Native Americans

297 Stories

Olympia gets preview of Billy Frank Jr. sculpture slated for Washington, D.C.

Washington state is primed to contribute to the arts in the other Washington in 2025, but first, Olympia got a sneak preview this week of a small-scale sculpture of Indigenous rights activist Billy Frank Jr.
- Mike Davis
Woolly dogs once provided fleece for Coast Salish tribes. What happened to them?

Outside of alpacas, woolly dogs were one of the few indigenous animals providing wool in the Americas. And for centuries, woolly dogs were at the center of tribal life throughout the Coast Salish world. Since the 19th century, however, these dogs are considered extinct. Today, a resurfaced specimen at the Smithsonian Institution is helping broaden the scientific and tribal understanding of the woolly dog's genetics and role in Coast Salish life.
- Alec Cowan
In life and death, Tokitae the orca sparks a reckoning

In life, Tokitae the orca became a symbol to the humans who surrounded her; taking on a different meaning to each person. In her story "The Call of Tokitae", reporter Caitlin Gibson chronicles the orca's life and death through the people who knew her best.
- Libby Denkmann
Celebrating the day ‘the sun turns around’ in the Pacific Northwest

Each December, tribes throughout the Pacific Northwest mark the winter solstice with what’s known as “Indian New Year.” The festivities include a feast commemorating the shortest day of the year, the return of longer days, and, eventually, springtime harvest.
- Alec Cowan
'They're our relatives.' Samish Indian Nation prepares to welcome new orca calf to Puget Sound

Since the recent birth of a southern resident orca calf, Coast Salish tribes have begun preparing for the naming ceremony that will officially welcome their new relative to the community.
- Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez
Lummi Nation opposes BP's oil plans for Cherry Point

The Lummi Nation is voicing its opposition to British Petroleum's goal of expanding oil operations at Cherry Point, near Ferndale, Washington, north of Bellingham.
- KUOW Staff
Controversial totem poles must return to Pike Place Market, says historical commission

The city’s parks department petitioned the Market Historical Commission to be allowed to replace the totem poles with art more representative of local tribes.
- Ann Dornfeld
Salmon, rivers hit hard by recent Washington floods

The atmospheric river that hit the Pacific Northwest in early December took a heavy toll on salmon, biologists working with Puget Sound tribes say.
- John Ryan
Quinault Tribe builds new village site away from rising seas

Construction crews have installed streets, sidewalks, and utilities for a neighborhood of 59 homes out of reach of ocean waves.
- John Ryan
With dogs and radar, volunteers search for remains at Mool-Mool, or Fort Simcoe State Park

Since time immemorial, Native Tribes in the Columbia Basin met at a village crossroads called Mool-Mool. In the wake of the Yakama Treaty of 1855, the site was of continual use as a U.S. military outpost, and for decades, the grounds included a boarding school operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, where children from the Yakama Nation were forced to attend. Today, volunteers and Yakama descendants are searching the 200-acre park for their relatives' remains.
- Alec Cowan

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Native Americans

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