Tribes celebrate Rattlesnake Butte near Junction City
JUNCTION CITY, Ore. - Chants and drum beats of blessing filled the air Friday at the base of Rattlesnake Butte.
"If these trees could talk to you, I'm sure they would have some very interesting stories to tell you," said Cheryl Kennedy, "and so the day - this returning of the land to us - there aren't words."
Kennedy, the chairwoman for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, said she is overjoyed to accept conservation stewardship over the 97-acre butte from the Nature Conservancy.
But the story doesn't start here.
In the 1850s, her ancestors were driven from these lands, Kennedy said.
"Everything was taken from us, even our identity," she said.
Kennedy said the return of the butte to its original owners is a win-win.
"It's a signal to us that the sentiment of people, the conscience of people coming through," she said.
And it is a promise to the creatures the Nature Conservancy calls some of the very first inhabitants of Rattlesnake Butte.
"This is to the best of our knowledge the last remaining rattlesnake population on the west side of the Willamette River," said Dan Bell from The Nature Conservancy.
"The balance of life is so delicate that when we can revive a species and it flourishes, that represents us flourishing as well," Kennedy said.
Where is this Butte near JC? Isn't Junction City flat, in the Valley? Are you sure you have the location right?
@Fennforests It's probably west of town. Im thinking around cox butte rd and territorial hwy. There is a small hill there. You can see all over on the top of that place. They have easter sunrise services there it is really beautiful.
 @ellyg79  @Fennforests Ah, ok, I didn't know that was called Rattlesnake Butte...thank you,.
Technically.....before all the continents shifted this was all of our land! I'm getting sick and tired of the Native Americans claiming everything as theirs. I'm a Native Worldian if you wanna get technical so everything in the world belongs to me.
 @Hmmm... Well, maybe had the intruders come in peace and settled everything fairly, you may have had a point. But that they came in and took what they wanted at what ever cost, when there were already inhabitants.  It has nothing to do with the "shift of the continents", or being a "Worldian", what ever that is.