Following the death of Chief Don Ivy of the Coquille Indian Tribe, a new man has been asked to take up the mantle.
Jason Younker is the University of Oregon’s Assistant Vice Principal and Advisor to the President on Sovereignty and Government-to-Government Relations. A cousin to Don Ivy, Younker will be taking the seat as a voting member of the Tribal Council.
Among the concerns he plans to address are climate change and its impact on Coquille River salmon — a vital and precious cultural resource to many Tribes in the Pacific Northwest.
“We want our tribe and neighbors to be conscious of what took place on this landscape, so that we have this historical context to learn from,” Younker told KLCC.
Chief Don Ivy died in July of this year, following a seven-month fight with cancer. While Younker regrets the circumstances that led to him taking the role of Chief, he seems set on doing his best with the given circumstances.
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