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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2007)
TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS April USDA Distribution Dates March was an extremely busy month with preparing for this confer Monday, April 2 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. ence and the change USDA made to Tuesday, April 3 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. our process for ordering Wednesday, April 4 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. commodities and re Thursday, April 5 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. ceiving shipments. We received two Friday, April 6 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. shipments of fresh produce, one at each Salem warehouse, and two shipments of multi Monday, April 16 1:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. foods. We usually Tuesday April 17 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. only receive one Wednesday, April 18 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. multi-food shipment, but the extra one was needed because of the By the time you read this, we will have attended our Annual Western change USDA made to its contract of Region Conference of Food Distribu its storage. Our shipments no longer will come tion Programs on Indian Reservations from Albuquerque, N.M. They now (WAFDPIR). Siletz will come from Kansas City, Mo., and the ordering no longer will be two months in advance but only six days. The process will be called ECOS (Elec tronic Commodity Ordering System), which plays right in with our AIS (Auto mated Inventory System). But don't be mistaken - this is not all as smooth as it appears in writing, but it’s another good chal lenge thrown our way. If anyone has some free time dur ing the month and would be willing to share some with us, we will gladly ac cept you as a volunteer. Our program helps a lot of hungry people and is willing to share the workload. Most of you have done very well with keeping your scheduled appoint ments and we appreciate this more than you know. Have a great month and eat healthy. Kitti Navarro, USDA FDP Director Joyce Retherford, USDA FDP Clerk 1-800-922-1399, ext. 1279, or 541-444-8279 Happy meals! Small Business Program Offers Counseling Habitat Research Helps Form Positive Relationships by Stan van de Wetering Several years ago, the Natural Re sources Department laid out a set of surveys and experiments that were de signed to begin to help us better un derstand the habitat needs of our salmon and eels. From 2001 to 2005, we spent a lot of time crawling about the woods, riv ers, and bays looking at where fish were, what they were doing, and what the habitats they resided in looked like. We collected water and air temperature data; we looked at timber cut patterns and road densities. We mapped where the pools and riffles are located and where the fish spawn and rear; we crawled through the mud in the bays and counted baby fish as they swam in and out of salt marshes. This describes just of a few of our past survey efforts. Many of these efforts have been focused on a process the state is lead ing. The objective of this process is to develop what are called TMDLs, or total maximum daily loading standards. These standards are developed to guide management practices and are typically focused on various sorts of pollution. Two forms of pollution we have focused on are increased stream tem peratures and suspended sediment (muddy water). One of the steps along our way has been to describe the stream temperature and suspended sediment values for the Siletz River Basin over a series of years (2001-2005). The second step has been to take that information and transfer it to the labo ratory, where we can test a fish's abil ity to survive under various real-world temperature and sediment conditions. We attempted to get this research go ing during 2004 and 2005, but had dif 8 • Siletz News • ficulties setting up our own facility because of limitations in grant funding. What I am writing about here is the terrific relationship we have formed with Oregon State University's Depart ment of Fish and Wildlife and more specifically, the USGS Fish and Wild life Co-op Unit. Dr. Carl Schreck directs the co-op unit. Dr. Hiram Li also is a lead staff member for the co-op. We approached Carl in the winter of 2006 and de scribed our problems and our desires to carry out specific research. Carl was very responsive. We es sentially immediately began designing and scheduling the various research projects the tribe previously identified as a priority. Since then, the tribe and the co-op have worked together toward carrying out non-funded research. The tribe has funded a portion of one of our eel projects carried out at the co-op laboratory (Smith Farm) and the tribal/co-op team has written sev eral proposals aimed at securing more funds for eel research. The tribal/co-op team currently is wrapping up a yearlong study exam ining growth and survival in both adult and juvenile eels relative to stream tem perature and sediment pollution. We anticipate this research continuing through spring 2008. We hope to in volve tribal students as interns during the upcoming year. I would like to thank Drs. Schreck and Li as well as doctoral student Ben jamin Clemens and Smith Farm Facili ties Manager Robert Chitwood for their expertise and assistance in completing our Natural Resource Department Aquatic Project goals during 2006 and 2007. April 2007 If you are a Siletz Tribal member and have been thinking about going into business for yourself, it’s important to find out as much as you can before you actually start your business. The Siletz Small Business Program offers one-on-one counseling services and business research assistance. Other services available to business program clients include; • • • Computer access Copy and fax services Business plan development • • Small business loan program Marketing information So if you’ve been thinking about going into business for yourself, take the time to find out what the Small Business Program can do to help you. It can make a big difference in the suc cess of your business. For more information, contact Rosie Sufficool, business information counselor, at 541-994-2142 or (toll-free) 1-877-564-7298. Business and You! by Rosie Sufficool, STBC Business Information Counselor Expectations of Employees - Are They Realistic? If you are a business owner and have employees, you probably have certain expectations of how you want them to act, particularly in front of your customers. But if you aren’t providing training for these employees, you might be sur prised at what some of them think is appropriate behavior in the workplace. Basic good manners are a learned behavior. Most of us were taught to say “please and thank you” and to be “nice” to people when we were young. Unfortunately, many people never learned those skills growing up and don't know how to be “nice.” What you con sider “rude” behavior may be considered “normal” by some of your employees. If you don't take the time to teach employees these skills, your business could suffer and you might find your customers going somewhere else to purchase products or services. In addition to teaching appropriate customer interaction, it’s also important to model the right kind of behavior to your employees and set a good ex ample for them to follow. Stress the importance of doing ev erything possible to make the customer happy and make him or her want to re- turn to the business for the products and services that your business provides. Remember, when trying to estab lish a company policy or procedure, it’s important to begin with the basics. Here are some tips: • • • • • • • Provide the employee with an over view of your expectations in writing. Reinforce your expectations verbally. Explain why these particular ex pectations are important to you and the business. Explain the importance of teamwork. Explain how each individual can grow professionally by learning these new skills. Model the kind of behavior you expect from your employees. Frequently reward a change in be havior with positive comments. It’s important to remember that any time you make a change, the process will be slow and it might take a while to see significant changes. As an employer, your reward will be employees who learn the right way to treat customers and happy customers will return and help your business to grow.
