Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID OR_2025_Lewis

Sacred Waters of Oregon Theme Issue

Institute: Oregon
Year Established: 2025 Start Date: 2026-01-01 End Date: 2026-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $19,225 Total Non-Federal Funds: $15,000

Principal Investigators: David Lewis

Project Summary: The knowledge of sacred springs is shared at the discretion of tribal elders. Some tribes freely share the knowledge of sacred waters before colonial disruption, others are hesitant to share knowledge of sacred waters until the survivial of the waters and way of life are threatened by post-colonial development for either bottling for food or spas and ecotourism. In the settlement era (post 1840s) settlers took possession of hot springs and began selling access to them for tourists seeking healing experiences in the Oregon Cascades. Today, many of the hot springs are poorly managed with numerous instances of pollution which frustrates Tribal uses of these springs they have accessed for millenia. The traditional ecological knowledge is fundamental to Oregonians as the state continues on implementing first ever Water Resources Research and Learning Agenda.