Annual Leschi-Quiemuth Honor Walk takes place April 27

By Lauren Finnegan, Joint Base Lewis-McChord Garrison Public AffairsApril 17, 2019

Annual Leschi-Quiemuth Honor Walks takes place April 27
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Annual Leschi-Quiemuth Honor Walks takes place April 27
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The Nisqually tribe and the Joint Base Lewis-McChord community come together to honor Chief Leschi and his brother, Quiemuth, at the 11th annual Leschi-Quiemuth Honor Walk April 27. The event takes participants through the ancestral lands of the Nisqually tribe.

After preregistering for the event, attendees meet at Carey Theater at 9 a.m. for a bus ride to Range 91 where the honor walk begins. There, they will have three options to complete the event;

• a 7-mile walk,

• a 12-mile bus ride,

• or a 9-mile bus ride and a 3-mile walk.

The bus will return at 4 p.m.

Each route takes participants to places of historical significance, including the site of Quiemuth's house, the Clear Creek Hatchery and ancestral burial grounds.

Chief Leschi and Quiemuth are credited with the survival of the Nisqually nation after renegotiating the Medicine Creek Treaty. The treaty originally relocated the Nisqually tribe to a rocky piece of land near what is now Tolmie State Park, in Olympia. However, due to the continued efforts of Leschi and Quiemuth, the Tribe was granted land with access to the Nisqually River and prairie land for their horses to graze on.

Donna Turnipseed, the cultural resource manager and tribal liaison for the Environmental Division of JBLM's Directorate of Public Works, said that the event is important for the tribe and the community who live and work on JBLM because it's part of the community's collective heritage.

"We all have a reason and a passion for protecting the land. For the Nisqually tribe, it's important for them to be able to pay homage and visit the land," Turnipseed said. "For our service members, it's important to understand that people were living on this land before the military decided to create Camp Lewis. In the end, we are all on the same page for the protection and preservation of the landscape."

Reservations for the bus from Carey Theater must be in by April 24. For more information on the event or to reserve your spot on the bus tour, contact Donna Turnipseed at donnal.l.turnipseed2.civ@mail.mil.

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