Tribes Hold Traditional Spring Salmon Feast at Historic Portland, Ore., Hotel.

By Jean Kirsten Johnson, Indian Country Today, Oneida, N.Y. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jun. 9--PORTLAND, Ore. - A red and yellow design runs around the skirt of the small teepee, and poles leaning in on each other for support reach upward from under the weight of the canvas. A swath of Oregon's native plants and trees feather in around the teepee, and the lush smell of the Pacific Northwest fills the grand ballroom of Portland's historic Governor Hotel. Courtesy of the Spirit of the Salmon Fund of Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) and Bosky Dell native plant nursery, the stage was set for the four Columbia River tribes' annual spring salmon feast - the Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum Gala.

Invitations said evening wear and people came decked out for the occasion. Former director of CRITFC and chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Don Sampson has mostly short hair. Still, his pencil thin braids tracked long dark brown lines down the lapels of his tuxedo and his iridescent bow tie, where blues and greens reminiscent of the river itself, shimmered.

Why the event? "The salmon gala is a celebration of tribal …