Tribe requests consultation on Willamette Falls Trust funding

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

The Grand Ronde Tribe has asked Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek to hold off on approving a funding request by Willamette Falls Trust, pending “a more rigorous review” and Tribal consultation.

 The request is the latest move in an ongoing struggle between Grand Ronde, Siletz, Umatilla and Warm Springs Tribes in Oregon, and the Yakama Nation of Washington over fishing rights at Willamette Falls.

Willamette Falls Trust is a nonprofit organization which includes Yakama, Siletz, Umatilla and Warm Springs Tribes, along with government representatives from Oregon City, Metro and the state. It was established in 2015, with Grand Ronde as a member and stated its mission was to re-open the falls to the public and provide more Tribal input to management of the area. However, relations soon became rocky.

A year or two after the Trust was established, Grand Ronde began negotiating with Portland General Electric, to place a fishing platform at Willamette Falls. Although negotiations initially went well, in 2018, PGE abruptly notified the Tribe it was ending the discussion because of objections from the Warm Springs and other Tribes. PGE operates the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric complex on the Deschutes River, in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

Grand Ronde then sought and received authorization from the state to install its fishing platform. That authorization was opposed by PGE and all four of the other Willamette Falls Trust Tribes, who filed an unsuccessful appeal of the decision.

In 2019, Grand Ronde purchased the former Blue Heron Paper Mill and announced plans to demolish the mill structures and restore the property, including public access to the falls.

In 2021, Grand Ronde withdrew from the Willamette Falls Trust. Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy accused the Trust of undermining the Tribe’s sovereignty, and complained of “micro-aggressions” from staff and board members. The withdrawal left the Trust without property on which to carry out its mission.

The same year, Grand Ronde commissioned a report by Dr. Stephen Dow Beckham, a professor emeritus of history at Lewis & Clark College, to analyze a document that had been produced by the Umatilla Tribe. The document was sent to then Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and it claimed to provide evidence of the Umatilla Tribe’s historical connections to Willamette Falls.

Beckham called it “intellectually dishonest,” and in a 205-page analysis, said the Umatilla had not previously identified any traditional Tribal fishing sites west of Celilo Falls, some 100 miles to the east. A historically vital fishing site for the Tribes of the Columbia Plateau, which include the Warm Springs, Umatilla and Yakima peoples, Celilo Falls was submerged by the Dalles Dam in 1957.

Brown is now the Executive Director of the Willamette Falls Trust. PGE is partnering with the Trust.

In 2022, PGE sued the state of Oregon, seeking to seize ownership of the falls. It was supported by the Tribes involved in the trust. The Siletz participated as a friend of the court, siding with PGE. Grand Ronde contended that PGE is misusing the federal condemnation process to intervene on behalf of the Tribes with whom it has business dealings.

The case went to trial in federal court this past April in Portland. The judge is expected to issue his decision this summer.

Grand Ronde has repeatedly asserted that, while it welcomes other Tribes’ fishing activities at the falls, it remains the only Tribe with documented treaty rights there, as the Clowewalla and Clackamas villagers who occupied the falls were moved to Grand Ronde after signing the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1865. After their removal, Tribal members continued traveling to the falls to fish.

Grand Ronde acknowledges that other Tribes historically fished the falls, but notes that they lived elsewhere, and says they fished as guests of the Clowewalla and Clackamas villages along the Willamette River.

Grand Ronde has said the other Tribes are essentially trying to rewrite history, in order to lay claim to the falls, while the other four Tribes have accused Grand Ronde of trying to assert dominance over a shared historical resource.

In May, the Willamette Falls Trust asked the Oregon Legislature for $75 million in state funds to purchase Moore’s Island and surrounding uplands at the falls. It wants to use the land to move forward with its intertribal public access project.

In a letter to Kotek dated Monday, June 9, Grand Ronde Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy wrote that “Proponents are representing this project as returning land to Oregon’s Tribal nations, however the (Willamette Falls Trust) excludes CTGR, the Tribe of record in the area, and includes an out-of-state Tribe. Consultation with CTGR has not occurred, or even been initiated by the state as it contemplates the disposition of Moore’s Island.”

It continued, “The contractors hired by WFT have misrepresented Tribal history at Willamette Falls and there has not been adequate time or resources committed to the healing required to address this misrepresentation. This project is misguided, disingenuous and comes at a time when our own Tribe is in litigation with the state’s largest utility over our ability to practice our culture. Economic uncertainty nationwide and continuous threats to Tribal governments’ ability to achieve self-sufficiency are compounding our concerns. CTGR encourages further evaluation of the request, and engagement by Tribes with documented treaty rights and whose aboriginal lands encompass the Willamette Falls waterway.”

A spokesperson for the governor said the letter is under review.