Grand Ronde tribe reclaims Willamette Falls in Oregon

By JAMIE HALE
The Oregonian/OregonLive

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde held a symbolic demolition event at the old Blue Heron Paper Mill at Willamette Falls, marking a step toward removing the industrial site and returning it to Indigenous hands. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the media was invited to watch on Tuesday as an excavator tore into a wall of the old, abandoned paper mill that the tribe says has stood on its ancestral grounds for too long. The tribe has laid out an ambitious vision that would transform the old mill site into a community center where visitors could walk along the river, dine at a restaurant, stay the night or attend an event.