HOLIDAY CLOSURE
The zoo will be closed on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25, 2024.

LIVING
NORTHWEST TRAIL

Where nature is home

Explore

 

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:



DISCOVER

Nature all around you


RECOVER

Threatened wildlife and habitat


COEXIST

With wildlife and each other


Pigott Family Lynx Exhibit

Get up close to this little-seen Northwest carnivore and discover the lynx’s link to climate change.

Cathy Herzig Basecamp Northwest

Inside is your basecamp for exploring conservation solutions in the Northwest including a never-before-seen glimpse into the zoo’s flagship conservation lab where animal keepers rear endangered turtles to be released into protected wetlands each year.


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.

 

This Land

 

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

 


WAYS TO SUPPORT

 

DONATE

Northwest river and forest

Make a gift of any size to support this work and efforts to save wildlife in the Northwest and around the world. With a gift of $1,000 or more, you will be recognized within the exhibit in 2022. Simply choose the Living Northwest Trail designation on the donation form.

Make a gift

DISCOVER

Camera trap photo of a Coyote

Learn about the zoo’s Living Northwest conservation projects that are saving species across our region.

Find out more

 

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. 

Brown Bear

Elk

Lynx

Mountain Goat

River Otter

Snowy Owl

Steller's Sea Eagle

Western pond turtle

Our Mission

Woodland Park Zoo saves wildlife and inspires everyone to make conservation a priority in their lives.

Land Acknowledgment

Woodland Park Zoo recognizes that these are the lands of the Tribal signatories of the Treaty of Point Elliott. We acknowledge their stewardship of this place continues to this day and that it is our responsibility to join them to restore the relationship with the living world around us.


5500 Phinney Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103   |  206.548.2500  |   zooinfo@zoo.org


Association of Zoos & Aquariums
Seattle Parks & Recreation
Humane Certification