All Natural Area Images by Garet Munger 

By John Lombard

Since early last year, Thornton Creek Alliance has been working with Muckleshoot and Duwamish representatives on a possible Lushootseed name for the new natural area that the City of Seattle acquired along the creek at 2318 NE 125th Street in 2019.

Leading contenders for a proposed name include Čuł qwi.qwuʔ (pronounced approximately “Chuth-qwee-qwo”), meaning “our little creek,” and “Gwaxčeł” meaning “go for a stroll/walk there.” (The latter name anticipates that the natural area will become a popular walking destination in the Lake City area after it is restored.)

A further contender is txʷxʷu̓bil (pronounced “Toox-xwhow-bil”), meaning “quiet house” or “silent place,” which is the Lushootseed name for where Thornton Creek empties into Lake Washington (now known as Matthews Beach). There is no apparent recorded Lushootseed name for the creek itself, so this would be the closest approximation, according to Warren KingGeorge, historian for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, who has been TCA’s primary advisor on these names. 

KingGeorge discussed his name options at the July 29 TCA general membership meeting, where he also presented Lushootseed names for salmonberry, cranberry (gathered in the headwater wetlands that became the Northgate area), highbush cranberry (a rare native plant that could survive better than wetland cranberries in current conditions in the watershed), and Swainson’s thrush (a bird associated with the creek’s confluence area along Lake Washington).

The Muckleshoot Tribe is federally recognized as having fishing rights throughout the Lake Washington watershed, including Thornton Creek. 

While the Duwamish are not federally recognized as an independent tribe, TCA is consulting them as well.  Our goal is to develop a small set of alternatives supported by both Tribes. The Seattle Parks Department would then review these alternatives with the public before making a final selection.

The City is working with Mid-Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group to develop a floodplain restoration project for the Lake City site, as discussed at the July 29 TCA meeting.

The Seattle Parks Department’s plan is to incorporate the public process for naming the site into the public review process for a design for the restoration project, which is currently planned for spring 2022.

Warren KingGeorge, historian for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe