Spilyay Tymoo
February 26,1981 Page 11
New forest manager looking at 10-year goals
Having a love for the
outdoors is no pre-requisite for
a forest manager but it is a
characteristic of Bob Harned.
If hunting and fishing were not
first-rate in Oregon along with
the forests, he may have
decided against aicepting a job
with the Bureau of Indian
Affairs in Warm Springs.
But Harned did come to
O regon lo o k in g fo r the
challenge of a new job and a
new location and with interest
in increasing forest production
for the Confederated Tribes in
mind. He feels that as forest
manager “coordinating all
programs and meeting the
primary goal of improving
resources for the land owner” is
his responsibility.
After 21 years of forestry
experience on the Flathead
re se rv a tio n in M o n ta n a ,
Harned decided Warm Springs
would be a good change. Warm
Springs offers a bigger forestry
operation with its 638,000 acres
of timber. Staying at the same
job and location for too long “is
Bob
a downhill run,” Harned says.
The timber on the Flathead
reservation is not much operation as far as state of the
different than that around art and techniques. Warm
Warm Springs. Harned says Springs is a little more
the terrain is a little steeper in c o m p le x ,” a c c o rd in g to
Montana. The trees around ' Harned.
Warm Springs, though of the
same variety, are larger and of
U n lik e th e F la th e a d
higher quality which may be reservation Warm Springs has
the reason Warm Springs its own mill. Harned hopes for
(including McQuinn Strip) has a relationship of cooperation
an annual cut of around 100 between the BIA forestry
million board feet as compared department and the mill. He
to the Flathead cut of 56.4 says, “The mill needs a certain
million. Both areas are “at
amount of timber to function.
about the same level of The BIA tries to supervise the
Harned
timber to meet these needs.
Many people and the Tribe
depend on the mill,” Harned
expressed.
L o o k in g to in c re a se d
production Harned feels he will
concentrate on protecting the
basic resource, the soil. Silva-
culture as he calls it is focused
on “tending and growing trees
for whatever reason,” scenic or
commercial. The environmen
tal resources must be protected.
“ T h ro u g h h arv est and
thinning, if it is done right,”
p ro d u c tio n can also be
- increased. Yield must be kept at
an optium level. It is not
feasible to cut more than is
grown and increasing growth
each year is the ideal way of
meeting demands.
Increasing accessiblity for a
longer period of time is also a
concern of forestry. With a
lo n g e r w o rk in g s e a s o n
production will increase so
roads too are a part of the
forest business.
The importance of the forest
in Warjtn Springs is evident in
the Tribe’s concern for its
industry. Harned comments,
“It appears the Tribe takes a
more active role in forest
m a n a g e m e n t h e re . T h e
committees want to know all
about what’s going on. They
are business oriented and like
efficiency.” Harned says he will
make a concerted effort to
present the facts to Tribal
Council. He encourages in
information exchange between
the Tribe and the BIA and will
continue to furnish as much
in fo rm a tio n as possible.
Harned states, “It is not
som ething you can quit
working on.”
Despite his love for the
outdoors, Harned has not yet
had a chance to visit the forest
he manages. Having been on
the job only since January 26 he
has been involved primarily in
paper wprk, becoming familiar
with the forest only in terms of
figures and reports. But it will
not be long before he gets out
there, he says.
Harned wants to make an in-
depth survey of Warm Sprin
forest. It is especially important
now as this is a planning
p e rio d . F o re s t m a n a g e r
Harned says, “We are writing
the forestry management plan,
now. This will determine the
goals for the next ten years and
includes every facet of forestry.
A C o n t i n u i n g G r o w th
Inventory has recently been
taken which is a sampling of
forest growth and conditions
enabling the plan to be drawn
up, but it takes time to write it.”
Within the plan for forest
management Harned savs it is
important to offer alternatives
to make the plan workable and
flexible. The plans for the
entire reservation have their
priorities—the forestry plans
must be congruous with those..
“We have to do it that way to
make the plans useful for
everyone,” he says.
L earn in g a b o u t W arm
Springs and its particular
organization and its forest is
one aspect to the new forest
manager’s job. Until he is more
fam iliar with the system
Harned will not be making
changes. «He feels that the
forestry department in Warm
Springs has evolved to its
present state for one reason or
another. He will adapt and
offer changes only when he
deems it necessary. And
being outspoken as he is and
honest in his feelings one
cannot doubt that he will make
any changes essential to
maintaining and increasing
cooperation between all forest
enterprises along with efforts to
increase forest growth for the
benefits of the Tribe.
Tribal Credit plans temporary closure
1980 and now, 1981 have
been a banner times for the
Tribal Credit department. The
New Greeley Heights project of
20 homes will take about 1
million dollars of our reserve
loan funds, other homes that
we have committed on, as well
as a couple of major farm and
cattle commitments will use
another 4 to $500,000.
W hen these funds are
dispersed, as the projects are
com pleted we will have
expended our available loan
funds. So far this year, we have
maintained our normal loan
requests from collections and
regular loan pay back and are
presently operating o n a
limited basis until additional
funding is approved.
As we h a v e h a d a
c o n s id e ra b le a m o u n t o f
business in our office since the
downtown in the economy, we
have been unable to keep up
We are blessed with an
with the regular maintenance excellent and dedicated staff
required for an operation of that is no larger in numbers of
this type. More and more, our people than it was in 1974.
clientile, who would normally These people have constantly
utilize conventional lenders, taken up the slack, worked
have now turned to us with harder and met the demands of
their financing requests or have the public placing a strain on all
come in to discuss their involved.
financial problems requiring a
Due to the backlog of
tremendous amount of time committments and undone
from the credit manager and maintenance of our files,
the entire staff. Much of this insurance and all facets of this
time would be spent in operation, we are convinced
operating and maintaining the that it is necessary that we close
program.
our office to all incoming
Six years ago our program business (except payments and
stood at 2.6 million dollars qnd small emergency requests
about 900 open loans on the because of death) for the month
books. Today we have more of March 1981.
than tripled the size of our
We feel that this closure and
operation with $8,000,000 in with the addition of one new
loans outstanding and another staff member (starting 3-2-81).
$1.4 million committed. We We should be able to bring our
now have over 1,500 loans on office up to current status and
the books.
relieve some of the unending
pressure on our staff.
Well child clinic—
If you’re sick, stay away
Twice each month on the
afternoons of the first and
second Thursday the Warm
Springs Health Center holds a
well child clinic. At these clinics
children from birth to five years
are given a routine examina
tion for the purpose of
monitoring their growth and
development.
A number of preventative
health activities are included
during these clinics for the
purpose of keeping children
well.
As the name implies, well
child clinic is designed for
children who are well rather
than sick. For this reason it is
important during these clinics
that the children not be
exposed to people who are sick,
w ith illn e sse s th a t a re
contagious.
The clinic staff and the
families of small children
would appreciate it very much
if patients with colds, flu, sore
th r o a ts a n d an y o th e r
infectious illness would plan on
visiting the clinic either before
of after the well child clinics
and not during. Everyone’s
cooperation in protecting these
kids would be appreciated.
New
Garage
Open
Need your car worked on?
Leon Maxwell, former tribal
garage supervisor, has opened
Everyone wins
his own garage in Madras and
is presently open for business.
The clients activity fund at the Alcohol Program received a
“Leon’s Garage” is loeated boost at the recent chili feed and bingo party held at the Warm
on highway 26 across from the Springs long house. The event was sponsored by staff and
grain elevators. Maxwell will residents of the A Icohol Center. The funds collected are delegated
do all types of automotive and for use in client travel and entertainment.
small engine repair.
Alexander Tohet (left) and Don Winishut (right) were two of
Drive or tow your car, truck, many people who helped make the community event a success.
motorcycle or any other small They assisted in creating a traditional bustle which was used as
engine vehicle to “ Leon’s one of several raffle prizes. Mary D. Smith was the happy winner
Garage” and see what a deal o f bustle after purchasing only four raffle tickets.
he’ll give you!
Spilyay Tymoo photo by Marsha Shewczyk
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