LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
A9
Joseph tables proposed UGB ordinance
Numerous
people speak out
against plan
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Mary Harris performs the Shawl Dance at the 2016 Tamkaliks
Celebration. This year’s Tamkaliks will be July 22-24.
Tamkaliks returns,
celebrates 30 years
By ANN BLOOM
For the Wallowa County
Chieftain
WALLOWA — Tamka-
liks is back.
After a hiatus of two
years, due to the COVID-
19 pandemic, the celebra-
tion of Native American
culture will return to its Nez
Perce Homeland location in
Wallowa to commemorate
30 years of friendship and
homecoming.
Tamkaliks begins Fri-
day, July 22, at 9 a.m. with
a memorial ceremony and
continues until Sunday,
July 24. Important ceremo-
nies include a veterans’ cer-
emony and dance, events
acknowledging murdered
and missing indigenous
women and girls, and an
event acknowledging the
abuses of Native children
at residential boarding
schools. In between there
will be social and contest
dancing, vendors selling
food, a horse parade and
other fun contests.
Nancy Crenshaw, a
board member of the Nez
Perce Wallowa Home-
land project and a found-
ing member of the Tamka-
liks event, said it is very
signifi cant.
“It shows the homecom-
ing and learning about the
culture. It’s a chance for
people to come and make
new friends,” she said.
During the two years
Tamkaliks was not held,
Crenshaw said she was
very sad and missed it.
“I made a lot of friends.
I missed the spiritual joy I
felt during the celebration,”
she said.
The whole point of Tam-
kaliks, Crenshaw stressed,
is that it is a joining of
cultures.
“Sunday is the friend-
ship feast with buff alo,
salmon and elk,” she said.
“People are totally encour-
aged to come. It’s truly a
celebration.”
People are asked to
bring a dish to share at the
friendship feast.
Crenshaw wants peo-
ple to come out and sup-
port the vendors and watch
the dancing which is sup-
ported with sponsorships.
The sponsors present the
prize money following the
competition. There is also
a raffl e with prizes donated
by local businesses.
Tamkaliks is an inter-
tribal celebration, Cren-
shaw said.
“Any tribes that want to
come can,” she said. “It’s
a homecoming. One year
some guys from Kansas
came. It was fun.”
For fi rst-time attend-
ees of Tamkaliks, some
things to remember include
awareness of Native culture
and practices. During the
memorial ceremony, pic-
tures are not allowed. The
master of ceremonies will
announce this beforehand.
Observers are asked to sit
quietly. At other times,
Crenshaw said, pictures are
welcome, but it is always
polite to ask fi rst.
“They are proud of their
regalia,” she said.
Tamkaliks began in
1990 when a coalition of
tribal people, community
leaders and interested peo-
ple in Wallowa decided to
do a powwow. Crenshaw
and her husband, Terry, a
high school history teacher,
were two of those people.
She said at the heart of it
was wanting to welcome
the Nez Perce back to the
Homeland.
The current location of
Tamkaliks is approximately
320 acres and includes a
farmhouse that is in the pro-
cess of renovations where
Native people can come
and stay. It is also avail-
able for workshops. Camp-
ing is free during Tamka-
liks, but certain areas are
traditionally used by regu-
lar attendees, so Crenshaw
asks potential campers to
check-in with the Tamka-
liks offi ce — located on the
grounds during the celebra-
tion — before choosing a
camping spot.
The Tamkaliks celebra-
tion is alcohol- and drug-
free, and guns are prohib-
ited at the celebration or on
the grounds.
“Everybody’s
wel-
come,” Crenshaw said.
“Bring your best self.
Come out of this pandemic.
Have some fun and come
together. There is a lot of
fun stuff to do.”
For more information on
Tamkaliks, contact the Nez
Perce Wallowa Homeland
offi ce in Wallowa at 541-
886-3101 or visit the web-
site at info@nezpercewal-
lowa.org.
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
www.Wallowa.com
JOSEPH — A proposed
“land swap” of property out
of and into Joseph’s urban
growth boundary was put on
hold Thursday, July 7, as the
City Council awaits a second
public hearing in August and
additional advice from legal
counsel.
More than 100 people
crowded into the Joseph
Community Events Center,
most of whom where there
for the UGB hearing. About
20 people signed up to speak
and another half-dozen or so
letters were submitted and
read into the record.
No one was in favor of
the land swap and a num-
ber said it was not within the
law.
Interim
Administra-
tor Brock Eckstein advised
the council to refrain from
responding to concerns
expressed over the issue
during a public hearing on
it held during Thursday’s
council meeting.
Eckstein made his rec-
ommendation after the city
received several items of
correspondence from attor-
neys on the UGB.
“It is my recommenda-
tion that the council does
not answer any questions
tonight and table the mat-
ter until the city attorney
can further review the corre-
spondence,” he said.
The issue before the
council was a plan to mod-
ify the urban growth bound-
ary of the city. According to
Oregon.gov, each city in the
state has an urban growth
boundary that is used to des-
ignate where a city expects
to grow over the next 20
years. Cities may amend
their UGB as needed to
accommodate city growth.
The use of UGBs, and the
review process for UGB
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Leon Werdinger gives his reasons for opposing a planned
“land swap” to alter Joseph’s urban growth boundary during
a public hearing on the matter Thursday, July 7, 2022, before
the Joseph City Council. A second hearing and possible
decision will take place Aug. 4.
expansion, helps to preserve
Oregon’s agriculture, forest
and open space and control
the sprawl of each city.
In this case, the city
intends to “swap” 69.9
acres of the Iwetemlay-
kin State Heritage Site cur-
rently zoned for residen-
tial use and within the UGB
for 73.4 acres nearby on the
city’s southwest side. Since
state law governing UGBs
requires land to be available
for residential use, the land
in Iwetemlaykin cannot be
used for residential, as it has
become part of a state park.
In reading the notice for
the hearing, Mayor Lisa
Collier emphasized that the
council would not make any
decision after the hearing.
This was just the fi rst read-
ing of the proposed ordi-
nance. The second read-
ing and another hearing
will take place at the coun-
cil’s Aug. 4 meeting. A vote
on the ordinance could take
place at that time.
Public comments
Leon Werdinger, who
wrote a column on the UGB
issue that appeared in the
June 29 Chieftain, largely
allowed that column to be
his statement. But he still
was opposed to the UGB
modifi cation and said he
thinks the details need to be
worked out by a planning
commission.
“Just deny it and start
from scratch and have your
planning commission go for
it,” he said.
Others agreed that the
city needs a planning com-
mission. Collier was one
most in agreement, but said
it’s been diffi cult getting res-
idents to step up and take
part.
“We need people who
will serve on it,” she said.
While the need for a plan-
ning commission appeared
to be one of the most con-
certing issues necessary
before the UGB modifi -
cation can move forward,
other issues expressed by
residents were mentioned.
David Berkey, a retired
attorney, said he’s been
doing legal research on the
issue.
“I don’t see how you can
do what you’re proposing
because this ain’t a swap,”
he said.
He cited an Oregon law
on the defi nition of “build-
able land ‘that is suitable,
available and necessary
for residential uses.’ and of
course, there is none. Iwe-
temlaykin land is not due to
Maxville, history center win parks grants
Sites among 14
statewide to
receive grants
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Two sites in Wallowa
County are soon to be the
recipients of grants from
the Oregon Parks and Rec-
reation Department, it was
announced Friday, July 1.
The Maxville Heritage
Interpretive Center in Joseph
requested and received a
$10,000 grant, with $10,000
matching in in-kind support
and funds raised to get the
Maxville site east of Wal-
lowa on the National Reg-
ister of Historic Places.
The money will help cover
the cost of the nomination
process.
Gwendolyn Trice, exec-
utive director of the center,
said Wednesday, July 6, that
the grant should arrive any
day. It will pay for the writer
of the nomination to the
national register, she said.
The center has fi nally
purchased the 240-acre site
that includes Maxville. Trice
said the center closed on the
site June 10.
Maxville, which existed
as a company logging town
from 1923-33, was at one
time the largest town in Wal-
lowa County, according to
the Maxville website. It was
home to African American
loggers at a time when Ore-
gon’s constitution included a
Wallowa County Chieftain File Photo
A building at the Maxville townsite in northern Wallowa County is observed by teachers and
students in 2015. The building has been dismantled and will be reconstructed in the spring,
the 100th anniversary of the founding of the former logging town.
provision excluding Blacks
from the state. Maxville had
a population of about 400
residents, 40 to 60 of them
African American, the web-
site says.
Trice’s father, grand-
father, uncles and cousins
came from Arkansas to work
as loggers in Maxville.
She said the main lodge
has been dismantled and
will be rebuilt at the site in
the spring, which will be
the 100th anniversary of the
establishment of Maxville.
“We’ve been working on
it and now it’s a reality,” she
said.
Trice said archaeologi-
cal students from around the
region have been working
on the site before any recon-
struction work is done.
“We’re making sure were
doing the due diligence
before we rebuild,” she said.
“We want to honor all the
(archaeological) processes
before we turn any soil.”
In addition to the resi-
dents of the logging town,
archaeology connected to
the Nez Perce and Confed-
erated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla, which were the original
inhabitants of the area, also
is being considered.
In addition to Maxville,
the Wallowa History Center
in Wallowa requested and
received a $20,000 grant to
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its status as a heritage site.
That’s nobody’s fault, but
that’s the fact. I don’t see
how you can exchange a
nonexistent right to a diff er-
ent area.”
Todd Turner, who moved
to Joseph from Bend three
years ago, said in Bend he
served on the planning com-
mission and saw the UGB
expand there.
“In my time as a plan-
ning commissioner, I’ve
never heard the term ‘land
swap’ as it relates to UGB
issues,” he said, adding that
what Joseph plans is not a
swap, but an expansion or
“rerouting.”
He emphasized that the
city needs an inventory of
residential housing. Others
agreed, saying many homes
in Joseph are either unoc-
cupied or occupied only a
portion of the year. Turner
said he believes it would be
likely the state would ask for
such an inventory.
Turner’s experience as
a planning commissioner
again brought Collier to
bring up the issue.
“You touched on some-
thing we want to do and you
might be someone to con-
sider for a planning commis-
sion,” the mayor said.
Other issues brought up
include the need for aff ord-
able housing particularly for
workers, the undesirability
of turning riparian areas on
the southeast side of town
into residential areas and
the overall quality of life in
Joseph.
Collier closed the hearing
by thanking the public for its
respectful attitude and not
being an “angry mob,” since
the council members all are
volunteers and just trying to
do their best.
She directed the coun-
cil to plan a work session
to discuss a planning com-
mission and other issues,
but she came back to the
need for volunteers on the
commission.
“We need people to step
up,” she said.
jacs.isms@gmail.com
Independent
Sales Contractor
repair the exterior of the old
ranger’s offi ce at the histor-
ical Bear-Sleds Ranger Sta-
tion in Wallowa. The offi ce
now hosts the history cen-
ter. The center also will have
$22,250 in matching funds.
No one was available
at the center to discuss the
grant.
The two were among
14 applicants from across
the state that combined
requested
$215,466,
received $200,000 and had
$366,830 in matching funds.
For more about the grant
program, visit www.oregon-
heritage.org or contact Kuri
Gill at Kuri.gill@oprd.ore-
gon.gov or 503-986-0685.