This May, Se'Si'Le invites you to stand with Lummi tribal members, the House of Tears Carvers and Tribal communities across the Pacific Northwest in support of a totem pole journey and the Indigenous-led movement to remove the Snake River dams. This important Journey comes at a critical time for the Snake River, endangered salmon and orcas, and the region's Tribal communities.

Snake River to Salish Sea Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey

May 3 - 20, 2022

Learn more by visiting - and sharing with your networks - the 'Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey' landing page and Facebook page.

Se’Si’Le (saw-see-lah) is an intertribal 501c3 nonprofit founded by Lummi tribal member Jay Julius. The goal of Se’Si’Le is to reintroduce Indigenous spiritual law into the mainstream conversation about climate change and the environment. Se’Si’Le is the fiscal sponsor and lead entity of the Snake River to Salish Sea Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey.

BACKGROUND: The May 2022 totem pole journey is the latest of a dozen totem pole journeys conducted by the project leads over the past 20 years. In 2021, the Red Road Totem Pole Journey to DC, was dedicated to the protection of sacred sites and reached an estimated 1.2 million people over a period of the twenty-day journey to the Capitol (www.redroadtodc.org). The 2022 journey builds upon, strengthens and reaffirms the growing indigenous-led environmental movement across the Pacific Northwest that began with a successful campaign to oppose proposed fossil fuels projects. The fossil fuels campaign included 4 totem pole journeys conducted by the project leads.

GOAL: The 2022 totem pole journey aims to inspire, inform, and engage Pacific Northwest communities through intergenerational voices, ceremony, art and science, spirituality, ancestral knowledge, and cross-cultural collaboration in support of the indigenous-led movement to remove the Snake River dams and restore to health the Snake River salmon runs and our relatives, the Southern Resident Killer Whales (Skali’Chelh in the Lummi language) that depend on them.

APPROACH AND SCOPE: To achieve its goal, the totem pole journey will engage the intellect, emotion, and imagination through an inspiring mix of generational voices, collective vision, science, ceremony, and venues. The journey includes public events in metropolitan areas (Eugene, Astoria, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma), and tribal communities (Lummi, Chinook, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Shoshone-Bannock, and the Village of Celilo). At each stop, art and culture will spark understanding of our natural heritage. In two locations (Eugene and Umatilla) the award-winning Whale Protectors Exhibit will all be featured. In-person events will include ceremonial moments steeped in ancestral knowledge to present the challenges the region faces—and avenues for cross-cultural collaboration and engagement on solutions.

JOURNEY PARTNERS INCLUDE: