By Macey Wurm
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
“Come Together.”
It’s a strikingly simple title for, and invitation to, Saturday’s celebration of community collaboration, in which the Duwamish Tribe, The Heron’s Nest, and Shared Spaces Foundation will celebrate the return of 3.5 acres of ancestral land to the Duwamish people.
This initiative has been building over the last six years, beginning in 2019 with the creation of the Shared Spaces Foundation by two dedicated community members. The foundation was founded with the overarching goal of eventually securing the land through stewardship and fundraising.
Since 2020, Shared Spaces has been working alongside community, volunteers, and tribal members to clean up the land, reintegrate native species, and conduct soil tests to ensure that the land is suitable to present.
The foundation is known for its development of the Heron’s Nest project (4818 Puget Way SW) – an outdoor classroom environment dedicated to ecological restoration of the land as well as urban agriculture. The Heron’s Nest was fiscally managed by Shared Spaces in the initial years, with management eventually transferred to Duwamish Tribal Services
The Heron’s Nest has been operating off of the land over the last six years. Now, the organizations are ready to “come together” to initiate the final land transfer, with the title given directly to the tribe.
“As a non-federally recognized tribe, everything that they’ve had that they own has been something that they have acquired through their own fundraising and the community’s generosity,” said Joselynn Tokashiki, the current manager of the Heron’s Nest. “It really could not have happened without community.”
“Come Together” has funding from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture as a part of the 2026 World Cup Community Celebrations. Duwamish Tribal Services was granted $40,000 from the city.
So what are the plans for the big day? The land will open up at 11 a.m., with activities organized such as guided plant walks, a printing-press activity with a Heron’s Nest partner – Partners in Print – learning a traditional stick game, and watching food cooked in a traditional salmon pit.
At 12 p.m. there will be a blessing of the food, which will be served up until 3:30. At 1, the official program will begin, including the official land return, and interwoven with storytelling and traditional song and dance performances.
So far, Tokashiki mentioned with excitement, more than 300 people have already registered their plans to attend. “Come Together” is free to attend, and parking will be available at the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center, with a shuttle service to the Heron’s Nest.
“This is really about celebrating coming together, this is such a historical moment for the Duwamish Tribe.”
Want to attend? Reserve a free ticket here.