Beginning next June, visitors to Tryon Creek State Natural Area will be able to gaze into the forest from inside the tall windows of a new Education Pavilion built in the style of a traditional Chinookan Plankhouse.
The new pavilion, set to include two classrooms and various modern features, will be a community-focused space for hosting school trips and community events and serve as a reminder of ongoing Indigenous presence and stewardship.
The Tryon Creek State Natural Area, located in deep southwest Portland, features over eight miles of hiking trails across 650 acres of park.
Friends of Tryon Creek, a nonprofit encouraging community connection and park involvement, hosted an official groundbreaking ceremony for the new plankhouse Nov. 14.
Members of Friends of Tryon Creek, donors and community members gathered to watch workers install the first official sign for the building and discuss its future purpose.
The current structure is a gazebo-style building without enclosed walls. To keep construction “forest-friendly,” the new building will utilize the location’s existing foundation and come without plumbing.
Once finished, the nearly 2,000-square-foot space will double the capacity of students and community members Friends of Tryon Creek can host.
Friends of Tryon Creek hosts various events and programs to foster community members' connection to the park and further understanding of the importance of Indigenous stewardship and land management, like “Land Tending Days.” On Land Tending Days, visitors hike the park and learn how to identify different plant species while hearing about how the historical exclusion of Indigenous land management practices negatively impacted the area.
The new education pavilion is an effort to continue the conversation about Indigenous stewardship and make Indigenous community members feel more welcome.
The plankhouse will feature not just Indigenous-inspired design but also be adorned with original carvings by four Indigenous artists, Gregory Archuleta (Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde), Greg Robinson (Chinook Nation), Brittany Britton (Hoopa Valley Tribe) and Shirod Younker (Coquille Indian Tribe).
A plankhouse is a post-and-beam style structure that tribal people in the region have built since time immemorial, typically from Western red cedar wood.
Plankhouses were the “center of our traditional universe,” according to the Chinook Indian Nation’s website. “They were the homes, hospitals, universities, place of worship and refuge for our ancestors from the cold dark and wet winters of our Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Wahkiakum, Kathlamet and Willapa territories.”
Inside the future Tryon Creek plankhouse, art depicting salmon and other first foods will be another reference to the “original stewards” of the land.
Maggie Starr, development director of Friends of Tryon Creek, said the efforts are part of the group’s mission to make the space more accessible.
“State park architecture often references log cabins, pioneers and the settler colonial experience, but this new structure is making the built environment at this state park more equitable and inclusive — which is exactly what Friends of Tryon Creek is trying to do,” Starr said.
Until recently, Tryon Creek State Natural Area was only accessible by car — due to advocacy from community members, Friends of Tryon Creek and its executive director, Gabe Sheoships, TriMet recently added a bus stop directly in front of the park’s entrance.
The shift towards utilizing Indigenous design and recognizing the importance of Indigenous land stewardship is a deliberate one by Friends of Tryon Creek. In 2021, the nonprofit shifted its vision to reflect ongoing barriers preventing equitable outdoor access for Black and Indigenous people of color.
Sheoships led the project from the beginning.
The plankhouse project is part of his efforts to “reground” the organization and reflect its presence on Indigenous lands. Sheoships is working to change the relationships Indigenous community members have with the space, encouraging practices like gathering.
“This building will be representative of that and be a living land acknowledgment toward the original stewards of this place,” Sheoships said.
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