The tipis at Kah-Nee-Ta have been extremely popular, the resort said.

When Kah-Nee-Ta Hot Springs Resort reopened its doors last year after a $13 million renovation, guests were welcomed not only by the hot springs, but a piece of cultural heritage that has long been an integral part of the resort’s identity: its iconic tipis.

These structures, the handiwork of Nomadics Tipi Makers in Bend, reflect a respect for Native American culture and are emblematic of an Oregon company that has prioritized cultural responsibility for over five decades.

As the sole supplier of Kah-Nee-Ta’s new tipis, Nomadics Tipi Makers continues to embody a commitment to cultural respect through partnerships with Native American artisans and organizations.

Nomadics founder Jeb Barton came to Oregon in 1970, interested in educating himself on environmental stewardship with a dream of starting a school. At the age of 26, Barton bought a tipi to live through the winter in the forests around La Pine.

“The tipi could teach so much. You could have all kinds of conversations about the Earth, the Native people’s culture, the way they regarded the Earth, how they treated the Earth,” he said.

Barton, his twin brother and a friend lived in the tipi for five months, cooking around the fire and using smoke flaps to control the smoke. “It was all the same ways that Native people use the tipis,” he said.

Inside a tipi in the TeePee Village at Kah-Nee-Ta Hot Springs Resort.

After the experience, Barton’s idea for his school shifted gears. “The school that I had planned turned out to be the education with and through the Native American tipi, and that’s how the business started, as an inspiration to an educational avenue,” he said.

He began making tipis himself in 1970. “I had to start from scratch because I knew nothing about, any of this. I had never done anything like it,” he said. “I started researching canvas suppliers and where you get tipi poles.”

The forests in central Oregon have the “lodgepole pine,” or the exact kind of tree that the Native Americans use for their tipis, Barton said. Initially, Barton cut most of the poles himself. He designed his first tipi — decorated with 16 black and white squares — on the kitchen floor. When Barton first started, Nomadics Tipi Makers sold 200 to 400 tipis per year. Over the last 20 years, the company has averaged 750 tipis per year.

A tipi at Kah-Nee-Ta is decorated with the petroglyph She Who Watches.

Most of Barton’s early customers were buyers interested in beginning a self-education journey. “Who am I? What do I really want to do here? What would really be fulfilling to me? Those were the kind of people day after day that we spoke with and designed tipis for and still do,” he said.

Despite not being Native-owned, Nomadics Tipi Makers has always prioritized authenticity.

“We run a business with very high ethical standards because it’s a Native American structure. I placed that at the very forefront of our business,” Barton said. “We’ve always donated tipis to Native American nonprofit organizations and to elders and we give the highest discount to Native Americans.”

Tipis are available to rent in the TeePee Village at Kah-Nee-Ta Hot Springs Resort.

Jim Souers, CEO of Kah-Nee-Ta, said the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs has no issues working with a non-Native company on the tipis. He said the tribe has always been impressed with the company’s traditional craftsmanship, and has been happy to work with Nomadics for decades.

“We’re very comfortable using them,” Souers said. “We like having a long-term relationship.”

In 2016, Barton had several friends going to and from Standing Rock to fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Barton loaded trucks with stoves and supplies, donated nine tipis and sold others at high discounts.

“We got over 80 tipis very quickly to Standing Rock because that’s what they needed – shelter and warmth,” he said.

The 26-foot tipis that Barton donated to Standing Rock were painted with Native American portraits and quotes and were the company’s largest-sized model.

Native American attorney and activist Chase Iron Eyes developed a friendship and partnership with Barton through his involvement in Standing Rock.

“When I got charged with inciting a riot, Jeb and Nicole, the owners, invited me to their business, their home, their land,” Iron Eyes said. “They’re good people. They asked for my help in creating Indigenous initiatives for tipi people.”

“They ended up donating tipis to me to put up during the pandemic when we were seeking to provide relief to houseless relatives in Lakota country,” he added.

Iron Eyes, who directs the Lakota People’s Law Project, said that the Lakota people are tipi people. “There are 20, 30 different tribal nations that live in tipis. That still have tipis and practice the tipi culture, put up the tipi, and know the stories behind the cosmology, the symbology of all the tipi structures.”

Souers, who is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, but who grew up on the Warm Springs reservation, said the tipi has become emblematic of Native American culture at large, spreading out from the Great Plains to the rest of the country over the last century, especially as canvas replaced buffalo skin as the primary material. The Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute people, who make up the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, traditionally used smaller tule mat lodgings and wickups, he said.

Since Kah-Nee-Ta reopened last July, the tipis have been a hit. Souers said the lodgings filled up last summer, but also had plenty of visitors throughout the year, including a few in the cold of winter. “I think it’s an authentic experience,” Souers said. “And that’s an experience I think they will cherish.”

For last year’s reopening, Kah-Nee-Ta purchased 20 tipis, each with a 26-foot diameter. According to Nomadics’ manager Tashina Youngstrom the project took five months to complete.

Dale Rae Samples, a Native American artist and Nomadics’ staff member designed most of the paintings on Kah-Nee-Ta’s new tipis. Others were designed in collaboration with local artists, the resort said.

Barton and his team at Nomadics Tipi Makers continue to visit reservations and make regular financial contributions to Native youth centers, emphasizing their commitment to giving back to the community.

“The whole project rose out of education, the responsibility of stewardship and citizenship and living on the Earth,” Barton said.

Nomadics Tipi Makers has been family-owned since its start.

“Our approach is cultural, and that’s why we’ve been able to sustain this,” said owner Nicole Loeffler. “A small number of people are always interested in experiencing Native American culture. They’re fascinated by it for its history, for its integrity, for its longevity, and its uniqueness. And that group of people will always gravitate towards us.”

— Jamie Hale of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this story.