Page 6C
OUTSIDE
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Tribal youth follow in snowshoe steps of ancestors
Program aims to
build tourism in
Indian country
Associated Press
“Today what we
try to do a lot of is
get our youth out
on the land.”
STATELINE, Nevada — Native
American youths in northern
Nevada did more than listen to
lectures and read about the history
of their ancestors during the winter
break program run by the Washoe
Tribe’s cultural department.
They strapped on snowshoes
they crafted like tribal members did
centuries ago and followed their
footsteps through a valley south of
Lake Tahoe to traditional fi shing
grounds.
The snowshoe outing was part
of the program intended to help
engage youth in activities rooted in
the Washoe’s history, according to
the Tahoe Daily Tribune newspaper.
“Snowshoeing is something
that was a traditional activity for us
during the wintertime and really a
big part of our ability to survive and
cross the Sierras and trade,” said
Herman Fillmore, culture/language
resources director for the Washoe
Tribe of Nevada and California.
“Today what we try to do a lot
of is get our youth out on the land
identifying different places and
place names using the language,
learning about the philosophy and
the lay of the land,” he told the
Tahoe Daily Tribune.
The Washoe called the lake
“Da’aw.” It was the center of
the tribe’s world spiritually and
geographically. Tribe members
spent summers at Lake Tahoe and
the rest of the year moving around
the lake’s basin and surrounding
valleys to collect or hunt food like
pine nuts, acorns, rabbits and other
game.
Every winter for thousands of
years, members of the Washoe Tribe
more prevention.”
While many of the children
choose to partake in the activities,
some are mandated through the
tribe’s juvenile probation program.
Paula Smith, juvenile probation
offi cer for the Washoe Tribe, said
the outdoor programming has made
a huge difference in the lives of the
youth she works with.
“We are one of the only tribes
in the state that has it,” Smith said.
“When I started four years ago I had
24 kids now I have three because
we’re doing stuff like this and
learning about culture, tradition,
and staying busy with positive
activities.”
The snowshoe trek through
Hope Valley was guided by another
partner that also sees the impor-
tance of empowering the original
inhabitants of the region: Hope
Valley Outdoors.
John Dayberry, co-owner of the
rental and guiding company, has
aspirations to train Washoe youth to
work as guides so they can share the
history and native place names for
the peaks and valleys of the region
with visitors from around the world.
“What I want to do here is build
a model for Indian tourism across
the country so the framework that
we have starts out with maps and
reclaiming place names,” Dayberry
said. “We need to let the Washoe
people tell their story through their
language”
— Information from: Tahoe
Daily Tribune
— Herman Fillmore,
Culture/language resources
director for the Washoe Tribe of
Nevada and California
Claire Cudahy/The Tahoe Tribune via AP
In this Jan. 2 photo, Ashlin Smokey, a member of the Washoe Tribe in northern Nevada, pauses during
her fi rst time out on snowshoes on the outskirts of Hope Valley, Calif., southwest of Lake Tahoe.
She was among the youths who followed in the footsteps of their ancestors to traditional fi shing
grounds as part of a cultural program sponsored by the tribe during the winter break.
trekked in their distinctively round
snowshoes for several days through
Hope Valley and across the Sierra
Nevada to the American River
along a trail called Peweceli Yewes
(peh-weh-tseh-lee yeh-wesh). The
salmon they collected from the
American River was smoked for
preservation and brought back to
the rest of the tribe.
“I think getting back out to the
land starts to prevent suicide, starts
to overcome a lot of the health issues
that plague even our children,” said
Elizabeth Elliot, administrative
assistant for the cultural department.
“The programs and the work
that the tribe as a whole does is
keeping it going but we need more.
We lose more kids to the criminal
justice system, and we need to have
Claire Cudahy/The Tahoe Tribune via AP
In this Jan. 2 photo, young members of the Washoe Tribe in north-
ern Nevada display snowshoes they crafted on the outskirts of
Hope Valley, Calif., southwest of Lake Tahoe.
Offi cials: Tsunami alert for Oregon Coast is a wake-up call
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — When a tsunami
watch went out overnight Tuesday
via text messages, phone calls and
on the radio to residents of the
Oregon Coast, most were asleep
and oblivious of the potential
danger.
That
worries
emergency
managers, who said the 7.9
magnitude earthquake off the coast
of Alaska that triggered the alert
is a wake-up call. Any tsunami
generated by the temblor that
struck at 12:32 a.m. would have
hit the Oregon Coast hours later,
authorities said.
No tidal wave materialized
because the quake moved more
horizontally instead of up and
down, pushing up less water.
“It’s a real reminder that these
kinds of events can happen at any
time,” said Althea Rizzo, a tsunami
and earthquake specialist with
the Oregon Offi ce of Emergency
Management.
In the daytime, people on the
Oregon Coast would have had
hours to monitor the situation and
fl ee to higher ground if the tsunami
watch was escalated. But at night
it’s easy to sleep through warnings,
as many did Tuesday.
AP Photo/Don Ryan, fi le
In this March 2011 fi le photo, car headlights form a steady stream
of cars as residents evacuate the coastal town of Seaside after
tsunami warnings were issued as a result of an earthquake in Ja-
pan. The big earthquake off the coast of Alaska triggered a tsu-
nami watch for the Oregon Coast during the predawn hours Jan.
23, 2018, and while no tidal wave materialized, offi cials said it is a
wake-up call.
By the time they became aware
of the situation, the all-clear had
been given.
It is important for people to sign
up for tsunami alerts, and to keep
their phones nearby when they go
to bed so they can hear them, Rizzo
said. Alerts can also be received on
radios that sell for around $30.
Seaside, about 60 miles north-
west of Portland, is considered the
most vulnerable Oregon coastal
town because so many people
live in the inundation zone, far
from high ground. Some residents
were fatalistic about a tsunami,
not worrying about signing up to
receive alerts.
But Sheila Roley, the school
district superintendent, said it
was a learning experience for her.
Overnight, she blocks incoming
calls and texts except for people
close to her and her leadership
team. On Tuesday, she discovered
she needed to add the tsunami
alerts to her unblocked numbers.
“I met with the leadership team
this morning,” Roley said in a
telephone interview. “Some slept
through (the tsunami watch), and
by the time people got up at 5 or 6,
it had already been canceled.”
Seaside is taking the risk of a
tsunami so seriously that voters
approved a $100 million bond
measure in the November 2016
election to move three schools out
of the inundation zone.
A distant earthquake is a risk
— a 1964 earthquake off Alaska
triggered a tsunami three-stories
high that hit Oregon, killing several
people.
But an earthquake along the
nearby Cascadia subduction zone
is even more dangerous, expected
to generate a much bigger tsunami
with people in inundation zones
having only minutes — not hours
— to get to high ground. Coastal
residents and visitors can go to
http://nvs.nanoos.org/Tsunami-
Evac to input an address and see if
it is in a hazard area.
Jenny Demaris, emergency
manager for Lincoln County,
which encompasses several coastal
population centers including
Lincoln City and Newport, said
people can sign up for emergency
alerts through the county’s web
page.
“We live, work and play here,”
Demaris said. “It’s important that
we’re aware of our environment
and hazards, and sign up for warn-
ings.”
Rizzo said the state doesn’t have
a tsunami siren system because it
would be so expensive and not
every coastal area would need to
be evacuated in the event of an
incoming tsunami. Plus they would
often be hard to hear on the stormy
coast, she said.
Coincidentally, a large yellow
buoy used by the National Weather
Service to detect large tsunami
waves was discovered Monday on
a beach near Yachats.
The National Weather Service
in Portland said on Twitter Tuesday
that the DART buoy is probably
one that broke from its mooring
230 miles west of Astoria on Oct. 4.
BRIEFLY
State observations indicate lower
steelhead mortality
ASTORIA (AP) — Gillnet fi shermen on the
Columbia River may be killing less steelhead
while trying to catch other fi sh, according
to preliminary data gathered by Oregon and
Washington state observers.
The state observations of the fi shermen last
year indicated that steelhead mortality may be
much lower than the historic rate of about 49
percent, The Daily Astorian reported .
The steelhead mortality rate fell between 8 and
24 percent in 2009, 2012 and 2017, said Tucker
Jones, ocean salmon Columbia River program
manager for the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife. The rate indicates the percentage
of fi sh that fi shermen catch in their nets that are
expected to be dead.
The historic rate is based on data collected
during test fi shing trips and observations in the
1980s and 1990s.
The new data will be presented to regulatory
commissions as offi cials plan for the upcoming
fi shing seasons on the Columbia River.
“Pending some independent review,
our analysis looks like we might have well
overestimated the mortality,” said Bill Tweit,
assistant to the director for the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
While the lower mortality rate could be good
news for fi shermen, some were cited last year
after refusing to allow state observers to board
their vessels. The fi shermen said they refused
due to concerns and confusion about safety and
liability.
Jim Wells, president of the commercial fi shing
advocacy organization Salmon For All, said he
allowed an observer on board for the fi rst fi shing
period, but refused during the third. He said the
water was rough that night, and he thought it
wasn’t safe.
Oregon State Police charged Wells for the
violation, but a court later lowered it to a citation
with a $225 fi ne.
2018 Capitol Christmas Tree
to come from Oregon
SALEM (AP) Oregon — America’s top
Christmas tree producing state — will be
providing a tree next Christmas for the Capitol in
Washington, D.C.
And the tree will come from the Sweet Home
Ranger District of the Willamette National
Forest, the U.S. Forest Service announced Friday.
It’s an honor for the national forest and the state,
said Willamette National Forest spokesman Scott
Owen.
“When the tree is selected and cut down at
the beginning of November, it will make a trip
throughout Oregon,” he said.
The National Park Service and the National
Park Foundation team up to provide the National
Christmas Tree, another outdoor Christmas tree
that goes on display annually in D.C. near the
White House.
The Capitol Christmas Tree will come
from Oregon for only the second time overall
and the fi rst time in 16 years, according to
Choose Outdoors, a Colorado-based nonprofi t
organization running the program. In 2002, the
Umpqua National Forest supplied the tree, a
Douglas fi r.
The headquarters of the Willamette National
Forest is in Springfi eld. Forest offi cials will enlist
the public’s help to fi nd the perfect tree.
It must be about 70 feet tall and along a forest
road so cranes and a truck can reach it to bring it
down and haul it away. “It has to obviously have
the shape of a good Christmas tree,” said Bruce
Ward, president and founder of Choose Outdoors.
The Capitol Christmas Tree will be cut in
November. Organizers plan to have the tree’s
route to Washington, D.C. follow part of the
Oregon Trail in reverse. Before the tree leaves
Oregon in November, a “modern-day wagon
train” will haul it around the state for a series of
events, according to the Forest Service.
Ward was in Oregon this week, setting up
sponsorship agreements with a trucking outfi t and
other companies to help with the tree.
The tree will go on display in December on
the west lawn of the Capitol Building. Another
70 smaller Christmas trees will be cut on the
district as well to decorate Congressional offi ces
and other federal buildings.
The Pacifi c Northwest Christmas Tree
Association listed Oregon as having the largest
Christmas tree harvest in 2016, followed by
North Carolina and Michigan.
The Forest Service has provided a Capitol
Christmas Tree since 1970, with each of the
agency’s nine regions taking turns to provide the
tree. Region 6 covers Oregon and Washington.
The past two times the region provided a tree,
in 2006 and 2013, it came from Washington,
according to Choose Outdoors.
Sending a tree to D.C. gives Oregonians
a chance to share some of the state’s beauty,
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement.
SKI REPORT
Spout Springs
Tollgate, Ore.
CLOSED FOR SEASON
Anthony Lakes
North Powder, Ore.
New snow: 6”
Base depth: 40”
Conditions: Close to
20” this week, more
snow forecast
Ski Bluewood
Dayton, Wash.
New snow: 9”
Base depth: 45”
Conditions: 27” this
week, heavy powder
and machine groomed
Ski Fergi
Joseph, Ore.
New snow: 4”
Base depth: Unknown
Conditions: Ungroomed
Saturday
Mt. Hood Meadows
Government Camp, Ore.
New snow: 5”
Base depth: 64”
Conditions: Groom
is super-smooth
packed powder. Off
piste is powder and
skier-packed powder.