Confluence Library

This field guide was created as part of Confluence’s education programs connecting students with the history, culture, and ecology at the Confluence Land Bridge in Vancouver, WA. It is designed to guide you though what you see, hear, and feel there, and prompt thinking about changes in the landscape.

Since 2011, the Confluence Story Gathering project has conducted interviews with more than forty Indigenous Elders and leaders from the Columbia River system. Learn more about the history of this project and what protocol to follow when using these videos.

In this article, Keri E. Iyall Smith (Cowlitz) details how, by taking cues from Indigenous Peoples who see the natural world as relatives, equal to humans, entitled to protections and thoughtful (minimal) use, it is possible to shift away from attitudes that expanded in the colonial era, which see land as a thing to be conquered and with resources to be extracted.

Confluence is honored to work with eight sovereign tribes from the Columbia River Basin. Each has a vast and rich history and enrolled members continue to maintain cultural, economic and environmental connections to their homelands. Here are some basic facts about each of these tribes with tribal resources to learn more.

Read here on how to weclome a Native educator in your classroom for a residency or field trip

This guide is designed to guide you though the Confluence Story Circles.

“During the winter, I listened to my father telling me Native legends to put me to sleep. He told the legends over and over again. I was covered up with many quilts made by long hands by Mom, Aunty, and Grandma. There would be the crackling of the fire in the wood stove while the winter wind blew outside. I was safe and secure”…Read this article by Ed Edmo on Storytelling.

For Native people of the Columbia River system, knowledge about salmon has been passed down through the generations, since time immemorial. Fish are intertwined with River Peoples’ past, present, and future. This article highlights several important subjects and resources, along with how seven fish of the Nch’i Wāna (Columbia River) are intertwined with tribal identity.

Today Confluence honors Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This day, and everyday, is a time to celebrate Indigenous histories and cultures and remember whose land we’re on. This work continues beyond today, and so between now and Thanksgiving, we will be sharing highlights from Oregon’s Tribal History/Shared History curriculum.

This year the Vanport Mosaic asks us to consider the WE in “WE THE PEOPLE,” and how we can Remember, Repair, Reclaim, and Re-imagine our collective stories. Confluence is partnering with the Vanport Mosaic to address this question, through a Story Collection that offers Indigenous perspectives on monuments, memorials, healing, and how to tell a more inclusive version of history to the public, through video interviews, short films, podcasts, articles, and more.