Our mission is to protect and enhance the lives, livelihoods, lands,
and waters of the beautiful, Snoqualmie River Valley.
Since forming in 2010, SVPA has worked to ensure a thriving future for the Snoqualmie River Valley by protecting the region’s agricultural viability, rural communities, and natural ecosystems. We bring together residents, farmers, agencies, tribes, and local leaders to develop and advance collaborative, long-term strategies that integrate land use planning, flood risk mitigation, agricultural viability, and watershed health. By aligning working landscapes with ecological resilience, SVPA safeguards the lands, waters, and livelihoods that define this iconic region. Learn more about what we do.
No single factor affects the future of Snoqualmie Valley farming more than the river itself. Flooding is a fact of life here—but human-caused changes, from upstream development to climate change, have made floods more destructive, less predictable, and harder to manage. In recent decades, valley farms and communities, have faced higher peak flows, slower drainage, unexpected late-season flooding, and increasing damage to fields and infrastructure.
At the same time, well-intentioned restoration efforts meant to benefit fish or wildlife can sometimes undermine farming—leaving standing water on cropland, removing valuable acreage from production, or complicating drainage and access.
That’s where we come in.
SVPA works to protect the working landscape of the Snoqualmie Valley parcel by parcel, but we see this mission as part of a larger purpose: protecting a vital public resource that benefits everyone. A thriving agricultural community here doesn’t just feed people—it fuels rural economies, preserves open space, supports biodiversity, stores carbon, and delivers food, fiber, flowers, and farm products to communities across King County, the Puget Sound region, and beyond.
We don’t believe we have to choose between farming, salmon recovery, flood risk mitigation, or ecosystem health. We believe that integrated, science-based solutions can—and must—serve all of these goals.
As a trusted, community-rooted nonprofit, SVPA:
- Champions common ground between agriculture and the environment
- Advocates for practical, balanced floodplain management
- Creates public tools like the Floodzilla Gauge Network and BeaverWise program
- Supports rural voices in land use planning and regional decision-making
Our work helps ensure that the Snoqualmie Valley remains not just beautiful, but viable, resilient, and alive with opportunity—for farmers, families, wildlife, and future generations.
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
At the Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance, we commit to fostering and maintaining a culture of openness, belonging, and inclusivity, where everyone’s voice is heard and made part of decision-making. We recognize the existence and impact of systemic racism, socioeconomic disparities, inequitable access to resources, marginalization, and biases have deeply affected vulnerable communities and understand that these impacts extend well beyond the scale of our work. It is our intention to actively listen, engage, and learn from those most impacted in order to cultivate a deeper understanding as we pursue our mission. As an organization, we are continuously building upon our framework of mindful practices to foster an earnest and deep effort to understand and welcome people with different skills, backgrounds, stories, needs, and lived experiences. The work of SVPA is more powerful when we embrace, represent, and respect these differences and aids the reconstruction of more equitable, fair, and just systems.
Land Acknowledgment
The SVPA gratefully acknowledges that we live, work, and recreate on the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples, the original stewards of this land from time immemorial. We are committed to listening and learning from Indigenous peoples and honoring them through meaningful, accountable relationships and informed actions.