PORTLAND, Oregon — The Sauvie Island Bridge has a new name to honor Native American communities with historical ties to the area. It's now the Wapato Bridge.
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners voted to approve the name — recommended by a council of tribal representatives — during a meeting Thursday morning.
Multnomah County owns and maintains the bridge, which is the only one that leads to Sauvie Island. County commissioners voted to rename it in 2022 following recommendations from members of the Advisory Committee on Sustainability and Innovation.
After the vote, the county convened the Bridge Renaming Council to help identify a new name for the bridge. This past summer, the council reviewed the proposed names from tribal government staff and island residents.
The wapato is a tuberous root that can be eaten like potatoes, according to council members. It grows in shallow ponds and was gathered by Native Americans on Sauvie Island.
"That's one of our first foods that happens to grow in that area, and somewhere where my ancestors used to come and gather those foods," said Corinne Sams in a video shared by Multnomah County.
Sams is a member of the Bridge Renaming Council.
The first people to live on Sauvie island were Chinook Indians, and white explorers arrived to the area in the early 1800s. Deadly outbreaks like smallpox decimated the Native population around 1829, according to historians.
Shortly after that, the Hudson Bay Company sent a French Canadian named Laurent Sauvé to the island to start a dairy farm.
Council members said renaming the bridge with an Indigenous name helps reclaims the land and their history.
"I think it is important, the recognition of a culturally important plant for us, our tribes, and I think also indicates presence, you know, for our tribal people that though we relocated to Grand Ronde, that we still have a strong connection to areas like Sauvie Island and to our first foods like the wapato," said Greg Archuleta in the county's video.
