultural value for the Yakama Nation.
Returning Frog’s Home to the Yakama Nation
Forterra and the Yakama Nation established a formal conservation partnership in 2021. In early 2022, both parties mutually agreed to pursue the purchase of Frog’s Home to conserve its significant natural and cultural resources. Yakama Nation has secured some of the land for the Frog’s Home, while Forterra has provided interim financing to take the remaining land off the market. Together, we are working to raise the funds necessary to preserve and transfer the property to the Yakama Nation, obtaining ownership of Frog’s Home will restore lands that have been degraded by recent land use.Â
You and Frog’s Home
Your support of this project puts 180 beautiful acres of riparian land into preservation forever. It reverses decades of historic use that has been damaging to an otherwise lush and vibrant area. It also is an action point for pushing back on the effects of climate change by restoring large areas of cottonwood trees and other native plants which, in turn, provide a lifeline to threatened species. Our collective goal is to restore critical habitat through traditional Tribal stewardship and ultimately return the ecologically and culturally significant site to Yakama Nation ownership.
“The Frog’s Home property is an ancestral place that we hold in high regards…We are honored and deeply thankful for the work that has been done by Forterra working with our staff to protect this important place. In this way, we bring honor to those of the past, present, and future generations of our Yakama people .”
– Gerald Lewis, Yakama Nation Tribal Council Chairman
“We’re kicking off a community campaign to protect Frog’s Home. Donations will leverage a 4x impact with other funds raised,” said Michelle Connor, President and CEO of Forterra. “Yakama Nation and Forterra have been hard at work behind the scenes for years. Now we need the community’s help.”Â
The Goal
To protect the property, the Yakama Nation and Forterra must raise $500,000 in community donations by December 2024.
Forterra has provided interim financing to pull Frog’s Home off the open market. To permanently save Frog’s Home, we must generate $2 million to pay off the loan and transfer it to Yakama Nation’s stewardship. This includes $500,000 from philanthropic resources in addition to a $100,000 challenge match received by a generous donor to kick off the community fundraising campaign. The other $1.4 million is sought through grants.
Thank you for your support!
