Kalapuya Environments and History in the Southern Willamette Valley

This is Kalapuya land. Join anthropologist David Lewis as he explores original Native cultural stewardship of the Valley, the removal of the Kalapuya Tribes to the Grand Ronde Reservation, the radical changes white settlers made to the land, and current work to decolonize and restore the Valley.

The Kalapuya peoples in the southern Willamette Valley harvested foods from the land and had villages along major rivers and tributaries. Radical changes to the land and environment by white immigrants in the 1840s, along with forced relocation to the Grand Ronde Reservation, caused a cultural collapse of the Tribe. Today, descendants of these Tribes are working to restore traditions and understand the changes made to the land. David Lewis discusses this history, the challenges Native peoples and allies face when trying to decolonize and restore areas of the valley, and how these efforts can inform Indigenous decolonization efforts in other regions.

David G. Lewis is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, a descendant of the Takelma, Chinook, Molalla, and Santiam Kalapuya peoples of western Oregon. David has a PhD in anthropology from the University of Oregon (2009), past Cultural Resources Department Manager of the Grand Ronde Tribe,  and is an assistant professor of anthropology and native studies at Oregon State University.