Long before the Hanford nuclear reservation, the land was home to Native American tribes. The Yamaka Nation has strong ties to Laliik – or Rattlesnake Mountain — and Gable Mountain on the Hanford cleanup site. They are religious sites for the Tribes, and the whole area is ceded land for the Yakama Nation. The lands around Hanford were also used for village sites, gathering, fishing, hunting and social celebrations. But the Tribes were forced off their lands during World War II, and only in the past year have they been able to start to return to hunt and gather there. The Nation is trying to educate its youth and fully lean into being part of the formal efforts to clean up the 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored on the site. 

We sit down with Yakama Tribal Councilmembers Brian Saluskin and Deland Olney, and with Laurene Contreras Laurene Contreras, a Yakama tribal member and Program Administrator of the Environmental Restoration Waste Management Program for the Yakama Nation. They join us on the campus of  Washington State University Tri-Cities, where we are broadcasting from this week in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting.