Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1990)
IJI l .'l.il. t. t: 35c v. ijj ii'.. , 1 ' r h i VOL. 15 NO. 24 Coyote News In Brief Treaty explained The second day of the council meeting for presentation of the 1855 Treaty continues this series. General Palmer continues with the U.S. proposal. Page 3 Past revisited Photos from the past show a few familiar faces. Page 5 Sports schedules given Schedules for Madras Jr. High and Madras High , School are ready to clip out and post to your bulleting board. Page 6 Think about the joys of Christmas Rather than dwell on the parts of Christmas that you dislike, discover the parts that give you joy. Page 7 Christmas Tree Lighting Thursday, Dec. 6 6:30 p.m. Campus area Santa's Mini-mart sponsored by FBLA Is set for December 8 at the Warm Springs Christmas Bazaar Christmas Bazaar December 8 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. at the Community Center Deadline for the next issue of Spllyay Tymoo Is December 7, 1990 Weather NOV. HIGH LOW 12 62 45 13 58 43 14 50 32 15 56 26 16 52 20 17 44 30 18 49 40 19 48 30 20 47 26 21 46 27 22 58 38 23 63 30 24 62 40 25 46 41 Bf Ml W, New clinic to meet community health needs Getting a new clinic built in Warm Springs with federal funds might take more than 20 years based on the current priority sys tem of the federal government. Given the rate at which new Indian facilities can be constructed and the current federal budget crunch, that may even be optimistic. Faced with the prospect and the urgency that has been expressed throughout the community for im proved health services, the Tribal Council and management have been exploring other alternatives for several years. Many discussions were held with Congressional repre sentatives and Indian Health Ser vice officials during that time. Dur ing budget hearings on the federal budget last spring, the Tribe un veiled a proposal to Congress. If the Tribe built the new facility and provided it lease free to IMS for a number of years, would Congress provide the staffing package, equip ment and operating costs that would normally be provided if the federal government built the facility? Congress thought the idea had merit and decided to authorize three demonstration projects in which non-federal money would be utilized to construct facilities. Under the authority given, the Congress provided an initial J 1.5 million to fund staff, equipment and operat ing costs. "Constructing the clinic is a one time cost, where the operating costs, equipment and 24 new positions we're asking the federal government to put up would be funded on a recurring annual basis," says tribal CEO Ken Smith These projects must be competed for by interested tribes, and IHS will ultimately determine which proposals qualify for this special funding package. Over the past few years the Tribe has completed all the necessary items which would be required to compete for one of the three avail able demonstration projects. The only remaining requirement to complete js .the community sup port as evidenced by authorization from the tribal membership to con struct the clinic. Two previous ref erendums held last spring and sum mer had strong voter support .for the clinic but lacked a total voter turnout to have a valid election. Tribal land The recent purchase by the Warm Springs Tribes of several parcels of land off the Reservation has gener ated interest concerning the Tribes' goals and objectives. The Tribes' land purchase policy has a long his tory. It is intended to correct some of the problems caused by U.S. policy over the past century and to accommodate the demands of the future. The Warm Springs Reservation has been plagued by three land problems that are common to many reservations throughout the Uni-' ted States. I. In the late 1800's much of the reservation land was "allotted" to individual Indians in an attempt to make farmers out of the reserva tion residents. The allotted lands rapidly became unusable as a prac tical matter because upon the death of the original allottee and subse quent heirs, ownership of the prop erty became badly fractionated. It is not unusual for small parcels on Indian reservations to have hun dreds or even thousands of owners. As a result much of the land has become virtually unusable because federal regulations require the con sent of a majority of the owners for any land use action to take place. In 1896, 926 allotments including 140,696 acres were made at Warm on J News from the Warm Springs Indian Rcscr iliUm of orecon li UNiI.,r- nR 97403 PO BOX 870 WARM Tribal Council is confident that the Tribe is in an excellent position to compete, if authorization for the project is obtained from the mem bership. A referendum is planned for January to again put the ques tion before the voters. The new clinic as planned will contain the latest diagnostic and specialized medical and dental equipment. Staffing would increase from the current 3 1 positions to 55 which would allow for additional services and extended hours to bet ter serve the community. Smith, who has been intensely involved in this effort for the pas.t several years indicates, "This pro ject will provide a key part of our plan to become the'healthicst Indian community by the year 2000'. It means access to quality care and an opportunmity to place more em phasis on prevention and wellness." Smith also points out that there are a number of tribes who are interested and may be in a financial position to take advantage of this opportunity. The Tribe is aware of several that are taking a look at the opportunity now. "Congress has directed IHS to move quickly and determine who gets the projects early in the year. A report is due to Congress in January. We've got to get the voters to the polls to decide this issue, or we could wind up waiting several more years to get another chance," said Smith. All tribes consider that the fed eral government is obligated to provide care for Indian people. Some may question why the Tribe would invest its own funds to carry out a federal obligation. "Well, we've been waiting on the federal government to provide quality care for over 100 years,"says Smith. "If we don't have our health, we don't have much. I think we've got to make this investment in ourselves. Investing in health care is not new to us. Today, through our employee group insurance and tribal appro priations we already finance over 37 percent of the total health effort on an annual basis. Our job as tri bal government is to seek the general welfare of our membership. Cer tainly, with the health problems we're confronted with, we can't sit back and wait any longer," con cluded Smith. purchases Springs. An additional 24 allot ments were made until the allot ment process was finally stopped in 1925. By that time, Congress realiz ed that the allotment system was a disastrous policy, but the damage was already done. In 1934 the Congress officially terminated the allotment policy. 2. The allotment laws also pro vided for the eventual sale of allot ted lands to non-Indians. On many reservations this policy created the "checkerboard"situation prevalent on many reservations. Although a few allotments on the Warm Springs Reservation became owned by non-Indians, the problem was min imized by the reluctance of tribal members to part with their land, the isolation of the Reservation, and the poor quality of much of the land. 3. As with many reservations, there have been long-standing boundary disputes at Warm Springs. The most significant boundary dispute at Warm Springs involved an erroneous survey that cost the Tribes approximately 180,000 acres. These problems remained largely unresolved until the late 1950's. Prior to that time, the Tribes simply had little means to deal with them. P.O. Box 870 Warm Spring, OR 97761 Address Correction Requested SPRINGS, OR 97761 i : .!l ' j Y -ny ; Or- ' h ' i . . ' ' .'i - ', . ."""'"'H,il.,(l ' " ... '. " ""Sjfci.:. I Three-year-old Head Start student Steward Napyer begins celebration of Christmas by making ornaments. accommodate future With the construction of H ighway 26 throueh the Reservation, the markets were opened to the sale of Tribal timber. In addition, the Tribes began receiving rents for their lands used in connection with the Pelton Hydroelectric project and also received a lump sum pay ment for the inundation of their traditional fishery at Celilo Falls by the construction of the Dalles Dam. The Tribes then had the means to begin a land purchase program. A common misconception has been that land purchases were carried out using federal funds. All lands acquired by the Tribes have been purchased using their own funds generated from timber sales, and other reservation enterprises. The last remaining obstacle to Tribal land purchases was existing law which prohibited the Tribes from purchasing lands within their own reservation. That road block was cleared on September 6, 1 96 1 when Congress passed the Warm Springs Land Purchase Act autho rizing the Tribes to use Tribal funds to purchase lands within the Warm Springs Reservation. One of the first purchases was the land on which Kah -Nee-Ta Vacation Resort now sits. Kah-Nee-Ta Village began operating in fJm. - ''1 1 i 196.1. The next major land acquisi tion took place in 1967 when the Tribes purchased Jefferson County Plywood, the only sawmill on the Reservation. That purchase also included the first off-reservation lands acquired by the Tribes because of the satellite plant located in the Madras Industrial Park. During this time the Tribes also began budgeting money each year to gradually acquire from allottees and other land owners whin the reservation fractional interest in Water logo contest begins Water is the lifeblood of the Warm Springs Reservation. It holds the potential for economic devel opment. It is necessary to grow crops, for industrial purposes, to provide habitat for fish and wild life, and to create recreational op portunities.. Water is more It is indispensa ble for maintaing traditions, reli gions and cultures of people and land. As water negotiations between the Warm Springs Tribes and the State of Oregon begin, water and its many facets will be discussed among tribal members. 1 he tribal r.s. t.tit Bulk Kite Permit No. 2 Warm Spring, OK 97761 BRARY NOVEMBER 30, 1990 c'j vtd on:: 1,:.' o4 -'-X 1 y i; 1; ymoo. needs nrooertv as they became available. In this way the Tribes have gradu ally chipped away at the fraction ated ownership problem on the reservation. Today, approximately 92 percent of the lands within the reservation are owned by the Tribes, with individual allottees owning about seven percent and non-Indian ownership less than one percent. The Tribes continue to budget money for these purchases. Their Continued on page 2 Water Awareness Team is looking for ways to inform and involve tri bal members in the discussions by helping them learn about the wonder ful water resource on the Reserva tion. A logo contest is the first step in this process. Express your feelings about the water resource and its importance to the Tribe during this logo con test. Become involved. Icarn and think water. The winning logo will be used throughout the negotiation process to identify water negotiation in formation. Continued cn page 2 Jin I I 1
