State Board Won’t Weigh Treaty Rights in Oregon Resort Fight
Warm Springs officials have argued that Deschutes County approved the resort’s plans without considering how groundwater pumping to green golf courses, luxury homes and hotels could hurt fish populations protected through an 1855 treaty the tribes signed with the federal government.
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THE LATEST

Woman displaying a live lamprey

Lummi Nation Opposes BP's $50M Purchase of Culturally Significant Land

The landscape and seascape at Cherry Point, near Bellingham, Wash. is known in the Lummi language as Xwe’chi’eXen. “For thousands of years, and continuing to this day, our people have lived here, fished here, gathered plants here, raised families here, and buried loved ones here,” said Lummi Nation Chairman Anthony Hillaire.
Woman displaying a live lamprey

Elder Profile: Patsy Whitefoot

Elder, educator and activist Patsy Whitefoot has a passion for arming the next generation with tools for change.

NEWS & FEATURES

Indigenous People Press on to Indigenize Museums

Indigenous consultants are pushing to decolonize or Indigenize museums and galleries for accurate identification, representation and repatriation.

A Closed Juvenile Detention Facility on Traditional Chinook Indian Nation Lands May be Returned

A task force created by the Washington State Office of Financial Management may soon recommend the return of nearly 23 acres to the Chinook Indian Nation, including buildings that could support the cultural survival of the first people of that land.

Elder Profile: Dr. Carma Corcoran

Our History Influences Our Future

How the Recovery of a Stolen Plant Helped One Tribe Re-Indigenize Tobacco

Tribes in Oregon are once again growing and using Columbian tobacco, a variety native to the Pacific Northwest that was all but wiped out by displacement from white settlers.

Year in Review: Photos that defined 2023

A look back at Underscore’s photojournalism of the year.

The Year in Review

In 2023, Underscore News published over one hundred stories. Here are some must reads.

Flexing Food Sovereignty

Flexing Our Sovereignty: An Introduction to Underscore's Food Sovereignty Project

Series Co-Manager Nicole Charley introduces a series of stories about traditional Indigenous knowledge and practices that honor and strengthen the relationship to the plants and animals that sustain all of us.

How Indigenous Nations Are Rebuilding Food Systems

Local food, grounded in cultural and spiritual values, forms the basis for a growing food sovereignty movement.

Root Down: At Warm Springs, a New Generation Leads the Feast

As the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs holds traditional first foods feasts in its ceremonial longhouses for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, tribal youth have stepped up to carry the knowledge of the many elders who passed during the pandemic.

Breaking the Law to Uphold it

Legal challenges protect tribal rights to traditional fishing, hunting and gathering.

How Acorns Carry Cultural Knowledge

An Indigenous writer reflects on learning to make acorns into San-chvn-tuu-’i’ or ‘juice of the acorn,’ a hot porridge and staple food.

When Food is Much More than a Commodity

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians leverages government-issued commodities to build a resilient food system that nourishes tribal members. It’s paying off.

SPECIAL SERIES
Sovereign Justice: Data-Driven Reporting Project

Sovereign Justice

The growing power of tribal courts is on full display at the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

On an Ancient Road, Tribal Elders Wage a Relentless Battle

The government bulldozed an Indigenous religious site along a busy Oregon highway, but tribal elders and their families still visit Ana Kwna Nchi Nchi Patat in order to satisfy their religious obligations. Now, the elders want the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their claim to restore the site.

The Chinook Nation’s Existential Fight for Recognition

Chinook people have fought for federal status for close to two centuries. This portrait shows what federal recognition means for the nation’s land base, healthcare, education and legal protections. But, more than anything, tribal members want to be recognized for who they are, and who they have been for millennia.

SPECIAL REPORT
Indigenous Survivors: Voices of Resilience

Justice Lags for Indigenous Survivors of Violence

For Indigenous families, the struggle to prosecute crimes committed by non-Natives on tribal land has created lasting trauma.

Desireé Coyote's Fight to Empower Survivors of Violence

Coyote's story, told through hours of interviews and documents, reveals how years of trauma and systemic failures drove her to advocate for survivors like her.

Indigenous Survivors: Voices of Resilience

Three Indigenous women in Oregon, all survivors of violence who have become advocates in the footsteps of Desireé Coyote, share their personal stories in an effort to inspire and help other survivors.

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