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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2011)
Healthy Traditions activities continue in January with meetings, classes The Healthy Traditions project seeks to improve the health of Siletz Tribal members through educational activities that promote the use of traditional foods through hunting, gathering, gardening, cooking, food preservation and protecting our natural resources. Find event information on: • • • • Facebook www.ctsi.nsn.us (calendar and mem bers only section) Siletz News Or call 541-444-9627 to listen to the upcoming event recording Do you “like” Healthy Traditions? See event announcements on your Facebook news feed by clicking to “like” Healthy Traditions. “Like” is the same as becoming a fan. • • • • • Event announcements and reminders Event cancelations (for weather or red tide) Photo sharing Weather reminders (freeze warnings for gardeners) Low-tide reminders Community planning meetings The Tribal Planning Department will host community meetings in all area of fices this month to discuss services, plans and goals for the Tribe. Many Tribal de partments, including Healthy Traditions, will give presentations on program ser vices and goals. Attendees will have the opportunity to share feedback on how the programs can better serve the needs of the community (see story on page 5). Reminder: Start saving your food grade containers such as yogurt contain ers, paper towel rolls and egg cartons to start seedlings for spring. Clear plastics serve as mini-greenhouses for seedlings. You also can make biodegradable seedling containers out of newspaper. Tribal housing garden planning Healthy Traditions is working with the Housing Department to create gar dening space in Tribal housing neighbor Jerky smoking classes Smoking meat is a tasty and traditional method for meat preservation. Learn how to make your own beef jerky at your local area office on the following dates: • • • • hoods. We are looking for resident input on garden locations and policies. If you would like to participate and give feed back, please contact me. Fruit tree care and planting class TBA, pending instructor availability As an initiative to increase fresh pro duce availability, Healthy Traditions will host a fruit tree care and planting class where attendees will learn how to plant and care for a fruit tree. Siletz: Jan. 11, 10 a.m. Eugene: Jan. 18, 10 a.m. Salem: Jan. 26, 10 a.m. Portland: Jan. 27, 10 a.m. We also will do a small cooking demo that participants will be able to sample while we are waiting for the jerky to finish. Gardening meeting Jan. 11, 5 p.m. Siletz Tribal Community Center Agenda will include classes for new gardeners, container gardening, seed ordering, community garden - individual plots vs. open harvesting, garden hours. Photo by Natasha Kavanaugh Carol Blomstrom, Rose Bremner, Verdene McGuire and Daniel Brown join Sharia Robinson (second from right) at a meat canning workshop at the USDA building in Siletz on Dec. 7. Bill to help Oregon Tribes with 99-year leases heads to president’s desk Legislation sponsored by Merkley and Wyden enhances economic opportunities for Oregon Tribes WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 15 passed a bill written by Oregon’s Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden to authorize the Coquille Indian Tribe; the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians; the Confeder ated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw; the Klamath Tribes; and the Burns Paiute Tribe to lease out lands held in trust for up to 99 years. The bill, numbered S.1448, passed the Senate unanimously in September and now heads to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. Current law allows many Tribes across the country to lease land beyond 25 years, but five of the nine Oregon Tribes were not included in that law. S.1448 provides all Tribes in Oregon with this same opportunity to attract future eco nomic development. “Oregon’s Tribes deserve every op portunity to improve their local econo mies,” Merkley said. “This bill provides every Tribe in the state with lease flexibil ity to attract business investment, plan for economic development and create jobs.” “This arcane law has been holding Oregon’s Tribes back for far too long,” said Wyden. “This law gives these Tribes the ability to enter into long-term agree ments with investors - giving them the stability they need to attract the investors and take control of their economic future.” This bill amends the Act of Aug. 9, 1955, and authorizes five of the nine Oregon Tribes with the ability to lease out lands held in trust for up to 99 years. By providing assurances to lenders, the bill will assist Tribes in planning for economic development. The current law allowing only 25- year leases has made it difficult for the five Tribes to attract large business in vestments from companies looking for a guarantee they can operate longer than 25 years. President signs Cobell settlement, closes chapter on historic injustices WASHINGTON - President Obama signed into law on Dec. 8 the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, which included the $3.4 billion Cobell settlement and major Tribal water settlements that have been at the forefront of Indian Country’s legislative agenda. “The president and the Congress have continued to exhibit a renewed determination to honor the federal trust responsibility to Tribal nations and Indian people,” said Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. “Today’s ceremony is another concrete example of this administration’s commit ment to work with members of Congress to honor our historic, nation-to-nation relationship. Tribal leaders look forward to meeting with the president and his ad ministration next week at the White House Tribal Nations Conference and continue building our vision for strengthening Indian Country.” The signing of the Cobell settlement, which resolves long-running class action litigation over mismanagement of Indian trust funds, came one week prior to the president’s Tribal Nations Conference, the second of his administration. Leaders from the 565 federally recognized Tribal nations were invited by the White House to the gathering at the Department of Interior on Dec. 16. The Cobell settlement also includes payment for resource mismanagement and funds for consolidation of fraction ated lands. The case has been pending since 1996. In the last month, it moved forward rapidly in the Senate as budget neutral legislation after lingering for the last year in both houses. Unresolved for 14 years, the settle ment was part of a number of historic measures included in the Claims Resolu tion Act of 2010. In addition to the Cobell settlement, historic water settlements vital to Indian Country totaling more than $1 billion were passed as part of H.R. 4387. The water settlements involved the Crow Tribe, Taos Pueblo, the White Moun tain Apache Tribe and the Aamodt settle ment, including the Pueblos of Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso and Tesuque. Help available for college application process through College Horizons College Horizons is a summer op portunity exclusively offered to American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students and provides expert advice on nav igating the college application process. College Horizons invites current 10th- and 11 “’-grade American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students to apply to its CH 2011 summer program. 4 • Siletz News • This pre-college program helps 90 stu • dents work with 60 college admissions officers, college counselors, essay special ists and other educators in a six-day “crash course” that helps students navigate the college application process. This summer, College Horizons will offer two programs: January 2011 • Colorado State University (Ft. Col lins, Colo.), June 12-17, 2011 University of Rochester (Rochester, N.Y.), June 26 - July 1,2011 The application and eligibility details are available at www.collegehorizons.org. The deadline for application submission is Feb. 14, 2011. Since these programs tend to fill up quickly, it’s highly recommend ed that students postmark their ap plication by the deadline. Significant financial aid is available (tuition and air fare) for students who qualify. For more information, call College Horizon’s main office at 505-401-3854 or e-mail info@collegehorizons.org.
