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The Chinook Indian Nation is an unrecognized tribe in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington that was federally recognized from 2001 to 2002.

History

The Chinookan peoples historically lived along the Columbia River and on the Pacific Ocean near the river's mouth. The westernmost Chinookan tribes, the Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Willapa, Wahkiakum, and Kathlamet tribes, comprise the Chinook Indian Nation. The Chinook Indian Nation includes one of the largest populations with Clatsop ancestry.

The 1851 Tansy Point Treaty, which would grant federal recognition, was signed but not ratified by Congress. The tribe participated in a failed treaty negotiation in 1855 at Chehalis River with Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens. The Chinook and the Cowlitz refused to sign it as Stevens's proposal would require them to relocate and live with the unfamiliar Quinault people. An 1873 executive order by Ulysses S. Grant granted allotments of the Quinault Indian Reservation to "fish-eating Indians", which included the Chinook. The Chinooks sued to receive allotments in 1926 and won the 1928 court case Halbert v. United States, which was upheld in 1931 by the Ninth Circuit Court. They received their first allotment in 1933. The nation continued to advocate for recognition by maintaining enrollment lists and holding monthly council meetings.

In 1956, the tribe's chairman, J. Grant Elliott, wrote to oppose the construction of the Pelton Dam on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation as he believed it would hinder access to fish for Chinook fishers.

Bill Clinton signed an executive order granting recognition to the Chinook Indian Nation. The law excluded "those members of the petitioning group whose Indian descent is exclusively from the historical Clatsop Tribe" on the grounds that the Clatsop had lost official status under the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act and that they had joined the nation later than the other subgroups. Months later, the administration of George W. Bush revoked the recognition on the grounds that the tribe lacked documentation between the 1850s and 1920s.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs recognizes tribes only if they meet the conditions of the Federal Acknowledgement Process. Tribes whose petitions have been denied are banned from petitioning again. The Chinook Indian Nation challenged this rule in Chinook Indian Nation v. Bernhardt, arguing that the ban was unreasonable and beyond the power of the bureau. The court sided with the tribe.

After becoming an unrecognized tribe, the Chinook Nation said that it would not stop pursuing federal recognition. The tribe worked with state and federal agencies, but its status prevented it from protecting land. It purchased land near Astoria, Oregon with funding from donors including the Oregon Community Foundation, the Meyer Memorial Trust, and the Collins Foundation. The land included a Chinookan village and a gathering place where the Tansy Point Treaty had been signed. The tribe is in the process of establishing a land trust for the site, as of 2023.

Administration

The Chinook Indian Nation is based in Bay Center, Washington. As of February 2019, it has about 3,000 citizens. Most citizens live near the tribe's historical homeland in Washington and Oregon. The tribal council discouraged tribal disenrollment in 2016.

Activities

The Chinook Indian Nation participates in efforts to revive the canoe tradition. It began participating in Tribal Canoe Journeys in 2005, along with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The two tribes combined their resources and began jointly participating in the event. As both tribes increased their presence at the event, they began participating separately, though they continued collaborating.

References

1. ^ Daehnke, Jon D. (2019). "A Heritage of Reciprocity: Canoe Revitalization, Cultural Resilience, and the Power of Protocol". The Public Historian. 41 (1): 64–77. ISSN 0272-3433.
2. ^ Deur, Douglas (2016). "The Making of Seaside's "Indian Place": Contested and Enduring Native Spaces on the Nineteenth Century Oregon Coast". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 117 (4): 536–573. doi:10.5403/oregonhistq.117.4.0536. ISSN 0030-4727.
3. Sweeney, Rosemary (2001). "Federal Acknowledgement of Indian Tribes: Current Bia Interpretations of the Federal Criteria for Acknowledgment with Respect to Several Northwest Tribes". American Indian Law Review. 26 (2): 203–231. doi:10.2307/20070681. ISSN 0094-002X.
4. ^ Barber, Katrine (2013). "Shared Authority in the Context of Tribal Sovereignty: Building Capacity for Partnerships with Indigenous Nations". The Public Historian. 35 (4): 20–39. doi:10.1525/tph.2013.35.4.20. ISSN 0272-3433.
5. Allen, Cain (2003). "Replacing Salmon: Columbia River Indian Fishing Rights and the Geography of Fisheries Mitigation". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 104 (2): 196–227. ISSN 0030-4727.
6. Lee, Ama (September 1, 2022). "Two Classes of Tribes: Unifying the State and Federal Recognition Systems". Columbia Human Rights Law Review. 54 (1): 274.
7. Carlson, Kirsten Matoy (2017). "Making Strategic Choices: How and Why Indian Groups Advocated for Federal Recognition from 1977 to 2012". Law & Society Review. 51 (4): 930–965. ISSN 0023-9216.
8. Daehnke, John D.; Lafrenz Samuels, Kathryn (2023). Heritage and Democracy: Crisis, Critique, and Collaboration. University Press of Florida. p. 250. ISBN 9780813070360.
9. Minke, Tabitha (2016). "Christman V. Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde: A Chapter in the Disenrollment Epidemic". American Indian Law Review. 41 (1): 201–217. ISSN 0094-002X.

• Chinookan tribes
• Former American Indian reservations
• Unrecognized tribes in the United States
• Native American tribes in Washington (state)
• Native American tribes in Oregon