Lake Sammamish State Park is a 512-acre day-use park with 6,858 feet of waterfront on Lake Sammamish. The area around the lake was an important culture zone for local Native American tribes for centuries. The park provides deciduous forest and wetland vegetation for the enjoyment of visitors. A salmon-bearing creek and a great-blue-heron rookery are additional features. The Lake Sammamish area was once a gathering place for Indian tribes. They celebrated their “potlatch,” or winter festival, at the south end of the lake, where they hunted, fished and berry-gathered in preparation for winter. The word “Sammamish” comes from the Indian “Samena,” meaning “hunter.”