Preserving Traditions

The people of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon have a rich cultural history and a long relationship with the inland valleys of Western Oregon. The sense of community flourished in spite of their diminishing homelands. The varied culture and strong heritage thrived even when the Tribes identity was terminated.

In recent years, Tribal members have been able to develop new cultural programs. They have built new sites for cultural activities, enlarged the annual pow-wow and reclaimed culturally significant items.

Because the Tribes were no longer recognized for 29 years, many cultural traditions were disrupted. As Tribal members join to build a firm economic foundation, they are also working to reclaim and share their cultural traditions.

Cultural-preservation work is being undertaken on a number of fronts:

Chinook Jargon
The Tribes’ language specialist is teaching children and adults Chinook Jargon. Chinook Jargon is a native American pidgin language that originally developed to facilitate trade and intertribal communication throughout the Northwest. During the heyday of its use, from the early to mid-1800s, Chinook Jargon was spoken from southern Alaska to southern Oregon.

Chinook Jargon was the only common language that existed when tribes from western Oregon’s interior valleys were gathered onto the Grand Ronde Reservation in the 1850s, so it became the primary means of communicating. As a result, this pidgin language became a first language for people born and raised on the reservation.

There has been no comprehensive teaching of Chinook Jargon for many years. Some Tribal Elders still know how to speak it, but their numbers are decreasing with each passing year. The Tribe’s preschool program is named Twah Sunchako— Chinook Jargon for "A Bright Day is Coming"—and children are learning traditional songs.

Tribal Archives
The Tribes' cultural resources department is undertaking extensive work to catalog and archive the Tribes' historical photographs, correspondence, and legal documents. The Tribal government has invested in an electronic imaging system so it can preserve photos and documents on CD ROM.

The Tribes' collection includes more than 500 photographs donated by Tribal members and others, as well as 35 rolls of microfilm containing early government documents pertaining to the Grand Ronde Reservation. The Tribes’ collection also includes original maps of the reservation and treaty lands, as well as journals and letters written by Tribal members, Indian agents and others.

Profiles of Past Tribal Leaders
The Tribes’ cultural resources staff also is working to profile the Tribes’ past leaders so young tribal members can have a better sense of the people who came before them and the contributions they made. They regularly research and then share information about early Tribal life with current Tribal members.

Reclamation of Sacred Objects
Using the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Tribal officials have reclaimed funerary and other objects. Tribal members have held reburial ceremonies. Tribal leaders also work closely with state and federal officials to prevent looting and vandalism of Tribal cultural sites.

Museum Development
The Tribal government is working on plans for a museum or history center, to serve as a resource for Tribal members and as a way to share Tribal culture with others.

Partnerships with Cultural Institutions
In June 2000, the Tribes entered into a landmark partnership with the American Museum of Natural History in New York for shared custody of a 16-ton meteorite known generally as the Willamette Meteorite. The meteorite fell to earth 10,000 years ago and eventually came to rest near present-day West Linn, Oregon. The Clackamas Indians (whose descendants are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) called the meteorite "Tomanowas" and believed it was sent to earth as a representative of the "Sky People." The meteorite represented a union of sky, earth and water; tribal hunters would dip their arrows in rainwater collected in its basins. The meteorite will remain in the museum’s collection, but Tribal members will have private access to it for ceremonial uses. A new display highlights the meteorite’s significance to Native Americans.

As part of the Tribes’ commitment to giving back, Tribal leaders have worked extensively with other Oregon cultural institutions to make the art and culture of native peoples more accessible to the broader community. The Tribes’ Spirit Mountain Community Fund has provided significant funding to accomplish that goal. The Tribe’s helped fund a major renovation of the Portland Art Museum that created the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Center for Native American Art, an 8,000-square-foot space for one of the country’s most significant collections of Native American art. The Community Fund also has made major gifts to the Multnomah County Central Library in Portland so the library could increase its collection of books about and by Native Americans, and to the Oregon History Center for development of a "Visions of Eden" exhibit on early life in the Willamette Valley. 

Environmental Preservation
Salmon and trout were staple foods of the Grand Ronde people during a time in history when these fish were abundant in the streams and rivers of Oregon. To Tribal people, fish and water were the essence of life.

As the Northwest region undertakes the important task of saving its threatened and endangered fish, the Grand Ronde Tribes have drawn on their centuries-old tradition of environmental stewardship. The Tribes have built a record of leadership and commitment to restoring the Western Oregon watersheds that feed the remarkable Willamette River, one of thirteen treasured American Heritage rivers.

Tribal natural resource managers are working aggressively to restore fish habitat on the 10,000-acre Grand Ronde Reservation, which is mostly forestland. They have succeeded in restoring salmon spawning grounds on parts of the Reservation’s seven rivers by removing culverts, rehabilitating stream banks, replacing invasive species with native plants and making other habitat improvements.

The Tribes' expertise in environmental management was acknowledged in 1999, when the U.S. Forest Service contracted with the Tribes to handle management of 6,600 acres of federal forestland adjacent to the Grand Ronde Reservation.

Off the reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde have built a record of involvement and success in helping in salmon recovery efforts. The Tribe’s joined with the City of Portland and other governmental and non-governmental groups to encourage voluntary fish-habitat restoration in the lower Willamette Basin, primarily the Portland metropolitan area.

The Tribe’s played a central role on Gov. John Kitzhaber's Willamette Restoration Initiative, advising the Legislature and others on fish-recovery strategies.

The Tribes' Natural Resources Department also conducts education outreach to Tribal members and community residents, encouraging water conservation, protection of existing wetlands, restoration of riparian areas and reductions in the use of herbicides, fertilizers and insecticides. Through its Spirit Mountain Community Fund, the Tribe’s have contributed to a variety of projects operated by such groups as the River Network, 1000 Friends of Oregon, SOLV, and For the Sake of the Salmon.