From Pendleton to Beaverton, from Coos Bay to the Umpqua River, Native American culture is Oregon culture. Tribal arts, music and dance, history and tradition make up a powerful part of the Oregon spirit.

Recognized at the Oregon State Capitol May 9, by Governor John Kitzhaber, Oregon American Indian Week kicked off last Thursday with that formal proclamation.Participants included the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Coos, Lower Umpqua, Siuslaw, Siletz, Warm Springs and Cow Creek Brand of Umpqua Tribe Indians.

Canoe and fishing exhibits, fry bread making demonstrations, drumming and Siletz Feather dancers were highlights of the day. Activities such as beading, first foods, and language supported the theme, “We are Teaching Our Children.”

According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, there are 566 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes in the United States. Nine federally recognized tribes have ancestral lands in Oregon.Oregon recognizes and works with the tribes through its Legislative Commission on Indian Services, but Oregon is unique in that the tribes are also recognized and directly served by the Oregon Cultural Trust.

In addition to making grants once a year to 36 county cultural coalitions, which are then re-granted to community organizations, the Cultural Trust awards annual grants to six of the nine federally recognized tribes.Each county and tribal cultural coalition creates a cultural plan for its community, which then entitles the coalition to receive Cultural Trust annual funding.

Through the cultural planning process and annual grants, the Trust has strengthened relationships with the tribes. Tribal leaders from the Umatilla and Grand Ronde offered powerful testimony to extend Oregon’s cultural tax credit this spring.