Are You Living Northwest?

Discover local wildlife and how nature connects us all in the Northwest home we share

The Living Northwest Trail highlights conservation successes and actions you can take to ensure a healthy, thriving Northwest for animals and people alike.

The new exhibit reimagines the former Northern Trail, where new additions including Canada lynx and a head start center for endangered western pond turtles join the zoo’s beloved gray wolves, river otters, brown bears and other local wildlife. Through up-close animal experiences, interactive learning, and local indigenous art, the exhibit will inspire and empower you to:

This exhibit is made possible with dedicated support from private funders and major maintenance funding from the voter-approved Seattle Park District.

Have you seen the beautiful, Native-carved artwork on the new Living Northwest Trail?

Hear artist and storyteller Roger Fernandes from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe or S’Klallam Tribe share the stories behind the animal symbols and the living traditions they represent. Roger designed and worked with master carver Toma Villa, an artist and carver from the Yakama Tribe, to bring this wonderful Native carved panel to life on the Living Northwest Trail.

Land Acknowledgment

English

These are the lands of the Tribal signatories of the Treaty of Point Elliott (1855), whose stewardship for the waters, plants, land and animal relatives in the Northwest has continued since time immemorial. Woodland Park Zoo acknowledges this stewardship, the sovereign rights of the Tribal signatories, and our responsibility to join with these Tribes to inspire and advance the restoration of relationships between humans and the living world around us.

Lushootseed

Lushootseed is a language spoken across many Tribes in the Puget Sound region and a member of the Salish language family. It is also a trading language used amongst many Tribes. It was selected for Woodland Park Zoo’s Land Acknowledgement because it is representative and inclusive of multiple Tribes in this region.

Thank you to the Tulalip Lushootseed Department for this translation and recording.

Woodland Park Zoo · Lushootseed Land Acknowledgment

The completed Living Northwest Trail represents a major milestone in Forests for All, Woodland Park Zoo’s 7-year, $110 million comprehensive fundraising campaign. More than $70 million has already been donated by nearly 100,000 donors since 2018 to this comprehensive vision to assure local and global forests and green spaces for animals, for people, forever. The Living Northwest Trail, the regional conservation projects it celebrates, and the community action it inspires are part of the Living Northwest campaign initiative investing in local transformation for global impact. Join the campaign at zoo.org/donate.