A view from the edge of the cliff where the Goldendale Energy Storage Project could be built. An underground tunnel would carry water from a upper reservoir to a reservoir… Continue Reading Federal regulators want public input Read More
A view from the edge of the cliff where the Goldendale Energy Storage Project could be built. An underground tunnel would carry water from a upper reservoir to a reservoir… Continue Reading Goldendale energy Read More
Fort Simcoe Park. Source: Washington State Parks Listen (Runtime 1:48) Read Washington State Parks Department commissioners want to involve the Yakama Nation in the reinterpretation of Fort Simcoe Historical State… Continue Reading New Read More
From Left: Aleeyah McJoe, Donella Miller, Ava McJoe, Monica Miller, Audrina McJoe, Laura Mark. Credit: Courtesy of Donella Miller Listen (Runtime 3:31) Read Northwest Public Broadcasting reporters are interviewing Indigenous… Continue Reading In their own words: Read More
Miss Yakama Nation Ellia-Lee Jim and Jr Miss Yakama Nation-Tehya Listen Eleven years after the Condit Dam was removed from the White Salmon River, the fish (and the land) are… Continue Reading White River celebration: 11 years after Read More
Vegetation Returns Yakama Nations Fishieries Listen (Runtime :56) Read 11 years ago, the Condit Dam was removed and this year the Yakama Nation will celebrate the anniversary of the return… Continue Read More
Listen (Runtime 1:18) Read The Yakama Nation hosted an event at the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers in Richland to celebrate Tribal heritage and culture. The event also… Continue Reading Honoring Chamna With Yakama NationRead More
Recorrido en bote por el río Columbia durante el “Hanford Journey”, para celebrar la defensa de la limpieza. Crédito: Bear Sky Media. Read A medida que el presupuesto para limpieza… Continue Reading Defensores piden Read More
People take boat tours throught the Columbia River during the Hanford Journey, to celebrate cleanup advocacy. Credit: Bear Sky Media. Read As the Hanford cleanup budget has been reduced in… Continue Reading Advocates Call For Read More
Like interlaced fingers, the Inabas and the Yakama Nation have been collaborating to farm for generations. Now, this Japanese-American family, who owned and leased the land for a time, is returning it to the Yakama Nation. Continue Read More
A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit from Yakama Nation and Grand Ronde tribal leaders, who claimed a 2008 highway expansion destroyed a sacred site near Mount Hood. Continue Reading Judges Dismiss Long-Running Court Case Over Sacred Read More
Tribal leaders from the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde said that the federal government knowingly destroyed a sacred religious site near Mount Hood in 2008 when it bulldozed the area for a highway safety project. The long-running case over religious freedom was back in court Tuesday. Read More
The Goldendale Energy Storage Project would be a solution to generate energy when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. But, to the Yakama Nation, the destruction of those sites would add another heartbreak to an ever-expanding list. Countless important cultural areas have faced destruction across the Northwest, largely because they’re not understood by Read More
The Yakama Nation seeks to stop gravel mining near a historic village and burial ground near Selah, Washington. The litigation could change the way tribal sites can be developed. Continue Reading Yakama Nation Case Could Read More
Many states – including Oregon and Washington – have set renewable energy goals. But, there’s a problem. The wind isn’t always blowing, and the sun isn’t always shining. That’s why wind and solar power are variable, or intermittent. Enter pumped hydro. It's not a new technology, but it is gaining more interest regionally. Read More
The Washington State Supreme Court reversed a century-old ruling Friday against a Yakama Nation tribal member for fishing outside the reservation. The 1916 ruling mandated criminal charges against Alec Towessnute for fishing outside the Yakama reservation on traditional fishing grounds – a right assured by the Yakama’s Treaty of 1855 with the federal government. Read More
Historically, the Yakama Nation Tribal School was a school “of last resort,” says principal Adam Strom, where students came after they could no longer attend other area schools. That’s changing. He says courses like this one in environmental science and natural resources are a big reason why. Read More
The Treaty of 1855 created the Yakama Nation reservation as we know it today. In the decades after, the Yakama, Washington state, and the United States were trying to figure out their new relationship. At the turn of the century, Louis Mann was in the middle of it all, working as an interpreter for the tribe. Now, audio recordings of Mann’s strong voice have resurfaced. Read More
Lorenzo Elias Mendez, a former officer of the Yakama Nation Tribal Police Department, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison this month. That’s after a jury found him guilty of attempted production of child pornography. Read More
The Yakama Nation and the states of Oregon and Washington are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare a new Superfund site on the Columbia River at Bradford Island alongside Bonneville Dam. Continue Reading Read More
Standing on the banks of the Columbia River, near the remnants of Celilo Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, Yakama Nation Chairman JoDe Goudy traced the history of decrees, congressional acts and court cases that led to the damming of the river. Read More
Almost a year later, KYNR, "the voice of the Yakama Nation," is broadcasting again after a burglary knocked them off the air. Staff were heartbroken for themselves and their listeners. Tribal members and others in the community depend on the station for news and information. Read More
The fire that engulfed Notre Dame cathedral shocked the world earlier this year. And a wildfire in July on Rattlesnake Mountain in southeast Washington similarly shocked Northwest tribes. Continue Reading ‘A Total Sense Of Read More
A wildfire continued burning today near the Hanford Nuclear Site. The Cold Creek Fire is burning sensitive, federally protected habitat. As of Friday afternoon it was estimated at about 18,000 acres and 10 percent containment. Read More
Typically, if you tuned in to KYNR 1490 AM, "The Voice of the Yakama Nation," you’d hear everything: local high school sports, birthday call-outs, musical guests. But eight months ago, the station was robbed and the broadcast came to a halt. That left 6,000 tribal members and other non-Native listeners without local news. Read More
On Dec. 26, 2017, Myrna Cloud’s 23-year-old cousin went missing on the Yakama Nation reservation in Central Washington. D. Lloyd’s body was found in a rural part of the reservation four days later. The murder is still under investigation. Read More
On this conservative court, Gorsuch has been one of the most conservative voices. But in cases involving Native tribes' treaties and rights, he is most often counted among those sympathetic to tribes' claims. Continue Read More
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court decided in favor of tribal treaty rights in a case between the Washington Department of Licensing and Cougar Den, a gas station in White Swan on the Yakama Reservation. Continue Reading U.S. Read More
Recently, a federal judge sided against the Yakama Nation in a jurisdiction case involving the tribe, the city of Toppenish and Yakima County. When a crime happens in Yakima County, a couple questions are key. One: Were either the victim or perpetrator Yakama Nation citizens? And two: Where exactly did it happen? Read More
A public art project proposed to be built beside the now-inundated great falls of the Columbia River has been put on indefinite hold by its sponsor. The installation was planned for Celilo Falls — east of The Dalles, Oregon — as the sixth and final outdoor artwork in a series by celebrated designer Maya Lin along the Columbia and Snake rivers. Read More
On Jan. 14, the Yakama Nation held an all-day community meeting in Toppenish, Washington, to discuss violence that affects Native American women and girls. Over 200 people attended the community meeting, including Yakama tribal members, the Washington State Patrol, local police departments, and the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs. Read More
The city of Vancouver has been fined $60,000 after raw sewage was accidentally released into the Columbia River in 2017. The discharged sewage from Vancouver’s Westside Wastewater Treatment Plant happened during two separate spills in September and October of 2017 Read More
Emily Washines was 18 years old when she was crowned Miss National Congress of American Indians. Yakama tribal councilmembers and elders sung a warrior song for her and then extracted a promise. Tribal leaders had something in mind. They wanted Washines to remember a message about a little-known war that wracked the Northwest in the 1850s. Read More
Almost 40 years ago, Scott Nicolai started his stream restoration career taking logs out of the water. A project that’s putting more than 6,000 logs back into remote streams across Central Washington. Continue Reading Helicoptering Logs In Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday, Oct. 30 in a five-year-old case that questions the rights outlined in an 1855 treaty between the United States and Washington’s Yakama Nation. Yakama Tribal Chairman JoDe Goudy was denied entry to the court for wearing his traditional headdress. Read More
Earlier in October, someone broke into KYNR, stealing equipment and knocking them off the air. It highlighted issues not only of crime and safety on the Yakama Nation reservation, but also how important the station is to the community. Read More
One of the 10 dialects of the Yakama Nation’s Sahaptin language is called Ichishkíin. With fewer than 50 fluent speakers, it’s considered endangered according to the Heritage University Language Center. But a new Android mobile app connects users to it. Read More
It was a wild weekend for wildfire in the Northwest. A cold front brought lightning and high winds -- but no rain -- to the region east of the Cascades already plagued by extremely dry conditions. Continue Reading ‘It Was Read More
Last year, the Washington state Supreme Court granted the Yakama Nation the right to transport goods and services across state lines without taxation. Attorneys and tribal members called it a landmark case for tribal sovereignty. Now the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review it. Read More
For the first time in recent history, a mother wolverine has been spotted in the southern part of Washington’s Cascade Mountains. The carnivores had been wiped out of the region after excessive hunting and trapping in the mid-1900s. Continue Reading Read More
A Yakama Nation leader, Russell Jim, has died. The 82-year-old was well-known by tribes and environmentalists across the nation for his fight to clean up Hanford. Continue Reading Yakama Nation Environmental Leader Russell Jim Dies At Age 82Read More
Yakima County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, April 10 to support mining operations that the Yakama Nation believes will disturb a Native burial ground. The battle is three years in the making. Continue Reading Yakama Nation Says Read More
Spring break is in full swing for some students. This season, 80 students from the University of Washington skipped the beach and headed for more rural parts of the state. Continue Reading UW Spring Breakers Team Up With Rural Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law Thursday, March 15 aimed at shedding light on the cases of missing or murdered Native American women. At the bill signing ceremony, Native women in traditional regalia performed a women’s honor song. Read More
A federal judge in Oregon ruled Friday against several Northwest tribal members in a case over the destruction of a spiritual site near Mount Hood. A road expansion project a decade ago destroyed burial grounds and a stone altar, along with old-growth trees. Continue Reading Federal Judge Rules Read More
Oral arguments in a federal lawsuit filed against 30 private companies and government entities for cleanup costs associated with pollution at the Portland Harbor Superfund site are expected to start in April. Continue Reading Yakama Nation Sues For Read More
Going on a date on Valentine’s Day can be fun and full of decisions – where to eat, what to wear. But for members of the Yakama Nation in Central Washington, it can be complicated when trying to date within the relatively small tribal community. Read More
The emergency is over for now at Rattlesnake Ridge near Yakima. The state says a major, sudden landslide is no longer imminent, and Yakima County has lifted its evacuation order and told residents they can move back home. But that’s easier said than done. Read More
Museum curators in the Northwest are now working to update exhibits that focus on the region’s indigenous people. They are trying to do that in a way that both modernizes stories of indigenous people and tells them more truthfully. Continue Read More
The Yakama Nation is asking Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency for the Rattlesnake Ridge landslide. It’s a steep slope outside of Yakima that is moving slowly and clings above a small community, a railroad corridor, Interstate 82 and the Yakima River. Read More
