Swinomish Tribe wants to resurrect U.S. clam gardening

The practice of clam gardening is thousands of years old, but Indigenous communities likely haven’t built a clam garden in the Pacific Northwest in modern times , said marine ecologist Dr. Marco Hatch, a member of the Samish Indian Nation and an associate professor of environmental sciences at Western Washington University. 

If the Swinomish build theirs, tribal members and clam garden experts say, it would not only provide opportunities for cultural connection, food and knowledge sharing, but they believe it would be the first modern-day clam garden in the United States.