Some wood in new PDX terminal comes from Coquille Tribal Forest

After more than three years of work, one of the Pacific Northwest’s busiest airports is set to reopen its main terminal on Wednesday. And it’s not going to look like your typical, industrially sterile US airport.

 

The emphasis on local resources and culture extends to the first inhabitants of the area. Some of the wood sourcing came direct from tribal lands.

 

CNN Travel – August 14, 2024

Sunset Magazine – August 15, 2024

Portland Tribune – August 12, 2024

Conde Nast Traveler (cntraveler.com) – August 14, 2024

Forbes – August 19, 2024

Metropolis – August 27, 2024

Operation Save the Salmon underway with the 3rd annual Smallmouth Bass Derby

The 3rd annual Smallmouth Bass Derby is underway, and the public has a chance to win up to $5,000 for the bass they catch.

Hosted by Coquille River STEP Association and in partnership with the Coquille Indian Tribe, the derby is helping the recovery of salmon and other important species by ridding the river of invasive smallmouth bass.

KTVL-TV – July 30, 2024

In Oregon, several tribal bids for urban casinos threatens a gambling “arms race.”

The two Oregon tribes hoping to open the urban casinos — one in Salem, the capital, and the other in Medford, 30 miles north of the California border — say the projects should be viewed as opportunities, hard-earned and long overdue, to finance initiatives to house and heal their members, particularly their elders, while creating jobs for all local residents.

“It’s about self-determination,” said Brenda Meade, chair of the Coquille tribe, whose proposal for a casino in Medford, 170 miles from the tribe’s headquarters, has generated heated opposition. “We will decide what’s best for our people.

Yachats News – July 31, 2024 (From New York Times article)

New book on power of storytelling has chapter featuring Chief of Coquille Tribe

A review of the new book “Stories Are Weapons” by Annalee Newitz includes a chapter that focuses on a project headed  by Chief Jason Younker. That chapter, titled “History is a Gift,” highlights “the importance of archives like the Southwest Oregon Research Project, or SWORP. Beginning in 1995, Jason Younker, Coquille tribal chief and anthropologist, and his colleagues began pulling out of national archives any and all material related to the Coquille nation and constructing an alternative archive, one that takes “the fantasy out of history,” in Newitz’s words…”

 

New Republic – June 27, 2024

Millions more earmarked for Northwest fish passage projects

  • The Coquille Indian Tribe will restore fish passage at four culvert and tide gate barriers in the Coquille River watershed. This will open significant habitat for threatened Oregon Coast coho, Coquille River fall Chinook, and Pacific lamprey—species that are culturally important to the Coquille Indian Tribe and the community of Coos Bay. The work will help reduce the impacts of climate change by providing functioning floodplains and upgrading a major road and tsunami evacuation route. ($4.2 million)

Northwest Sportsman – May 22, 2024

Press Release

Coquille Tribe to Launch First Tribal Distillery in Oregon

The Coquille Indian Tribe and the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) have authorized a landmark agreement for distillery liquor production and sales within its sovereign lands in Coos Bay.  The proposed distillery will be the first tribally owned spirit production enterprise in the state of Oregon. 

The Mill Casino Hotel and RV Park, owned and operated by Coquille Economic Development Corporation, plans to feature a distillery producing several varieties of distilled spirits.  The casino will sell the products in its several bars, restaurants, and retail outlets. The Mill will also undergo the most significant renovation in a generation, adding to its already impressive bayfront footprint.  Revenue from the distillery and related retail operations will be distributed to the Tribe, which provides its 1,200 members with health care, education, and services in five Southern Oregon counties.

KATU Portland – May 16, 2024

Yahoo! Finance – May 16, 2024

Indian Gaming – May 17, 2024

Yahoo! News/KOIN – May16, 2024

KMTR Eugene – May 17, 2024

KOBI Medford – May 17, 2024

KOIN Portland – May 17, 2024

Tribal Business News – May 17, 2024

Craft Brewing News – May 29, 2024

OregonLive.com – June 25, 2024

 

Medford Casino Plan Moves Ahead, Again

It’s been nearly four years since the federal government said no to the Coquille Indian Tribe, denying its request to put a casino on land that the tribe owns in South Medford. The denial did not stick, and in spite of some opposition from other regional tribes, the process has resumed.

Earlier this month we spoke with representatives of the City of Medford, which was once opposed to the casino, but now are neutral.

Next up, Judy Farm, CEO of Tribal One, the Coquille tribe’s economic development arm, and Jen Procter Andrews, the vice-chair of the Coquille Tribe join the JX to talk about the project going forward.

Jefferson Public Radio – May 15, 2024

Beached whale offers rare cultural opportunity

For the Coquille Indian Tribe, the death of a juvenile gray whale following an orca attack has much deeper cultural significance. That is why the tribe offered to handle the taking and processing of the mammal off Tish-A-Tang Beach in Bandon, Oregon.

Yahoo! News/Sacramento Bee – May 9,  2024

KATU Portland – May 9, 2024

KGW Portland – May 9, 2024

KCBY Coos Bay – May 9, 2024

KPTV Portland – May 9, 2024

KDRV Medford – May 9, 2024

Central Oregon Daily News – May 9, 2024

KUNP, Univision Portland – May 9, 2024

Yahoo! News – May 10, 2024

KEZI Eugene – May 13, 2024

Think Out Loud OPB radio interview – May 24, 2024