Theodore Strong was born on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington state in 1947, and was an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. He attended Drawn’s Business College in Dallas, Texas, and later studied at the Tacoma Technical Institute in Washington and at Eastern Montana College, now Montana State University, in Billings. He was comptroller for the the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, and president of the Native American Finance Officers Association. From 1990 to 1999, he served as executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC). During his tenure, CRITFC developed a salmon restoration plan, called Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit (Spirit of the Salmon), and presented it to members of Congress. In 1993, Strong was appointed to the President's Council on Sustainable Development by President Bill Clinton, and served as co-chair of the council's Natural Resources Task Force. He later served as chief judge of the Yakama Tribal Court, director of the Yakama Tribal Housing Authority, and director of the Yakima Chief Hops Association. Strong died in 2024.

Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Strong in his interview; “In Memoriam: Yakama leader Ted Strong,” by Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore News, February 20, 2024; "In Memoriam: Ted Strong," Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission website, January 31, 2024 (accessed January 2026), https://critfc.org/2024/01/31/in-memoriam-ted-strong/

In 1990, the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University, and Washington State University Vancouver formed the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) to promote research, education, and public programs about the Columbia River Basin. The center operated for more than 20 years. Among its work was the Columbia River Basin Project (CRBP), an umbrella project supported by a 1997 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The CRBP included online exhibits, oral histories, and high school curricula about the history of the region's land, wildlife, and people.

As part of the project, CCRH partnered with the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s oral history program, headed by Jim Strassmaier, to gather interviews. Oral Historian Michael O’Rourke spearheaded the Northwest Power Planning Council Oral History Series, while Oral Historian Clark Hansen oversaw the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, with aid from two Portland State University research assistants, Dannette Rowe and Tania Hyatt. In addition, CCRH conducted oral history interviews for a third project, Columbia Communities, and later donated the interview recordings and transcripts to the OHS Research Library, where they are designated SRC 1.

The Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series culminated in 59 interviews (approximately 184 recorded hours) conducted between 1998 and 2001. Interviewees included Native people, activists, farmers, conservationists, fishers, and others who contributed to the shaping of policies that have had, and continue to have, significant impacts on the Columbia River Basin in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia. The interviewees opposed policies by agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and advocated for alternative visions of management and use of the Columbia River.

Sources: “Voices of the Columbia,” by Bryan White, PSU Magazine, Fall 1998, Page 17; Center for Columbia River History brochure, undated (circa 2000); Center for Columbia River History website (accessed July 10, 2025, partially archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250215175329/https://columbiariverhistory.org/; email correspondence with Donna Sinclair, 2025; email correspondence with Tania Hyatt, 2025; Oregon Historical Society Research Library internal documentation.