Underscore News

Through a hastily-coordinated effort between government agencies and tribal members, the experience to relive a time-honored Native practice lay sprawled on the sand, coiled in crab pot line but free of red tape.

A Whale of a Tale? Siletz Harvesters Share Their Perspective on November’s Incident with Audience - Underscore Native News Months after the tribe regained hunting and gathering rights, a rare opportunity presented itself.

Jarrette Werk, an amazing reporter and photojournalist for Underscore News, departs on his next journey after 4 years with our news organization.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone that has been a part of my journey here at Underscore, and [that] I'm forever grateful for all of the experiences that I was able to have while being here, and [I am] so, so proud of the work that we were able to produce, and the stories that we were able to share, and the connections we were able to make with the people out here in the Pacific Northwest. The PNW is always gonna have a special place in my heart,” shared Jarrette.

A totem pole now stands outside the Cedar Creek Corrections Center, carved by Albert ‘Al’ Smith, Suquamish, Shoshonne-Bannock and Pima Nation, who helped start the carving program at Cedar Creek. Smith has been incarcerated at the facility since 2024.

The carving program is likely the first of its kind across the country.

“Never in the history, to my knowledge, has anything like this ever been done,” said Jeremy Garretson, Northern Arapaho, the reentry director at Unkitawa, an Indigenous nonprofit that helped establish the program. “This is monumental, is groundbreaking, and is trailblazing, to see that an actual carving program has taken place in a facility of this magnitude.”

Through the program, Smith is also mentoring other Native men incarcerated at the facility.

Written by Nika Bartoo Smith, UNN and ICT
Photos by Jarrette Werk

Building a Carving Community Inside Washington State Corrections - Underscore Native News A totem pole carving program at Cedar Creek Corrections Center supports healing for incarcerated individuals looking to connect with inter-tribal and intergenerational traditional practices.

Underscore receives five awards from the Society of Professional Journalists' 2025 Northwest Excellence in Journalism Awards.

For 15 years, a coalition of Native people and conservationists have worked to restore a century-old dairy farm site and make it a welcoming habitat for salmon, lamprey and traditional plants.

Last week, that plan was realized when a levee was dismantled, allowing the brackish waters of the Siuslaw River to enter an estuary. Advocates say this will transform the area back into what it once was, roughly a century and a half ago. Underscore Native News looks at the Siuslaw Estuary's potential for bringing back a pre-colonial landscape.

After 15 Years, haich ikt’ at’uu Comes to Siuslaw Estuary - Underscore Native News Coalition celebrates breach of levee, adding a connection to traditional waterways.

From foster care to serving his country in the military, to serving prison time, Albert Kevin Smith has lived many lives over the past six decades. Today the Suquamish, Shoshone-Bannock, Pima, elder has become the heart and soul of a groundbreaking carving program at Cedar Creek Corrections Center (Cedar Creek) in Little Rock, Washington.

The initiative is a partnership between Cedar Creek, the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC), the Department of Children, Youth and Families and the Native American nonprofit Unkitawa. Unkitawa holds a contract with the DOC to provide cultural and ceremonial services to incarcerated Native Americans within the state's prison system.

Created in the fall of 2024, the carving program aims to help provide outlets for healing and help foster a connection to culture for those incarcerated at Cedar Creek.

Eliminating the barrier of access to traditional and cultural practices while incarcerated has been crucial for the success and healing for program participants.

This access now allows Smith to utilize his knowledge to mentor younger incarcerated individuals, such as Ordez Kompkoff, Aleut.

Underscore's team visited with Smith and Kompkoff leading up to the March 2 totem pole awakening ceremony, which was held in front of Cedar Creek.

Video by: Jarrette Werk, Underscore News
Reporting by: Jarrette Werk, Underscore Native News, and Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore Native News + Indian Country Today

Building a Carving Community Inside From foster care, to serving his country in the military, to servin...

The Yakama Nation is continuing to protest the advancement of a proposed hydropower storage facility that will decimate their sacred mountain, Pushpum.

In solidarity with the Yakama Nation, William Ray, Jr., chairman of the Klamath Tribes, asked “How can there be a price put on religion?”

✍️&📸: Lyric Aquino, Underscore News + Report for America

Read more here: https://www.underscore.news/land/yakama-nation-continues-to-fight-proposed-hydroelectric-project-that-would-destroy-pushpum-cultural-site/

At this year’s annual Q***r Prom hosted by Native American Youth and Family Center’s Two-Spirit Program, over 300 high school students from across the Portland Metro area and beyond danced to beats by DJ Aspen at AVENUE Portland. They showed up dressed in comic book inspired outfits for the theme “Superheros vs. Villains Edition.”

“Being able to have a space like this is really important because it provides an opportunity for us to come together in community and celebrate q***r joy,” said Kiara Wehrenberg, Tlingit and the Two-Spirit program coordinator at the center. Wehrenberg coordinates Q***r Prom.

Read full story here:
https://www.underscore.news/justice/lgbtqia2s/nayas-two-spirit-program-hosts-another-successful-q***r-prom-creating-space-for-q***r-youth-to-be-unabashedly-themselves/

By Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore News + Indian Country Today

Amanda Page, a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, is running for Deschutes County Commissioner, Seat 3. If elected, she plans to prioritize affordable housing, environmental protections and supporting tribal sovereignty. She hopes to have a seat in a county that encompasses some of the ancestral homelands of her tribe, and also be the highest elected position of any citizen of an Oregon tribe.

“I'm an Indigenous candidate, but I'm also an Indigenous candidate looking to get a seat in our territory. In my ancestral lands,” Page said. “So there's an importance to that that I think most people don't understand. This is a real chance to expand tribal sovereignty and have Indigenous voice[s] in the spaces historically, we’ve been completely ignored.”

✍️: Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore News + Indian Country Today

Read more here: https://www.underscore.news/justice/legislature/amanda-page-discusses-run-for-oregon-deschutes-county-commissioner/

The legislation comes amid growing reports of Native Americans being questioned, delayed, or detained after federal officers failed to recognize valid tribal IDs and documentation as proof of citizenship.

The Respect Tribal IDs Act would require DHS, in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal nations, to develop standardized training for officers and employees involved in immigration enforcement. The training would include how to identify tribal documents, when tribal IDs qualify as proof of U.S. citizenship, proper protocols for interacting with enrolled tribal members, and the federal government’s trust responsibility to tribal nations.

“The Respect Tribal IDs Act is a commonsense bill to ensure DHS personnel are properly trained to recognize Tribal IDs and work respectfully with Tribal communities,” said Rep. Don Bacon, in a statement. “Federal agencies have a responsibility to protect and support Tribal citizens, and this legislation helps ensure they do that.”

https://www.underscore.news/justice/lawmakers-demand-ice-respect-tribal-ids-in-new-legislation/