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.