The fire that engulfed Notre Dame cathedral shocked the world earlier this year. And a wildfire in July on Rattlesnake Mountain in southeast Washington similarly shocked Northwest tribes.
Treeless Rattlesnake Mountain is over 3,600 wind-swept feet above sea level. It’s part of the Hanford Reach National Monument, designated by President Bill Clinton, home to rare plants and fauna.
“So, Laliik, is how you say the place in our Indian language,” said Jon Shellenberger, an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. “But it is a ceremonial place for our people. It’s a place we hunted.”
Shellenberger is a Yakama Nation archeologist and ethnographer. He said Rattlesnake has been important to Northwest tribes from their creation. The mountain is a living history book on the landscape.