Our work at The Intertwine Alliance is about creating access to nature – to land.
We recognize what we now call the Greater Portland region as the traditional lands of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Cowlitz, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. Today, people from these bands have become part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, as well as the Chinook Nation and Cowlitz Nation in Washington State.
These tribes were the land's first stewards, from time immemorial. They are still here today in large numbers. The Portland area's urban Native community is descended from more than 380 tribes, and there are nine sovereign Native American nations located throughout Oregon. The Native community continuously works to ensure healthy and culturally appropriate access to nature.
These lands that have held a Native community from time immemorial also hold an ever-growing non-Native community. In pursuing our work as The Intertwine Alliance, we acknowledge that we are neither the first nor the last to populate and interact with these lands. We pursue our mission with reverence for our place in this continuum and a constant vigilance to cultivate relationships that sustain the land and its people.