Six Oregon tribes critical of Kotek’s office

Correction: This story originally misstated the tribes represented on the Willamette Falls Trust board. Oregon Journalism Project regrets the error.

After Gov. Tina Kotek decided earlier this month that she would not veto a controversial $45 million appropriation to Willamette Falls Trust to buy land at the falls, six Oregon tribes expressed widespread dissatisfaction about how the governor’s office has handled of tribal relations.

In 2023, her first year in office, Kotek established a 15-member task force on tribal consultation and named a tribal affairs director, Shana McConville Radford, formerly the deputy executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. 

“Communication and transparency are cornerstone to the state’s relationship with Oregon’s nine sovereign Tribes,” Kotek said at the time. 

In a letter dated Aug. 7, the day Kotek announced she wouldn’t veto the appropriation, six of those tribes registered discontent with their relationship with the governor:

“We appreciate that you created the position of director of tribal affairs,” reads the letter, signed by the chairs of the Burns Paiute Tribe; the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw; the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; the Coquille Indian Tribe; the Klamath Tribes; and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.

Burns Paiute Tribe; the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua & Siuslaw; the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; the Coquille Indian Tribe; the Klamath Tribes; and, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.

“After nearly two years, the role, responsibilities and expectations for this position remain unclear. It has provided a designated contact for your office, but also added a layer between tribal leaders and the governor, with whom we are peers. We need confidence that our positions and priorities are accurately and fully represented to you, and yours to us, which is not currently the case.”

Two recent flashpoints have highlighted tribal tensions.

The first was a 2023 agreement with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife that allowed the expansion of the Grand Ronde’s hunting, fishing and gathering rights in western Oregon. But at an emotional ODFW commission meeting July 11, after hearing opposition from the Warm Springs, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Yakama tribes, the commission agreed to reconsider the expansion.

Then, in the final week of this year’s legislative session, lawmakers approved the $45 million appropriation for Willamette Falls Trust, whose board includes the Siletz, Umatilla and Warm Springs tribes from Oregon, and the Yakama from Washington.

The trust, led by former Gov. Kate Brown, plans to use the money to buy 60 acres on the west bank of Willamette Falls. The closure of West Linn Paper Company in 2024 after more than a century of operations created an opportunity to open the falls to the public, which the trust plans to do. Kotek flirted briefly with vetoing the appropriation — which the Cow Creek and Grand Ronde tribes had encouraged her to do.

In their Aug. 7 letter, the six Oregon tribes stated their objections to the involvement of out-of-state tribes in Oregon tribal issues.

“We firmly believe that in our relationship with the state of Oregon, Oregon’s federally recognized tribes should be the only tribes consulted regarding state and local policies,” the letter says. “We recognize and honor the treaty rights established through the federal government’s relationship, but that is a different relationship from the one between the Oregon tribes and the state of Oregon.”

Of course, the tribes of the Northwest lived in what are now Idaho, Oregon and Washington long before state boundaries existed, but the tribes now domiciled in Oregon want Kotek to observe current boundaries.

“Citizens from other states are not eligible to vote in Oregon,” the six Oregon tribes wrote. “This same principle should be applied to Tribal consultation. To address this issue, we would like to discuss an executive order to all state agencies, boards and commissions, clarifying your expectations for consultation with our nine tribes.”

The letter comes at a time when all of Oregon’s tribes are awaiting an imminent decision from U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon on a separate dispute between Portland General Electric and the Grand Ronde over that tribe’s ceremonial fishing platform at Willamette Falls (other tribes oppose the Grand Ronde’s position there) and as Kotek prepares to launch her re-election campaign. 

The governor has previously touted her administration’s work with tribal partners, including in her 2025 state of the state address, when she said, “visiting all of Oregon’s counties and all nine tribal nations in my first two years has profoundly informed my appreciation and understanding of how critical local partnerships are to Oregon’s resilience and Oregon’s ability to solve problems.” 

Now, the Aug. 7 letter shows two-thirds of those tribes are unhappy with her. Kotek’s spokeswoman on tribal issues, Roxy Mayer, says the governor is still reviewing the letter and does not yet have a response.