Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 1978)
PAGE 8 MARCH 10, 1978 Students Learn A s Well A s Earn In the middle of its second year in Warm Springs, the work release program is successful and very beneficial says Bob Nelson, coordinator of the pro gram. The work program is a program between the school and the student’s employer. It is for students who have enough cred its and don’t need a full day of classes, or a last resort for students to pick up extra credits to graduate. The students work for four hours a day but are only paid for three. The extra hour goes toward credit. There are two types of pro grams: Cooperative Work Ex perience and Work Experience. Cooperative work experience is when you’re taking a class that’s related to your job. Work ex perience is when th ere’s no available class related to your job. “It’s impossible to create a work environment in a class room,” stated Nelson. Winona Spino discovered this in her business experience class. Prior to her job with the BIA, Winona had to take a business class for one sem ester. Winona’s job is mainly clerical work. Dorothy Burgess, Winona’s supervisor said Winona is pretty dependable and is learning dif ferent skills by doing different things from day to day. Dorothy praises Winona because of her improvement in her job. “ The longer you work in an office situation, the better your skills get,” said Burgess. Larry Squiemphen and Os wald Tias both work for Utilities Maintenance. Osward plans to use his experience to work in that field and said he would go to a school if the need arises. Other students enrolled in the program and where they are: Allen Langley (Micro-film ing); Arlene Wewa (Alcohol Drug P rogram ); Mina Shike (Community Center); Jackie Estimo (Warm Springs Grade School); ValerieSwitzler (BIA); Mona Jim (Tribal Court); Roger Stwyer (Newspaper); and Nisa Sohappy (Health, Education, and Welfare). Oswald Tias is learning such skills as plumbing and carpentry in his work experience with the Tribal Utilities Department. CDS Photo Juvenile Judge Hamilton Greeley has Mona Jim schedule hearings. Natural Resource Staff Students To Tour Reservation from Humboldt sionals by the Bureau of Indian Attends Training Session State Students University’s natural re Affairs, only 17 are Indian; and For the purpose of learning new techniques and advancing and upgrading staff positions, four members of the Warm Springs Natural Resource De partm ent recently attended a five-day training session at Top penish, Washington. Termed very worthwhile, the week-long Fish and Game Enforcement Training Seminar was attended by Terry Luther, Earl Miller, Roscoe Smith and Oliver Kirk. Warm Springs was one of nine reservations repre sented there. The training seminar helped familiarize newer employees with current practices being used as well as providing the opportunity to learn how other reservations operate their natur al resource programs. For those who had already had such train ing it was considered “ a good review — like a refresher course.” Of the topics covered, the men were most enthusiastic about the segment on public re lations. “ Basically, we were shown how to treat the public in a respectful yet efficient man ner,” said Luther. Stressed was the idea that people coming onto the reservation are “ guests” , and as “ guests” they are re quired to follow the laws or regulations of the reservation. It’s similar to being on private property. Smith said that their train ing included the importance of being polite when off-reservation people ask questions when visit ing. “Our conduct and integrity is most important because if we make a good impression, they will be more inclined to obey the law,” he said. If someone does do something illegal, bitterness can often be avoided through courteous explanation when writing up a citation. Luther observed that there is a very obvious difference between Warm Springs’ Natural Resource Departm ent and the departments of other tribes rep resented at the session. He feels that this reservation has a policy of maintaining a pretty low pro file of enforcement while most other trib es’ natural resource personnel wear full uniforms and badges. He also noted that at Warm Springs they are called conservation officers rather than game wardens. Apparently other reserva tions have greater enforcement problems than Warm Springs does, perhaps because here there is a definite boundary while many reservations are checker-boarded. It could also be that Warm Springs is more aware of PR values, according to Luther. The training program cover ed detection and reporting of environmental and wildlife dis eases, game m anagement and patrol procedures, and the im portance of fish and game data statistics. Also discussed was the im pact of tree thinning practices on wildlife. It was emphasized that any thinning program must take into consideration the need for buffer zones for a number of reasons. Basically, animals must have shelter and thermal cover or their survival will be threatened. Buffer zones along the banks of streams and rivers also pro vide cover for wildlife, as many wild animals prefer not to drink in open areas. In addition, since birds such as grouse nest near streams and insects near those stream s provide feed for the young, buffer zones serve as protection for birds. Courses in practical subjects such as report writing, map reading, statistics, and inter viewing were also offered during the five-day session. Also cover ed were techniques of search and seizure, obtaining evidence and federal prosecution. A segment of the training was devoted to why a natural resource officer has the author ity and power to cite or arrest. Under the Tribes’ treaties with the federal government, and as a governing body, the tribes have the authority to adopt rules and regulations for the protec tion of their natural resources, primarily fish and game. Although the men felt that the five-day training session had been a good overall program, they expressed a desire for a more concentrated course in actual fish and game oriented information. They did report that there was talk of continuing the program and going indepth into such specific areas. source program will be visiting the Warm Springs Reservation March 21 as p art of a four-day field trip to Oregon. The group will spend an aftern o o n with the Warm Springs N atural Resource De partment and so far the itiner ary includes a trip to the hat; chery and to the 4-H feedlot. Director Gene Greene and Terry Luther, Tribal Wildlife Biologist, will give about a two- hour talk on the tribal programs in the natural resources field. “Four years ago the Native American Career Education in Natural Resources (NACENR) Program at Humboldt State University was founded in an effort to correct the long stand ing critical problem of Non- Indian management of Indian resources, on both reservation or other Indian-owned lands, and of water, fishing, mineral and other resource rights on Non-Indian owned lands. Native American professionals are des perately needed to make those higher level management de cisions concerning utilization and conservation of Indian re sources currently being made by Non-Indians, whose interest may not necessarily be those of the Indian owners. It has long been evident that until such time as Indians own and manage their own resources and properties, economic de pendence on Non-Indians will be necessary. Of the 319 persons employed as resource profes there are no Native American professionals at the Doctoral level in the United States at all. Located in Arcata, Califor nia (275 miles north of San Francisco), the NACENR Pro gram , a p art of the School of Natural Resources at H.S.U., is seeking applications from In dian people who have been working in the field of Natural Resoutces as technicians and who would now like to earn professional degrees in their fields, and from Junior College Indian transfer students who hopefully have been following science curricula. The School of Natural Re sources offers degree programs in Forestry, Resource Planning and Interpretation (Park Man agem ent), Wildlife Manage ment, Fisheries, Range Manage ment, Watershed Management, and Oceanography. NACENR students choose and follow one of these programs with the addi tion of a group of courses in Native American natural re sources management problems. NACENR provides seasonal and permanent job placement, the usual fin an c ial aids (B.E.O.G., S.E.O.G., B.I.A., Work-Study, loans, etc.) and some special aid possibilities associated with the program such as O.I.E. and various N.atural Resources fellowships including the Muskie-Winnie Fellowship, for women only, and the International Paper Scholar- (Continued on Page 9)
