On the Duwamish River, a Paddle Program Heals Land and Legacy

The Duwamish River flows through present-day South Seattle neighborhoods, under the West Seattle Bridge, and empties into Elliott Bay. For thousands of years, the Duwamish people lived along its banks, securing their sustenance from the waterway in the form of fish, fowl, and fruits. But in the 1900s, after colonization, the waterway was straightened for commercial use, and the Indigenous peoples of the area were displaced by polluting industries, including concrete and heavy metals manufacturing. The contaminants those industries have left behind — among them, petroleum, arsenic, mercury, and phthalates — led to the Environmental Protection Agency declaring the river a Superfund site in 2001.

The river remains polluted today, yet it is still a critical cultural touchpoint for the Coast Salish people as well as a recovering habitat for local wildlife, such as salmon, seals, and cranes. And after the Duwamish River was granted Superfund status, several cleanup and access efforts commenced at grassroots and government levels.

Among them, the River Access Paddle Program (RAPP) has worked to create cost-free or private opportunities for Seattle-region residents to gain kayak access to the Duwamish River. Founded in 2022, RAPP operates out of a site in həʔapus Village Park and Shoreline Habitat in West Seattle, and it is soon to expand with a second boat launch point in Duwamish Waterway Park in South Park. Now, RAPP is entering the spring and summer 2025 season with a number of themed and educational paddles designed to bring new audiences to a river that has long been neglected — and to help restore it.

"The Duwamish is the lower 13 miles of the Green River, and there are now about five public put-in spots along the river, but some of them are very muddy, or kind of dangerous terrain, with mixed brick and rock and iron and steel left over from past industries," explains Lee Lee, who is a guide and cofounder of RAPP alongside Cari Simson. "A lot of the [remaining] river … is armored … to create a channel for industry in the Port of Seattle."

"There is no paddle program or public opportunity to come out unless you have your own gear," Lee continues. "Another part of the access is providing free gear, boats, trainings, safety trainings, and education as part of that project, so we're not continuing to uphold the affluent sport that only certain people with money and their own gear could participate in."

The first of the organization's themed paddles began the day before Mother's Day with RAPP's first Multi-Generational Paddle, and they will continue later this year with a Pride Paddle, a BIPOC Paddle, a First Timers Paddle, and additional topical paddles focused on river cleanup, pollution reporting, and orcas.

"We're doing an orcas-focused paddle that's going to focus on the sea mammals and how pollution [in] the Duwamish waterway as a tidal river is affecting the sea water and the large sea mammals, and how it's all interconnected," explains RAPP events coordinator Shan Solie, who says all educational paddles are usually paired with a speaker who is an expert in the topic matter.

Though RAPP works with many peer groups, such as Sea Potential, the Duwamish River Community Coalition, and Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, longtime RAPP guide Joselynn Tokashiki Engstrom particularly likes to work with youth groups, such as Young Women Empowered (Y-WE), because she can see the benefit of taking diverse youth out on the water for the first time.

"It's a whole different thing to feel your body floating in a boat, and for young people that have never actually experienced that, it can be petrifying," Engstrom explains. "You can almost see the [generational] trauma coming up for some people in it, and so I really love helping people work through that."

Engstrom has heard participants talk about how difficult it usually is for them and their families to access the water or to swim. And while industrialization has dramatically impacted the river's natural habitat and wildlife presence, Solie says there are still ways to engage with the river that are safe.

"A lot of folks have a lot of fear of this river in terms of the Superfund and pollution in it," Solie explains. "It's nice to go with people that can talk to you about that and how to stay safe and how to stay clean and really debunk a little bit of [misinformation] of the river too."

All of RAPP's guides must go through a 16-hour, two-day training around the river's history, wildlife, and pollution. They also work closely with Duwamish Tribal Services on ensuring that the Indigenous history is front and center throughout the tours.

"Right now, we're in həʔapus Village Park and Herring's House, which is [an Indigenous] village site. There were 80 longhouses here that were burned down, and Duwamish and other Coast Salish people were forcefully removed from this area," explains Lee.

While the site is now managed by the Port of Seattle, RAPP works with Coast Salish tribes and the Duwamish to mend relationships and regain access to the land.

"We're now managing Kellogg Island, have access to the shoreline through the river program, and are managing up to 20 acres of the West Duwamish Greenbelt," Lee explains. "It connects the forests back to the river. It's connecting Duwamish and Coast Salish people back to the land and mending some of those relationships."

As a guide, Engstrom experiences great joy showing the public firsthand the impacts of industrialization, as well as the places where nature has returned or the original river can still be experienced.

"Kellogg Island is the last natural bend in the lower part of the Duwamish River, and the only reason why that is is because Cecile Hansen and the rest of the leadership from the Duwamish tribe in the '70s stopped the Port [of Seattle] from … [putting] a big port landing spot right here," she explains. "Being out there, it's like you can feel the river, and you can feel how it is supposed to flow."

RAPP hopes to expand its accessibility in the near future by fundraising enough for a set of kayaks at each of its two launch sites. It also hopes to create a program where visitors can rent out their own kayaks without the presence of RAPP, as it has seen an increased interest and need for access along the Duwamish River. RAPP also does private tours for small groups and organizations to help fund their public programs, and it has a number of ambitious projects in the works to create floating wetlands, monitor habitats, and help remove legacy debris from the river.

Of the organization's "pride points," Solie says they have noticed the positive impact from their water cleanup events, which now have enough funding from grants, tours, and donations to take place monthly. This year, RAPP has removed 1,185 pounds of trash from the river and its banks, and sometimes volunteers can't find trash to clean up at the sites they visit, which offers proof of long-term and consistent action. Lee, meanwhile, has seen a significant change in the wildlife population.

"When I first started coming out here, I don't remember or recall having as many great blue heron or harbor seals," says Lee, who has over 14 years of experience on the Duwamish River. "There were no eagles on the river at that time. There were no green heron. And now they've all returned."