Click the image to read a PDF of the fall 2019 issue of Our Big Backyard magazine.
At Salmon Homecoming every autumn at Oxbow Regional Park, visitors can hear the birds singing, the Sandy River flowing and the wind rustling through the trees. Once the event is underway, visitors can smell the salmon baking, soup cooking, and hear the sounds of children playing and laughing along with traditional songs. People are also gathered along the Sandy River, looking to see if the salmon have returned home to spawn and complete their life cycles.
Two years ago, Indigenous community members helped re-envision Salmon Homecoming to incorporate their cultural traditions into a popular event that, for decades, had been framed around western concepts of nature education. Now the two-day event includes Indigenous storytelling, tea preparation, drumming, a Salmon Bake, and native plant walks introducing people to Indigenous perspectives on plants, animals and water.
Learn more about the popular event, read about other parks and nature news, find fun nature classes and events and more in the fall 2019 issue of Our Big Backyard, Metro's quarterly parks and nature magazine.
Our-Big-Backyard-fall-2019.pdf
Find a copy of Our Big Backyard at a local public library branch, the Oregon Zoo, a Metro park, or at various community centers and senior centers. Or read individual stories online on Parks and Nature News or click the image on the right to read a PDF of the magazine.
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Read individual stories or view a PDF of the magazine on Parks and Nature News