Native American Heritage Month

Author: Lace Thornberg  |  Published: November 22, 2021  |  Category: In the News

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November is Native American Heritage Month

In Oregon and throughout the Americas, Indigenous communities’ connection to the land has endured from time immemorial to this day.

As we mark Native American Heritage Day on Friday, November 26, 2021, ONDA encourages you to learn more about the rich history and present-day experiences of the Indigenous peoples who are directly connected to Oregon’s high desert: the Burns Paiute Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Klamath Tribes and the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes.

Here are two ONDA pieces that you might find interesting:

• Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands: One-of-a-kind and millions of years in the making. This interactive map includes an overlay, sourced from Native-lands.ca, which shows the traditional Indigenous territories in the Owyhee region.
• The Hope of Wild Places. This event featured an illuminating dialogue between Warm Springs Paiute spiritual leader and oral historian Wilson Wewa and photographer and filmmaker Jason Houston.

And, did you know that several of ONDA’s major restoration projects take place on lands currently managed by the Burns Paiute Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs?

• Burns Paiute Tribal Properties
• Pine Creek Conservation Area

Earlier this month, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy and Council on Environmental Quality released a first-of-its kind memorandum to initiate new federal guidance on Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK).

For a grounding in Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge, we recommend reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s essential tome, Braiding Sweetgrass. You can also find a number of different publications about various projects that incorporate ITEK in this database managed by the Native Nations Institute.

For learning about tribal cultures of Oregon, as well throughout the Americas, these extensive reading lists from the Multnomah County Library staff will offer you plenty of choices.This list of titles centers Native voices in history:

• Native American, Alaska Native and First Nations histories

And, this list features fiction, poetry and memoir by Native American, First Nations, Native Alaskan and Indigenous authors:

• Native Voices: Own voices memoir, poetry and novels by Indigenous people

Thank you for taking the time to learn about Native cultures and the many Indigenous leaders who have worked tirelessly to preserve the environment.