Land Acknowledgement
The Portland Metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. Indigenous people have created communities and summer encampments to harvest and enjoy the plentiful natural resources of the area for the last 11,000 years.
We want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.
We also acknowledge the systemic policies of genocide, relocation, and assimilation that still impact many Indigenous/Native American families today. As settlers and guests on these lands, we respect the work of Indigenous leaders and families, and pledge to make ongoing efforts recognize their knowledge, creativity, and resilience.
Thanks to Portland Parks Foundation!
Why Make This Acknowledgement?
According to the study The Native American Community in Multnomah County:
An Unsettling Profile, Portland, Oregon has the “…9th largest urban Indian population in the USA.”
These are our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers, people who work in our community, who visit the parks, the gardens, the rivers, and other wild areas that once were the homes of their ancestors. And not all that long ago.
We encourage you to learn as much as you can about the Native people who lived and thrived on this land and who still live here, in your neighborhood.
