A federal court decided Friday to put a federal case over a Native fishing platform at one of Oregon’s most famous waterfalls to trial.
Several Oregon tribes that have been aligning on either side of the thundering waters of Willamette Falls may face wider repercussions from the lawsuit filed by Portland General Electric against the Oregon Department of State Lands in 2022, in which the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde has intervened as a defendant.
PGE is using federal authorities to condemn five acres of land at Willamette Falls in an attempt to prevent the Grand Ronde tribe from building a seasonal fishing platform on the rocks under the cascade, a practice the company claims is dangerous. According to maps presented to the court, the action would grant PGE authority over the whole rocky region, allowing tribal members to fish from it.
The Grand Ronde tribe claims that the lawsuit is an attempt by the utility company to meddle in intertribal disputes. The Grand Ronde tribe was granted a permit for the fishing platform by the Oregon Department of State Lands in 2018. The attorneys for the Grand Ronde tribe have accused PGE in its court pleadings of supporting a group of four other tribes with ties to Willamette Falls who have openly criticized the Grand Ronde fishing platform for years.
This includes the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, with whom PGE shares ownership of the Round Butte Dam in Madras. The Grand Ronde tribe’s attorneys have cited this economic tie as evidence that the company is operating dishonestly.
In his decision to deny PGE summary judgment on the majority of its claims, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon mostly agreed with the Grand Ronde tribe, finding sufficient evidence to cast doubt on the utility’s intentions.
As of right now, April 21 is the trial date.
PGE said in a statement on Monday that it is eager for the trial process to settle the disagreement.
A PGE representative stated that while the company is sad, it supports the decision to move forward with condemnation, which was made in support of our federal licensing duties to preserve operations and safety in the region of the falls directly below our hydroelectric dam.
The Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes stated that they are still dedicated to defending their rights at Willamette Falls and would present their case during the trial in April.
Stacia Hernandez, the chief of staff for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, stated in a written statement on Monday that the tribe respects the Court’s ruling and values the thorough analysis of the issues raised in this case.
A view of Willamette Falls from Oregon City’s McLoughlin Promenade.”The Oregonian” or Jamie Hale
A view of Willamette Falls from a Portland General Electric property in West Linn, where a new public access project is being planned by the Willamette Falls Trust, an intertribal alliance.”The Oregonian” or Jamie Hale
The litigation has wider ramifications, even though the main issue is whether Oregon or PGE has the authority to decide who has access to the waterfall.
PGE is attempting to use eminent domain authority to condemn five acres of land at the base of the falls, claiming it has authority under the Federal Power Act with its permit to operate the hydroelectric plant. PGE has claimed that Grand Ronde’s platform fishing at Willamette Falls is dangerous and could disrupt its operations.
The utility, however, states that its ultimate goal is to request that the federal government grant a permanent cultural practice easement that several tribes might use in a safe manner, rather than outright banning platform fishing.
In a filing to the court, PGE lawyers stated that the company has been working for years to provide all federally recognized Northwest tribes with equal access to Willamette Falls for traditional activities, like as ceremonial fishing.
In order to move forward with the planned cultural easement with the federal government, which rejected the utility’s first application because of the ongoing disagreement, Kristen Sheeran, PGE’s vice president of policy and resource planning, described the lawsuit as a means of resolving land ownership at the waterfall.
The utility stated that although an agreement has been reached with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, negotiations with Grand Ronde have failed to produce a consensus or agreement, leading to the condemnation suit.
Grand Ronde invited the other tribes to apply for a platform permit as well, stating that it has no problems with them fishing at Willamette Falls. Instead, the tribe has called the case a land grab that impacts all Oregonians, and its attorneys say PGE is being dishonest by using safety concerns as a pretext to block Grand Ronde’s permit on behalf of the other tribes.
Kathleen George, a member of the Grand Ronde Tribal Council, stated in December that a private firm condemning a public asset of the Willamette River seems like a quite harsh move to take when the stated reason for safety doesn’t make any sense. It has never been necessary to condemn Willamette Falls since, like other tribes, we have been fishing there for a very long time.
Why now is the central question in the Grand Ronde case.
Over the past 150 years, the waterfall—a fishing and meeting spot for Indigenous people for countless generations—has been owned by both government and private organizations. When paper mills began to appear on both banks of the river toward the end of the 1800s, PGE, which was then the Willamette Falls Electric Company, constructed the T.W. Sullivan Hydroelectric Plant, which is still in use today.
Although several of the tribes have treaties that permit them to fish at regular and familiar fishing spots, fishing has been strictly forbidden at Willamette Falls, even though tribes have long been permitted to catch lamprey, an eel-like fish that clings to the rocks below the falls.
In Oregon City, a young man tries to capture Pacific lamprey at Willamette Falls. The Yakama Nation Willamette Falls Lamprey Celebration for 2023 was taking place nearby.Nakamura, Beth
In 2016, an intertribal fishing team collects lamprey at Oregon City’s Willamette Falls.Rasmussen, Randy L./The Oregonian
Although Yakama Nation and the state made an agreement in 1994 to harvest salmon from platforms at the waterfall, fishermen were disappointed by the lack of salmon. The action began after the Grand Ronde tribe was granted permission to kill 15 fish from a platform for ceremonial purposes in 2016.
In order to build a fishing platform on the rocks under the falls, the Grand Ronde tribe negotiated with PGE and the Oregon Department of State Lands throughout 2017, according to court documents. Despite the objections of other tribes, the state agency authorized the application in 2018 and subsequently upheld the deal.
The other tribes’ leaders have voiced their concerns that Grand Ronde is unfairly gaining a foothold at Willamette Falls through its actions, such as its 2019 acquisition of the former Blue Heron paper mill site for the development of its eventual Tumwata village. They also accuse the tribe of rejecting intertribal cooperation at the significant cultural site.
PGE appealed the state’s permit after pausing talks for a fishing platform in Grand Ronde because to opposition from the other tribes. A federal judge ordered the company and tribe to mediate the matter in 2019, but the talks broke down in 2021, and the condemnation complaint was filed the following year.
PGE argued that the land in question is situated directly inside its area of operations for the hydroelectric plant, granting it the authority to manage and control access and obviating the necessity for a trial in its move for summary judgment this fall.
Grand Ronde said that the five-acre tract of land, which includes the majority of the rocky region inside the horseshoe-shaped waterfall, is outside the power plant’s borders and is obviously not required for PGE’s operations.
In the meanwhile, the Oregon Department of State Lands has only attempted to identify the property owners of Willamette Falls. State attorneys merely requested that the court clearly define the limits of any future ownership in their brief answer to PGE’s complaint, without contesting the utility’s eminent domain authority.
A state department spokesperson declined to comment on the case.
In an interview, Grand Ronde tribe council member George described the state’s response as disappointing. According to her, the tribe, whose federal recognition was revoked in 1954 and reinstated in 1983, continues to experience discrimination, particularly as it works to revive traditional customs at Willamette Falls.
“The ability to bring our fishermen back to the falls and harvest a few salmon to share with our community has brought tremendous healing to our people,” George remarked of the village. Why does a private company appear to be doing everything in its power to prevent the Grand Ronde Tribe from fishing at Willamette Falls?
–Jamie Hale co-hosts the Peak Northwest podcast and writes about travel and the outdoors. You may contact him at [email protected], 503-294-4077, or HaleJamesB.
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