September 24, 2024 10:30 a.m.
Last week, Governor Tina Kotek and First Lady Amy Kotek Wilson spent the day with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.
A release said this marked the completion of the Governor’s commitment to visit all of Oregon’s nine federally recognized sovereign Tribal nations in 2024.
Kotek said, “The First Lady and I are incredibly grateful for the hospitality and time of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians during our visit”. Kotek said,, “We appreciated learning about the forward-looking approach the Tribe is taking when it comes to ecocultural forest management, sustaining fish on their ancestral lands and supporting individuals and families with their basic needs, like child care and food insecurity. It was a wonderful day, and we look forward to returning”.
The day started with a walking tour of the South Umpqua fish acclimation site which allows young salmon, or smolts, raised at the Rock Creek Hatchery to adjust to the temperature of the river before they are released into the South Fork of the Umpqua River.
The group then traveled further into the Cow Creek Umpqua ancestral lands to Ash Creek Road, where the tribe is conducting an ecocultural forest management project, aiming to balance old growth with forest thinning. The area will eventually be a site for prescribed and cultural burning in an effort to both preserve mature forest characteristics and better prevent catastrophic wildfires. From a mountain lookout point on Ash Creek Road, the governor and first lady joined Tribal leadership, forestry and natural resources staff, as Cow Creek Umpqua Silviculture Forester Wade Christensen described the response, recovery and impacts from the Milepost 97 Fire, which took place in 2019.
They then traveled to the Tribal Community Center in Myrtle Creek. The center hosts Yimisa’ Preschool, which opened in 2019. The preschool program was developed through the Preschool Promise program, which is managed by the Department of Early Learning and Care.
Following a lunch meeting with the Tribe’s Board of Directors and staff, the governor and first lady visited the Village Station, which houses Cow Creek Umpqua Tribal government services. After a tour, they visited the Cow Creek Tribal Food Pantry in Roseburg.
They then traveled to Idleyld Park for the final visit of the tour, the Rock Creek Fish Hatchery, to learn about the Tribe’s approach to habitat restoration and resiliency. There, Fisheries Manager Colby Gonzalez shared the challenges posed by rising water temperatures, lower flows and sediment – all exacerbated by recent fires. Staff demonstrated fishery techniques, guided the tour through recent improvements and damage from the Archie Creek Fire in 2020, and expressed interest in working with the state as it considers the future of Oregon’s hatchery system, including Rock Creek.