Travelers headed to Sauvie Island will now cross the newly renamed Wapato Bridge after Multnomah County Commissioners approved the change proposed by a Native-led council.
A year after a vote to change the bridge’s name passed, the coalition tasked with choosing a new name revealed its selection at a Multnomah County Board of Commissioners meeting Nov. 30.
Multnomah County Commissioners unanimously approved the new name for the Sauvie Island Bridge.
Sauvie Island is currently named for Laurent Sauvé dit Laplante, a French-Canadian settler.
Since time immemorial, Sauvie Island has served as a gathering place for Indigenous peoples. Before colonization, Indigenous peoples lived, conducted trade and gathered on the island.
The island is known for gathering wapato, a root sometimes called Indian potato, that grows in shallow waterways and sloughs. Wapato is considered an important first food by many regional tribes. First foods hold deep cultural and spiritual significance for Indigenous peoples.
For those involved in the renaming process, it begins a long-overdue acknowledgment of Native peoples’ historic and ongoing relationships with what is now called Sauvie Island.
Lukas Angus (Nimiipuu/Nez Perce) first proposed the change in 2022 to acknowledge that relationship and the island's importance to contemporary Native communities.
Angus, a respected community leader and member of the county Advisory Committee on Sustainability and Innovation, or ACSI, worked on the official committee to select a new name for the bridge.
“With the belief that that bridge goes to a very special place, both historically for tribal people it’s a very large gathering spot for food gathering, trade and whatnot,” Angus said. “Right now today, it is still very important for agriculture production and whatnot. I think that moving forward with sustainability and innovation in mind, there has to be recognition that the food and water comes first, and we have to take care of it and honor also our relatives of the past who took care of those lands so well for thousands of years.”
Three tribal governments expressed interest in participating in the bridge renaming process: the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians.
A total of four representatives for the tribes worked on the council: Umatilla tribal leader Corinne Sams, respected Grand Ronde knowledge and culture keeper Greg Archuleta, Grand Ronde cultural resources department manager David Harrelson and Siletz history and archeology specialist Peter Hatch. Angus participated in the council in his capacity as a member of ACSI.
Multnomah County Tribal Affairs advisor Anna Allen (Shoshone Bannock) led the presentation about the bridge renaming and played a prominent role in the project.
Allen conducted outreach efforts with urban Native communities and meetings with intertribal organizations.
Commissioner Sharon Meieran’s office conducted a listening session with Sauvie Island residents, which Allen said yielded positive results, like a person affiliated with the Sauvie Island School expressing an interest in displaying tribal flags at the school.
“I think the impact of renaming really reaches beyond hanging a sign at a bridge; there are impacts that go much deeper and beyond,” Allen said.
Anna said the renaming council helped create a decision-making framework centered on three core areas of focus: traditional resources and land use, original villages and languages, and tribal elder and community voices.
Indigenous placekeeping informed the decision to use a council format for renaming.
Sams, also the Chair of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Umatilla Fish and Wildlife chair, and Umatilla Law and Order vice-chair, spoke of the importance of naming the bridge in honor of wapato.
Sams said the Umatilla people place the highest honor upon their first foods.
“It is our life’s work to continue to echo the words of our ancestors, not only for us today but for those that are yet unborn,” Sams said. “The significance of this project and this work is tremendous, not only for me but for those that came before me and those who will come after.”
Shana McConnville Radford (Nimiipuu/Nez Perce, Cayuse and citizen of Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation), the newly-appointed tribal affairs advisor to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, spoke before the Multnomah County Commission on Nov. 30 to voice her full support for the bridge renaming, saying it was an excellent example of collaboration between tribal governments, communities and Oregon local government that included meaningful consultation with tribes.
In casting her vote in favor of renaming the bridge, Commissioner Lori Stegmann voiced support for another idea presented during public testimony by Wapato Island Farm owner Jennifer Rose Marie Serna.
“Anna, I don’t know what you’re doing on your next project,” Steggman said to the renaming committee. “It really should be (called) Wapato Island.”
After the successful vote, Allen called the renaming council to the front of the county chambers for a blanket ceremony. County commissioners beamed as they draped Sams' and Angus’ shoulders with blankets.
On behalf of CRITFC and its member nations, Sams presented the commissioners with a traditional wapas, a woven basket for gathering first foods.
“Traditionally, these are woven or made with a lot of love and medicine because it holds our first foods when we gather,” Sams said.
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