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
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Siletz News
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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;
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Computer access
Copy and fax services
Business plan development
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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:
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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.