Land Acknowledgement

We respectfully acknowledge that the restoration and conservation projects of The Freshwater Trust (TFT) take place on traditional lands of Native American people. Against their will and under the banner of progress, Native communities were forcibly removed from the same land where we now live and work.

As a voice for water, the impacts of our projects span vast and growing areas, and we are working with historians and tribes to understand the intricacies of settlement to most authentically and respectfully identify the ancestral lineage of the lands where we now work and live. Today, we know our offices are sited on the lands of the Cowlitz and Clackamas; of the Nez Perce and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla; of the Talkema and Cow Creek Umpqua; of the Nisenan; of the Ramaytush and Ohlone.

TFT also recognizes the Nez Perce, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (Wasco, Warm Springs and Paiute), the Burns Paiute, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla) as current partners of ours in the protection and restoration of waters in the Columbia River Basin.

Acknowledgment of native communities’ relationship with the land absent further learning and deepening relationships is insufficient, and we at TFT are committed to the ongoing work and understanding that comes after that initial step.