Chinook Indian Nation

Chinook Indian Nation

"Salmon with Spirit Face" tribal logo
Formation	2002
Legal status	Nonprofit organization (since 1953)[1] Federally recognized tribe (2001–2002)
Headquarters	Bay Center, Washington
Membership	3,123 (2022)
Tribal chair	Tony Johnson
Main organ	Council
Website	chinooknation.org
Formerly called	Chinook Indian Tribe, Inc. (before 2001) Chinook Indian Tribe/Chinook Nation (2001–2002)[2]

The Chinook Indian Nation is an unrecognized tribe in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington that was federally recognized from 2001 to 2002. It consists of the five westernmost Chinookan tribes: the Cathlamet, Clatsop, Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum [hr; sh], and Willapa. Its headquarters is in Bay Center, Washington.

The Chinookan people of the Columbia River had a vast trading network before and during European colonization. The trading center of Cathlapotle, established in the 15th century, was visited by the Lewis and Clark expedition. The governments of the Oregon and Washington Territories negotiated treaties with Chinookans as settlers entered the region. The tribes that would become the Chinook Nation signed the Tansy Point Treaty (1851), which would grant them land, but it was not ratified by Congress. Treaty negotiations at the Chehalis River in 1853 failed. Chinookans were relocated to the Grand Ronde reservation in 1856, but the ancestors of the Chinook Nation refused. They were not included in negotiations ceding the region to the United States and began efforts toward recognition. In the 1920s, the tribe successfully sued to receive allotments of the Quinault Indian Reservation under an 1873 law.

The tribe petitioned for recognition in 1981, under the Federal Acknowledgment Process introduced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Cowlitz Indian Tribe supported their petition, but the Quinault Reservation opposed it. The tribe's federal recognition was signed by Kevin Gover in January 2001, near the end of Bill Clinton's presidency. It was revoked in July 2002 by Neal A. McCaleb, after George W. Bush had taken office, saying that the tribe did not sufficiently document its uninterrupted existence. The Chinook Nation's unsuccessful attempts to regain recognition included a campaign for an act of Congress. A 2023 court ruling overrode a ban on re-applications for recognition and granted the tribe land claim settlement money promised in 1970.

The Chinook Indian Nation is governed by a chair and a nine-member council. Most members live near its traditional lands. The tribe works on efforts for canoe revitalization and language revitalization of Chinuk Wawa. The tribe's events include the Winter Gathering and the First Salmon Festival.