Chairman’s Portrait Featured at Completed PDX Terminal

A portrait of Cow Creek Umpqua Tribal Chairman Carla Keene is now on permanent display at Portland International Airport (PDX) following a completion ceremony held on April 29 for the airport’s newly renovated main terminal.

The remodel started over 10 years ago, with the focal point being the nine-acre mass timber roof. The roof required 3.5 million board feet of wood, all sourced within a 300-mile radius of PDX from small family-owned forests, nonprofits, and Tribal nations, including the Cow Creek Umpqua. Cow Creek Umpqua timber reclaimed from the Milepost 97 fire was used to build the twin lattice walls next to the main TSA checkpoints, create the TSA privacy screening booths, and in some retail spaces.

To celebrate the largest public works project in Oregon history and more than 250 small businesses and 30,000 workers who helped create the space, the Port of Portland installed two large-scale wall collages of portraits showing the faces of the leaders who assisted with the project.

Chairman Keene’s portrait is located at the north end of the terminal, near the United Airlines check-in counter, in the lower left corner.

In addition to Keene, portraits of CEO Tom Strong of the Skokomish Tribe of Indians, and Steve Rigdon and Christy Fiander of Yakama Nation are also featured. The Coquille Indian Tribe also contributed timber to the project, but they did not sit for a portrait. The airport is expected to serve up to 35 million passengers annually by 2045.