Regrowth and renewal were the themes of a special ceremony in Blue River this past Sunday. The event was also to highlight the history of Native Americans in the McKenzie River Corridor.
Katherine Ki'ya Wilson (center with shawl) leads a group of people in a planting ceremony held in Blue River on Nov. 10, 2024. The event was to promote healing and growth in an area recovering from the immense Holiday Farm Fire of 2020.
Courtesy of Brittany Lee Photography via KLCC
On an overcast and drizzly day, about 30 people gathered at an old U.S. Forest Service gas station to accept and transport white oak seedlings that were blessed and sprinkled with tobacco.
“Come on up, we’ll get you some tobacco, and you can offer your prayers as well,” encouraged Dietrich Peters, an elder of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. During the other parts of the ceremony, Peters played traditional Indian flute music. Native drumming and a bell were also played.
Katherine Wilson of the group McKenzie Reel said while much of this was to help restore Blue River’s landscape after the devastating Holiday Farm Fire of 2020, it was also to highlight the activity of Native people who’ve crossed through before colonization.
She said there has been research into various tribes coming into the area while en route to the Oregon Coast or other places to hunt or gather trade materials. And the Kalapuya People are believed to have had a presence around the forest corridor as well, before settlers and development changed their way of life.
Dietrich ("Dietz") Peters of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde speaks to attendees of the special white oak blessing and planting ceremony.
Still Taken From Video Provided By Michael Sherman Of Spring Fed Media.
In an email sent to KLCC, historian and CTGR member David G. Lewis said there have been oral accounts of Native people setting up camps along the McKenzie River, as well as modern-day Springfield, in later summer and fall seasons. He says they appear to have been all Warm Springs peoples.
“The McKenzie appears to have functioned as a native trail route from Northeastern Oregon to the Willamette Valley,” Lewis added. “Where the highway is today was likely where the people set their encampments. I think they were after huckleberries in the Cascades (midsummer or mid-august), on their route, then they would encamp along one of the river tributaries and catch the late season salmon and perhaps steelhead on the McKenzie and Coast Forks.”
The event drew people from areas as far away as Veneta and La Pine.
“I wanted to bring people together to do something positive and a blessing of the land and the water, and to replant the white oaks that actually were they still are up there where the 1890 fire did not get them,” explained Wilson. She said she considers the community of Blue River to be “ground zero” in terms of the damage created by the Holiday Farm Fire. Altogether, the fire consumed more than 173,000 acres along a vast stretch that goes from just outside Blue River to the outskirts of Walterville. Only one person died in the incident, though hundreds of homes and buildings were lost.
Wilson told KLCC that there was one clear takeaway from the event by those present.
Katherine Ki'ya Wilson (right) looks at the special marker for McKenzie Reel that will designate where she will plant her white oak seedling in Blue River. Her organization is being developed to help teach Native American/Indigenous filmmakers and will be based in Blue River.
Still Taken From Video Provided By Michael Sherman Of Spring Fed Media.
“Well, by the sounds of the sobs, the healing,” she said. “The river and the land just seemed to be so joyous. It was healing, and I didn’t expect that.”
While Wilson planted a small oak seedling at the site of the event, attendees took theirs back to plant across the region.
Wilson says she’ll hold similar events soon, to complement Blue River’s rebuilding efforts. This includes establishing McKenzie Reel as a school for developing Native American filmmakers, part of a larger vision for bringing more people to the Blue River area to help with its economy and presence.
Note: Michael Sherman of Spring Fed Media helped with this report.
Copyright 2024, KLCC.
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