Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1978)
Forest Manager Retires . . . Heeren's Career Spanned Formative Years When G unther Heeren brought his bride to the wilds of the Schoolié Ranger Station in 1949 the forest was a vastly different place. The BIA forester and his wife traveled to their temporary quarters by unpaved roads and, once there, heard only the sound of the Warm Springs River. Now the Heerens’ abandon ed “honeymoon cottage” is not far removed front the drone of Highway 26 and the rumbling parade of heavy equipment fet ching logs for the Tribes’ own forest products industry. Both the reservation and Heeren have come a long way. Heeren’s career with the BIA, which ended this week, spanned three decades of dram atic change in the Tribes* use of its timber, the BIA’s fulfillment of its trust responsibilities and the forest resource itself. When Gunther Heeren a r rived as a junior forester after graduating from the University of Michigan in 1948, he joined a department of seven and spent his days cruising, marking and scaling in the forest’s two logging units. As he prepared to retire from his position of forest mana ger this month, Heeren paused to reflect at his huge oak desk. From there he directed a staff of 38 in the adm inistration of 45 timber sales and 366,235 acres of commercial forest. Leaning back and throwing one leg over the other in his characteristic style, “Gunner” puffed on his pipe and spoke fondly of the “early days” and proudly of today. Witness to the Tribes’ purchase of Warm Springs Lumber Company in 1967, the return of the McQuinn Strip’s 61,360 acres in 1972, and the setting aside of conditional use areas, Heeren led BIA Forestry during some very formative years for the reserva tion. But Heeren hasn’t always occupied that old oak desk. In fact his standard wool flannel attire hearken, back to his out door days. with the “largest Indian forestry complex” and Heeren was ready to take on the administration of Warm Springs’ expanding forest activities. BIA Forest Manager Gunther “Gunner” Heeren, known for his plaid wool shirts, hiking boots and pipe, lounged back at his desk and recounted his long career at Warm Springs. Two days before his April 21 retirement Heeren was honored with a party where stories and memories were swapped. CDS Photo Those were the days when Heeren worked and lived in the woods. Schoolie was the summer home for Gunther and his wife (who also has a degree in for estry) and Old Mill was where they wintered. “ That got old” however, and when housing be came available at the agency they left their ranger cabins to the packrats. A promotion lured the young forester and his growing family to the Colville Reservation in 1956 where he became the assis tant forestmanager. Eight years While he was gone the Dahl Pine Mill had burned down and the transition from dependence on outside processing to an al most totally in-house operation was Underway. M arkets were demanding east-side fir and the Tribes saw a bright future for their own pine and fir forest industry. During this time the BIA was growing in response to the Tribes’ growth, but 1972 proved to be a real turning point, ac cording to the forest manager. The return of the McQuinn Strip that year meant thousands of additional acres of commer cial forest and the necessity of more staff to fulfill the BIA’s trust responsibility. Also beginning in 1972 the government’s 10 per cent ad ministrative fees became avail able to Indian tribes for forest management projects. Gunther breathed a sigh of relief as timber stand improvement final ly became a reality, and the welcome new funds were chan neled into such ongoing activi ties as tree planting, hazard reduction, brush control and pre commercial thinning. Through the years the BIA’s fire protection techniques have modernized, noted Heeren. Few roads meant firefighters had to walk into most fires “ in the early days.” Communication was limited to a couple of telephones. Since then networks of roads have been built and radios have become commonplace. Air re connaissance has made it pos sible to hit fires and contain them more quickly. The BIA has access to smoke jum pers, re tardant aircraft and helitank crews (“unheard of in the early days” ) and cooperative fire pro tection agreem ents exist with adjoining agencies. Cutting techniques have be COCC Classes Popular Here» V Central Oregon Community College adult education classes at Warm Springs are a BIG success this term, with each of the seven non-credit classes and two credit classes having a mini mum of seven persons register ed. The five new classes being, offered this term are Baskets and Bags, instructor Isabelle Keo; Geology of Warm Springs, instrucotr Mel Ashwill; Wasco Indian Language, instructor Alice Florendo; Elem ents of Supervision, instructor John Trujillo, and Introduction of So ciology, instructor Pat Mazzeo. The la tte r two classes are for college transfer credit. The other classes returned from fall and winter term s. Beadwork, instructed by Caro line Tohet; Auto Tuneup, in structed by Leon Maxwell; Sah- aptin Indian Language, instruct ed by Ada Sooksoit and Re fresher Shorthand instructed by Reba Powell. All classes are held in the Bag-making can be a very “entangling” experience as students of Isabelle Keo’s Bags and Community Center except for Baskets Class have been learning. Once their string was untangled they began constructing woven bags the Auto Tuneup, which is taught and then advanced to Cornhusk in the COCC-sponsored class, which is one of nine classes going strong at in the Tribal garage. the Adult Learning Center this semester. . CDSPhfotq come more varied and sophisti cated with passing time. Heavy cutting on early units has given way to selective removal based on tree conditions. Varied te r rain and management goals have necessitated a range of removal techniques from cable logging to overstory removal. The evolving forest and in creasing demand for lumber are also bringing a change in h ar vesting practices. “We’re now working toward a younger, healthier, faster-growing for est,” explained the retiring for est manager. Heeren predicts the next manager will face the challenge of designing a forestry program based on the “increased utiliza tion of smaller logs.” The veteran m anager has experienced the satisfaction of providing more intensive man agement for the Tribes’ increas ingly profitable forest industry. But he has also endured the headaches of scarce funding, personnel ceilings and recent challenges from timbered tribes of the BIA’s management prac tices. Heeren remains optimistic about the future of BIA-tribal relations, saying “ I think the tribe is very concerned with their forest and recognizes the necessity of a very close re lationship with the BIA in man agement.” A.s he packed up his books and sam ples1 of tree cross- sections, G unther H eeren thought of his life without the 24-hour worry of forest fires and the screech of demanding radios. More than likely he was thinking about the woods: “ T hat’s the best place to be — out there talking to the trees. They don’t talk back!” The day after he turned 55 Heeren left his oak desk and headed for his home in T erre bonne. The woods will be no stranger to him even though the early days at Schoolie are long past. C^îillo^ Longhouse Over a hundred spectators anxiously awaited to hear their “lucky” number to be called at the Celilo Longhouse benefit raffle held April 9, hoping to win one of the many prizes offered. Merchants from The Dalles and many other people donated hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise to help the Celilo Wyam Board improve the con dition of the longhouse in Celilo Village. Close to $2,700 was raised through the efforts of several girls of Warm Springs, Umatilla and Yakima descent who sold tickets. The girl selling the most tickets was to be named Queen. Minnie Yahtin of Warm Springs, sold 770 tickets for the cause. Her father had a fistful of the tickets, but was not lucky enough to win. However, Don Maxwell, who was exceptionally lucky, won a cam era and a beautiful shawl, the only things he has ever won in his life.
