Drumming made the floor vibrate and singing filled the conference room of the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast, as hundreds in tribal regalia danced in a circle.
For the last 47 years, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians have held an annual powwow to celebrate regaining federal recognition. This month鈥檚 event, however, was especially significant: It came just two weeks after a federal court lifted restrictions on the tribe鈥檚 rights to hunt, fish and gather 鈥� restrictions tribal leaders had opposed for decades.
鈥淲e鈥檙e back to the way we were before,鈥� Siletz Chairman Delores Pigsley said. 鈥淚t feels really good.鈥�
The Siletz is a confederation of over two dozen bands and tribes whose traditional homelands spanned a large swath of what is now western Oregon. The federal government in the 1850s forced them onto a reservation on the Oregon coast, where they were confederated together as a single, federally recognized tribe despite their different backgrounds and languages.
In the 1950s and 鈥�60s, Congress revoked recognition of over 100 tribes, including the Siletz, under a policy known as 鈥渢ermination.鈥� Affected tribes lost millions of acres of land as well as federal funding and services.
鈥淭he goal was to try and assimilate Native people, get them moved into cities,鈥� said Matthew Campbell, deputy director of the Native American Rights Fund. 鈥淏ut also I think there was certainly a financial aspect to it. I think the United States was trying to see how it could limit its costs in terms of providing for tribal nations.鈥�
Losing their lands and self-governance was painful, and the tribes fought for decades to regain federal recognition. In 1977, the Siletz became the second tribe to succeed, following the restoration of the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin in 1973.
But to get a fraction of its land back 鈥� roughly 3,600 acres (1,457 hectares) of the 1.1-million-acre (445,000-hectare) reservation established for the tribe in 1855 鈥� the Siletz tribe had to agree to a federal court order that restricted their hunting, fishing and gathering rights. It was only one of two tribes in the country, along with Oregon鈥檚 Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, compelled to do so to regain tribal land.
The settlement limited where tribal members could fish, hunt and gather for ceremonial and subsistence purposes, and it imposed caps on how many salmon, elk and deer could be harvested in a year. It was devastating, tribal chair Pigsley recalled: The tribe was forced to buy salmon for ceremonies because it couldn鈥檛 provide for itself, and people were arrested for hunting and fishing violations.
鈥淕iving up those rights was a terrible thing,鈥� Pigsley, who has led the tribe for 36 years, told The Associated Press earlier this year. 鈥淚t was unfair at the time, and we鈥檝e lived with it all these years.鈥�
Decades later, Oregon and the U.S. came to recognize that the agreement subjecting the tribe to state hunting and fishing rules was biased, and they agreed to join the tribe in recommending to the court that the restrictions be lifted.
鈥淭he Governor of Oregon and Oregon鈥檚 congressional representatives have since acknowledged that the 1980 Agreement and Consent Decree were a product of their times and represented a biased and distorted position on tribal sovereignty, tribal traditions, and the Siletz Tribe鈥檚 ability and authority to manage and sustain wildlife populations it traditionally used for tribal ceremonial and subsistence purposes,鈥� attorneys for the U.S., state and tribe wrote in a joint court filing.
Late last month, the tribe finally succeeded in having the court order vacated by a federal judge. A separate agreement with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has given the tribe a greater role in regulating tribal hunting and fishing.
As Pigsley reflected on those who passed away before seeing the tribe regain its rights, she expressed hope about the next generation carrying on essential traditions.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of youth out there that are learning tribal ways and culture,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important today because we are trying to raise healthy families, meaning we need to get back to our natural foods.鈥�
Among those celebrating and praying at the powwow was Tiffany Stuart, donning a basket cap her ancestors were known for weaving, and her 3-year-old daughter Kwestaani Chuski, whose name means 鈥渟ix butterflies鈥� in the regional Athabaskan language from southwestern Oregon and northwestern California.
Given the restoration of rights, Stuart said, it was 鈥渧ery powerful for my kids to dance.鈥�
鈥淵ou dance for the people that can鈥檛 dance anymore,鈥� she said.