CMS Meeting Feb 2026
- Speaker: David G Lewis
- Topic: Reconstructing the Willamette Valley Environment
- When: Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at 7pm
- Where: In person at the Hilyard Community Center. We will post a recording on the CMS YouTube channel within 1 week.
Presenting research into what the environment of the valley was like previous to settler changes. Settlers changed water systems and eliminated fire as a stewardship tool. In addition tribal culture was taken from the valley- tribes placed on reservations with little influence over their lands. This created a new ecosystem, what we have today, based on agriculture. What do new understandings of what the original environment was like bring to our vision of Kalapuya Culture and issues of restoration and conservation?
About our Speaker
David G. Lewis is a citizen of the Grand Ronde tribe, a descendant of the Santiam, Takelma, and Chinook peoples of western Oregon. He is also an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University. David studies the culture, history and lifeways of the western Oregon Tribes and publishes essays on his blog, The Quartux Journal (ndnhistoryresearch.com), and in journal articles and his book Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley (2023). David lives at Chemeketa- Salem- Oregon with his wife Donna.
Dr Lewis will have his book titled “Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley” available for sale. He will be accepting cash, credit cards, or Venmo.
