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Willamalane heard concerns from the Native American community about its program at Dorris Ranch.
The executive director of Willamalane Park and Recreation District apologized to the Native American community during a Wednesday, Sept. 9, board of directors meeting for harm caused by the district’s living history program at Dorris Ranch.
“Through program reviews and recent conversations, we heard concerns of the appropriateness of aspects of that programming and the harm and triggering effects that it caused for members of the Native American community,” Michael Wargo said. “We also recognize that our follow-up and our communication and response to those concerns were inadequate.”
Wargo said the program started in 1995, and Willamalane ended its internal program last year. According to Willamalane’s website, the village includes a homestead, blacksmith shop, Native American plank house, trapper’s cabin and a lean-to. Local teachers helped build the historical replicas using grants from the U.S. Department of Education.
“On behalf of Willamlane, I sincerely apologize for any harm caused by our program internally, and I really want to make that clear that it’s internal programming that I’m apologizing for, not any external programming that we did after that fact, and for the ways that we fell short in listening, communicating and responding appropriately,” Wargo said.
The apology came after an Aug. 26 meeting between Willamalane staff and members of the Native American community.
In an interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield, Wargo said the program hosted field trips and staff would dress in the attire of early Oregon settlers.
“It was really like a snapshot of that time, but it didn’t really talk about how the land came about, which didn’t belong to the settlers, or what happened afterward,” he said.
Last year, Willamalane invited a focus group of Native American community members to provide feedback on the district’s internal program.
“We received feedback at that time that it really wasn’t an accurate representation of the true history or things that were culturally appropriate,” Wargo said.
“We don’t have internal subject matter expertise to properly offer this program, and felt that maybe we should stay in our lane a little bit in delivering parks and recreation. So we opted to contract the programming of that out,” he said.
The district requested proposals and chose a vendor, Wargo said. Singing Creek Educational Center took over living history programming at Dorris Ranch.
“But we did receive, then, feedback from the Native American community members again that they felt like we did not bake into the (request for proposal) or the contract specifications of what was culturally appropriate. That we had missed the mark on that,” Wargo said.
He said Willamalane mutually separated ways with the contractor this summer.
During the Wednesday meeting, the director asked the board to support developing a Native American Community Engagement Panel “intended to start to rebuild relationships and create a consistent way for Willamalane to listen and work collaboratively with members of the Native American community,” he said.
The two-year pilot plan, among other initiatives, creates opportunities for native-led and culturally responsive programming, he said. The directors unanimously approved the request.
During the meeting, Candace Hill said she was part of the focus group that went through the living history exhibit, “and I was shocked to see the disconnect between real history, the reality of what is pretty common knowledge about Kalapuya history, and then (present-day) native culture, and what was being shared with our young children and families.”
Hill is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and said her views were her own and not representative of the tribe. She said that if Willamalane wants to continue a living history program, seek consultation from a tribe with ancestral ties to the Kalapuya homeland.
Jennifer Eisele, who is from a Nevada-area tribe, helped facilitate the meeting with Willamalane staff.
“Oregon has a pretty racist history against Native people, and it’s nice to see a local government doing something actionable,” she told Lookout ahead of the meeting.
Eisele said she was looking forward to seeing the advisory committee’s outcome.
Rowena Jackson, a member of the Klamath tribes, told Lookout she was happy the board was moving forward in creating the panel.
“It’s rare that native voices get to be heard, and it’s heartbreaking that sometimes it takes a long time to be heard,” she said. “It feels good to be heard, not only for the existing community, but for the next generations to come, all in a good way.”
