Our Impact

Home of the mətx̌ʷu

Since Time Immemorial, the Methow Valley has been the home of the mətx̌ʷu/Methow People. When the first non-Native settlers arrived in the Methow Valley in the late 1800s, the area was part of the Moses-Columbia Reservation, formed in 1879. When the Moses-Columbia Reservation was dissolved in 1884, most of the mətx̌ʷu were forcibly relocated to the area east and south of present-day Omak, becoming one of the twelve tribes of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR).

“So many of us are teachers, but most are elders. We need to pass on traditional knowledge—dances, regalia, songs, food, medicine, arts, crafts— so that our culture endures. We envision sharing our ancestral knowledge with our own people, as well as with people from the surrounding community, so that they understand who we are. We look forward to many years of working with these two organizations to realize our dreams of returning to the land and teaching future generations our ways.”