‍Yakona is dedicated to JoAnn and Bill Bartonand to the Yaqo’n people.

Special thanks to Robert Kentta of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz,and to Rena Olson, Community Arts & Engagement Manager for Yakona.

Program Notes

Yakona was commissioned byJoAnn and Bill Barton, who have, over years of work and dedication, brought to life their vision to restore the natural landscape and ecosystem of this precious natural space, to educate people about the history and nature of the area, and, most significantly, to honor the legacy of the Yaqo’n people and acknowledge the devastation brought to the people by white settlers and industry.

The piece is a “tone poem” of sorts. In it, we hear the sounds of the wind in the trees - the Sitka spruce, the Douglas firs, the hemlocks, and the cedars. We hear the tide creeping and swirling in and out of the estuaries and marshes. The decimation of the trees from logging and the subsequent dwindling presence of the native fauna.

We hear the erasure of the history and culture of the Yaqo’n people, both from devastating violence and disease and from their forced assimilation and marginalization.

We hear our ownership of the theft of place and history, and of the obliteration of a people. In the special places – the Grandmother Tree, the Mossy Knoll, the Picnic Tree, the Wedding Tree, the marshes and the sloughs, we pay our respects to the land and the legacy.

We hear the restoration of the natural habitat over decades in the shadow of climate change and political upheaval. The bears and eagles, the mushrooms and seabirds and oysters, the water and the earth.

We hear the Wind Phone, with which one can hold conversations with their deceased loved ones. In this piece, may we hear the Wind Phone reach back to the Yaqo’n people, to offer our acknowledgement and thanks for our presence here, and our commitment to holding this sacred place in our hearts and to give it a place in the hearts of others.

To learn more about Yakona, please visit www.YakonaOregon.org.