Lincoln City As hundreds of people in traditional garb danced in a circle, the conference room of the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast, was filled with chanting and drumming.
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians have celebrated their regaining federal recognition with an annual powwow for the past 47 years. However, this month’s ceremony was particularly noteworthy because it occurred just two weeks after a federal court overturned restrictions on the tribe’s hunting, fishing, and gathering rights—restrictions that tribal leaders had fought for decades.
“We’ve returned to our previous state,” stated Delores Pigsley, the chairman of Siletz. It’s a great feeling.
The historic homelands of the Siletz, a confederation of more than two dozen bands and tribes, included sections of northern California, southwestern Washington state, and western Oregon. In spite of their disparate origins and languages, the federal government pushed them onto a reservation on the Oregon coast in the 1850s, where they were united as a single, officially recognized tribe.
The Siletz were among the more than 100 tribes whose status was withdrawn by Congress in the 1950s and 1960s under a program known as termination. Tribes that were impacted lost federal cash and services, along with millions of acres of land.
According to Matthew Campbell, deputy director of the Native American Rights Fund, the objective was to try to assimilate Native people and get them relocated to cities. However, I also believe that there was a financial component to it. I believe that the United States was looking for ways to reduce the expenses associated with supporting tribal nations.
During a powwow at Chinook Winds Casino Resort on Saturday, November 16, 2024, in Lincoln City, Oregon, Tiffany Stuart, shown on the right in white, clutches hands with her daughter Kwestaani Chuski Stuart, pictured on the bottom right. (Photo by Jenny Kane/AP)
The tribes struggled for decades to obtain federal recognition after suffering the loss of their territory and ability to govern themselves. After the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin was restored in 1973, the Siletz became the second tribe to achieve success in 1977.
However, the Siletz tribe had to consent to a federal court ruling that limited its hunting, fishing, and gathering privileges in order to partially regain about 3,600 acres (1,457 hectares) of the 1.1-million-acre (445,000-hectare) reservation created for them in 1855. Along with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde in Oregon, it was one of just two tribes in the nation forced to do so in order to reclaim their ancestral lands.
The settlement placed restrictions on where tribal members could hunt, fish, and gather for subsistence and ceremonial purposes. It also set annual harvest limits for deer, elk, and salmon. According to tribal chair Pigsley, it was devastating: People were arrested for hunting and fishing infractions, and the tribe was compelled to purchase salmon for rituals since it was unable to support itself.
Pigsley, who has been the tribe’s leader for 36 years, told The Associated Press earlier this year that giving up such rights was a horrible thing. We have endured it over the years, even though it was unjust at the time.
On Saturday, November 16, 2024, in Lincoln City, Oregon, Stuart Whitehead dances at a powwow at Chinook Winds Casino Resort. (Photo by Jenny Kane/AP)
Decades later, Oregon and the United States agreed to join the tribe in recommending to the court that the limits be lifted after realizing that the arrangement subjecting the tribe to state hunting and fishing regulations was prejudiced.
The 1980 Agreement and Consent Decree, according to a joint court filing by the U.S., state, and tribe’s attorneys, represented a biased and distorted position on tribal sovereignty, tribal traditions, and the Siletz Tribe’s ability and authority to manage and sustain wildlife populations it traditionally used for tribal ceremonial and subsistence purposes. The governor of Oregon and Oregon’s congressional representatives have since acknowledged that the agreement was a product of their times.
The tribe eventually got a federal judge to revoke the court injunction late last month. The tribe now has more authority over tribal hunting and fishing because to a different arrangement with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Pigsley expressed hope that the next generation would continue important customs as she thought back on those who died before the tribe regained its rights.
According to her, many young people are acquiring tribal customs and traditions. Today, it’s crucial because we need to return to our natural foods in order to raise healthy families.
Tiffany Stuart, wearing a basket cap that her family were known for making, and her 3-year-old daughter Kwestaani Chuski—whose name means “six butterflies” in the local Athabaskan language of northwest California and southern Oregon—were among others who were praying and rejoicing at the powwow.
Stuart stated that it was quite powerful for my children to dance in light of the return of rights.
“You dance for those who are no longer able to dance,” she stated.
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