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Pacific Greens Sponsor Anti-War Protest in Salem The Chinook tribe regained federal recognition of their tribal status on January 3, 2001. But yesterday they learned that their fight for recognition is not over. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which had previously opposed the Chinook's request, to review the Clinton administration's decision to reestablish relationships with the Chinook. Federal recognition is important to the tribe because it gives members access to health and education benefits, fishing rights and the right to create a reservation and gaming operation. The Chinook, best known for greeting Lewis and Clark at the mouth of the Columbia River, historically lived on the banks of the Columbia and Willamette rivers and were skilled traders. Their neighbors, the Quinault Indian Nation, remain opposed to Chinook tribal recognition. In this photograph, a member of the tribe drums and sings for young children of the tribe at an annual potlatch held on Washington's Long Beach Peninsula.
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