Chairman’s Report
Legislation
I am pleased to announce along with
our Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
and Congressman Kurt Schrader the pas-
sage of the Siletz land bill that we have
worked on for more than six years.
It will allow our fee-to-trust appli-
cations to be considered on-reservation
as it recognizes the Tribe’s 1855 treaty
boundaries. Prior to this, all applications
were considered off-reservation and had
to go through many extra steps.
The legislation was passed in the
Senate early in the year and the House
passed it, adopting the Senate version.
On Dec. 13, President Obama signed the
legislation.
Sen. Wyden, in a press release, stated
that “These bills mark a significant step
forward for Tribal sovereignty and the right
of the Siletz and Grand Ronde Tribes to
grow their own economies and build up
their own communities … I’m gratified to
have worked with Sen. Merkley to pass these
two pieces of legislation that begin to honor
long-ago promises made to the Tribes.”
Sen. Merkley said: “Too often in our
history, we have not kept our promises to
Tribes in Oregon and across the nation
… The passage of these bills is another
milestone in the journey of righting these
wrongs and more fully empowering their
sovereignty and self-determination.”
The governor’s general council, Ben
Souede, chaired the summit as the gover-
nor was unable to attend. She attended
the funeral services for former Attorney
General Hardy Myers, which was held on
the same day.
The summit theme was “Ties That
Bind.” All the speakers had the opportu-
nity to talk about their history and the ties
to Tribes and vice versa.
Government-to-government summit
Trump’s DOI secretary nominee
The Tribe hosted the annual Govern-
ment-to-Government Summit at Chinook
Winds in early December. The Tribal
chairmen gathered for dinner with Gov.
Kate Brown the evening prior to the sum-
mit and had an opportunity to relax, visit
and discuss issues. A reception with all
the attendees followed.
The summit was well-attended by
state agency directors, managers and Tribal
liaisons as well as Tribal representatives.
It was announced in mid-December
that the Trump administration will nomi-
nate Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke to be the
secretary of interior. Tribes have been
cautiously awaiting the name of the person
to fill this important position.
The new administration reached out
to Tribes in an effort to understand Tribal
issues at a recent meeting in Washington,
D.C. It’s reported that Rep. Zinke has a
good working relationship with Tribes.
Wyden, Merkley praise passage of their Siletz and Grand Ronde land bills
WASHINGTON – Oregon Sens. Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley today praised
the passage of their two bills that would
streamline the Bureau of Indian Affairs
process for putting land into trust for the
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and
the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
House approval of the two bills in
written by Wyden and Merkley in early
December follows Senate approval on July
14 and sends the legislation to the desk of
President Obama.
“These bills mark a significant step
forward for Tribal sovereignty and the right
of the Siletz and Grand Ronde Tribes to
grow their own economies and build up
their own communities,” Wyden said. “I’m
gratified to have worked with Sen. Merkley
to pass these two pieces of legislation that
begin to honor long-ago promises made
to the Tribes.”
“Too often in our history, we have not
kept our promises to Tribes in Oregon and
across the nation,” Merkley said. “The pas-
sage of these bills is another milestone in
the journey of righting these wrongs and
more fully empowering their sovereignty
and self-determination.”
“I’d like to thank Sens. Wyden and
Merkley, and Congressman Schrader, for
their tireless work passing this legislation.
The new law helps provide the Siletz Tribe
a fair process to recover a small portion
of our historic reservation,” said Dolores
Pigsley, Siletz Tribal chairman.
“This legislation will enable the Tribe
to more efficiently move the land it owns
into reservation status, which is histori-
cally a very complex and time-consuming
process,” said Reyn Leno, Grand Ronde
chairman.”The Tribe would like to thank
Sens. Merkley and Wyden and the Oregon
delegation for their support in advancing
this important piece of legislation.”
Delores Pigsley
General Council Meeting
Feb. 4, 2017 • 1 p.m.
Siletz Tribal Community Center
Siletz, Oregon
Call to Order
Invocation
Flag Salute
Roll Call
Approval of Agenda
Approval of Minutes
Programs
Tribal Home Visiting Program
Tribal Council Committee Reports
Tribal Members’ Concerns
Chairman’s Report
Announcements
Adjourn
Elders Council Meeting
Siletz News is free to enrolled Siletz Tribal members. For all others, a $12
annual subscription fee applies. Please make checks payable to CTSI and mail
to Siletz News.
Name: _______________________________________________________
Jan. 21 • 1-4 p.m. • Chinook Winds Casino Resort
Siletz Elder potlucks are held monthly at 6 p.m. on the Monday before the regularly
scheduled Elders meeting. Please bring a potluck dish you would like to share.
For more information, contact the Elders Program at 800-922-1399,
ext. 1261, or 541-444-8261.
Address: _____________________________________________________
Phone: _______________________________________________________
Change of address: Tribal members – contact the Enrollment Depart-
ment at 541-444-8258; 800-922-1399, ext. 1258; or enrollment@ctsi.nsn.us.
All others – call the newspaper office.
Deadline for the February
issue is Jan. 10.
Send information to:
Submission of articles and
photos is encouraged.
Siletz News
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380-0549
Please see the Passages
Policy on page 20 when sub-
mitting items for Passages.
541-444-8291 or
800-922-1399, ext. 1291
Fax: 541-444-2307
Email: pias@ctsi.nsn.us
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January 2017
Nuu-wee-ya’ (our words)
Introduction to the Athabaskan language
Open to Tribal members of all ages
Siletz
Siletz Tribal Community Center
Jan. 9 – 6-8 p.m.
Feb. 6 – 6-8 p.m.
Portland
Portland Area Office
Jan. 18 – 6-8 p.m.
Feb. 13 – 6-8 p.m.
Eugene
Eugene Area Office
Jan. 10 – 6-8 p.m.
Feb. 7 – 6-8 p.m.
Salem
Salem Area Office
Jan. 17 – 6-8 p.m.
Feb. 14 – 6-8 p.m.
Classes begin with basic instruction and progress over the year. They also
are a refresher course for more-advanced students. Come and join other members
of your community and Tribe in learning to speak one of our ancient languages.
We also have equipment in the Cultural Department available for use in
grinding and drilling shell or pine nuts or other applications. If you need to use
the equipment, call the number below to set up an appointment.
For more information, contact Bud Lane at the Siletz Cultural Department
at 541-444-8320 or 800-922-1399, ext. 1320; or e-mail budl@ctsi.nsn.us.
