Confluence Library

In this episode, speakers discuss a recent documentary on Native American food sovereignty called “Gather.” Our conversation includes two of the people featured in the film: Nephi Craig, a chef from the White Mountain Apache Nation in Arizona and Samuel Gensaw, the co-founder of Ancestral Guard.

In this article, Keri E. Iyall Smith (Cowlitz) details how, by taking cues from Indigenous Peoples who see the natural world as relatives, equal to humans, entitled to protections and thoughtful (minimal) use, it is possible to shift away from attitudes that expanded in the colonial era, which see land as a thing to be conquered and with resources to be extracted.

200 years after the Lewis and Clark journey, the first Confluence art installation was completed in 2006 at Cape Disappointment state park on the Washington state side of the river.

In 2021, the Vancouver Land Bridge underwent refurbishment, which were celebrated in this recorded ceremony. At the ceremony, Confluence also dedicated a tree planted in honor of our Founding Director Jane Jacobsen, who passed away in 2020.

This guide is designed to guide you though the Confluence Story Circles.

I used to fish when I was a kid; catch trout and bring them home so they could cook them. When I was little, I saw guys go to the river with a hook, and then they’d bring back fish, and then they’d cook them right off. There was always the huckleberry time to go and stay and hunt at the same time. There was always drying of meat. That was the way it was until allotments came and treaties came, and then we had to rely on the other services that were available to provide us with some food.

Curious about how Confluence got started? Want to explore our five completed art landscapes? Interested in the work we’re doing in schools? Check out this recorded event!

For Native people of the Columbia River system, knowledge about salmon has been passed down through the generations, since time immemorial. Fish are intertwined with River Peoples’ past, present, and future. This article highlights several important subjects and resources, along with how seven fish of the Nch’i Wāna (Columbia River) are intertwined with tribal identity.

Greg Archuleta (Grand Ronde) prepared this report on First Foods at the Sandy River Delta, where the Confluence Bird Blind is located, for the Sandy River Watershed Council.

In this episode, we get to hear traditional stories from Ciarra Greene (Nimiipuu/Nez Perce Tribe). Her academic background is in chemistry and environmental science.