Earlier this year we reported on legislation that would restore the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians’ right to gather, hunt, and fish on their ancestral lands. That bill passed a major hurdle this week.
The U.S. House approved H.R. 2839, penned by Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR). During a hearing Monday, she spoke to the need to counter a 1980 consent decree that made the Siletz Tribe lose their subsistence rights in exchange for getting their status and land restored.
“It is an unjust and racist policy that should have never happened,” said Hoyle.
Dee Pigsley is the Siletz Tribal Chair. She’s hopeful the Senate will approve the measure, and send it to President Biden’s desk.
“It would be the next best thing that’s happened to us since restoration, actually,” Pigsley told KLCC. “It will make many, many, tribal members happy, and it’ll be a real Christmas present if we can get it through the Senate before they adjourn this year.”
The Siletz are one of two federally-recognized tribes in the entire U.S. that don’t have these rights.
The other is the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, also in Oregon.
A release from Rep. Hoyle’s office states that Hoyle also supports H.R. 2850, which would address the consent decree that restricts the Grand Ronde Tribe. Fellow Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley leads the Senate version of that bill.
