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Native Americans
Estimated population in Oregon, including tribal members, members of tribes without federal recognition, and those who self-identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native: 109,223 (2010 Census)



 Nine federally-recognized tribes with reservation lands in Oregon:

Burns Paiute Tribe (349 members)
Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw (953 members)
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Community (5,200 members)
Confederated Tribes of Siletz (4,677 members)
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (2,893 members)
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation (4,306 members)
Coquille Indian Tribe (963 members)
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe (1,536 members)
Klamath Tribes (3,700 members)

 

One federally-recognized tribal community: Celilo Village, located east of The Dalles

 

One federally-recognized tribal government in Nevada and Oregon: Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe

 

Nut, State
The hazelnut, or filbert (Corylus avellana) was named the state nut by the 1989 Legislature. Oregon grows 99 percent of the entire U.S. commercial crop. The Oregon hazelnut, unlike wild varieties, grows on single-trunked trees up to 30 or 40 feet tall. Adding a unique texture and flavor to recipes and products, hazelnuts are preferred by chefs, bakers, confectioners, food manufacturers and homemakers worldwide.

 

Parks, State: 263 (2012)

 

Physical Dimensions
United States Rank in Total Area = 10
Land Area = 95,179 square miles
Water Area = 1,926 square miles
Total = 97,105 square miles
Coastline = 370 miles

 

Poet Laureate
Paulann Peterson of Portland was named Oregon’s poet laureate by Gov. Ted Kulongoski in 2010. The position was created in 1923. Lawson Inada was Oregon’s previous poet laureate, serving from 2006 to 2010. Peterson was born and raised in Oregon, spending half of her adult life in Klamath Falls. A graduate of Southern Oregon University, she has taught English at Mazama and West Linn High Schools. Her books of poetry are The Wild Awake, Blood-Silk, A Bride of Narrow Escape, and Kindle. She has received several awards including Stanford University’s Wallace Stegner Fellowship.

 

Population 1850 = 12,093 1860 = 52,465 1870 = 90,923 1880 = 174,768 1890 = 317,704 1900 = 413,536 1910 = 672,765 1920 = 783,389 1930 = 953,786 1940 = 1,089,684

1950 = 1,521,341 1960 = 1,768,687 1970 = 2,091,533 1980 = 2,633,321 1990 = 2,842,321 2000 = 3,421,399 2002 = 3,504,700 2004 = 3,582,600 2007 = 3,747,455 2010 = 3,831,074 2011 = 3,871,859

 

Precipitation
Record 24-hour maximum rainfall: 14.3" on November 6, 2006 at Lees Camp in the Tillamook County Coast Range
Average yearly precipitation at Salem: 39.67"
Record 24-hour snowfall: 39" on January 9, 1980 at Bonneville Dam
Record annual snowfall: 903" in 1950 at Crater Lake

 

Reservoir, Longest: Lake Owyhee - 52 miles

 

Rivers, Longest
Partially in the State of Oregon:
Columbia River, 1,232 miles
Snake River, 1,038 miles

 

Entirely in the State of Oregon:
John Day River - 281 miles
Willamette River - 187 miles

 

Rock, State
The Thunder-egg (geode) was named the Oregon state rock by the 1965 Legislature after rockhounds throughout Oregon voted it first choice. Thunder-eggs range in diameter from less than one inch to over four feet. Nondescript on the outside, they reveal exquisite designs in a wide range of colors when cut and polished. They are found chiefly in Crook, Jefferson, Malheur, Wasco and Wheeler Counties.

 

Also see related learning resource.

 

Schools, Public
Education Service Districts 19
Schools 1,270
School Districts 197
Student population (2011–12) 560,950

 

Seal, State
The state seal consists of an escutcheon, or shield, supported by 33 stars and divided by an ordinary, or ribbon, with the inscription “The Union.” Above the ordinary are the mountains and forests of Oregon, an elk with branching antlers, a covered wagon and ox team, the Pacific Ocean with setting sun, a departing British man-of-war ship signifying the departure of British influence in the region and an arriving American merchant ship signifying the rise of American power. Below the ordinary is a quartering with a sheaf of wheat, plow and pickax, which represent Oregon’s mining and agricultural resources. The crest is the American Eagle. Around the perimeter of the seal is the legend “State of Oregon 1859.” On September 17, 1857, the Constitutional Convention adopted a resolution that authorized the U.S. president to appoint a committee of three—Benjamin F. Burch, L. F. Grover and James K. Kelly—to report on a proper device for the seal of the state of Oregon. Harvey Gordon created a draft, to which the committee recommended certain additions that are all incorporated in the state seal.

 

Also see related learning resource.

 

Seashell, State
In 1848, a conchologist (shell expert) named Redfield named the Fusitriton oregonensis after the Oregon Territory. Commonly called the Oregon hairy triton, the shell is one of the largest found in the state, reaching lengths up to five inches. The shells are found from Alaska to California and wash up on the Oregon coast at high tide. The Legislature named the state shell in 1991.

 

Shoes, Oldest
Nine-thousand-year-old sandals made of sagebrush and bark were found at Fort Rock Cave in central Oregon in 1938 by archaeologist Luther Cressman.

 

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