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no. 2b
December
27. 191
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P.O. Box 870
Warm Springu, OR 97761
Address Correction Requested
I'.S. Postatf
Bulk Rite Permit No. 2
Warm Springs, OR 97761
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News from the Warm Springs Indian Reservation
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VOL. 16, NO. 26
Coyote News
In Brief
Year reviewed
The year 1991 was a year of
change. Photos show various
community events and some
disturbing occurences.
Page 2 and 3
Student honor rolls
announced
students achieving grade point
averages above a 3.00 are
recognized on school honor
rolls.
Page 5
White Buffalo girls schedule
games Into March
Schedule for girl's basketball is
presented for those interested
In attending games.
Page 6
Protect yourself from AIDS
Education and safety
precautions are recommended
to prevent the spread of AIDS.
Page 7
Warm Springs Clothing
Company
Now open
Monday-Friday 10-5.W
Saturday 10-6:00
All clothing Is 20 off for the
Holiday Season
Additional discounts will be
given on all Items marked
with blue dots.
Everyone welcome
Deadline for the next
Issue ofSpilyay Tymoo
Is January 3, 1991
Merry Christmas
from Sptfyay
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The Health and Welfare Committee remembers senior citizens at
Christmas with food baskets.Henry
WSFPI plywood plant
It finally happened. The plywood
plant at Warm Springs Forest Prod
ucts Industries ended operations Fri
day, December 13. Ninety-one em
ployees were notified that they were
to be laid off, their last day being
December 31.
Those employees laid off were
told that insurance benefits would
continue through March 31, 1992
and that as "positions open at WSFPI,
you will be recalled based on your
employee profile."
The following people were laid
off:
Logging and road department:
Anthony Mitchell and William
Yubeta.
Central Maintenance: Larry
Johnston and Enos Herkshan.
Log Yard: David Haynes, Wil
Legislative process involves community
Community members have the op
portunity to become involved in the
formulation of tribal policy.
Throughout the newlyorganized policy
process, direct public input is encour
aged. In the last 55 years the Tribe has
developed a large body of policy or
ganized under the tribal constitution.
Much of the policy is still effective
today. But as the Tribe expands its
exercise of sovereign powers and
continues to govern more of its own
affairs, many other policies are being
developed.
The Warm Springs Community
is invited to comment on
water quality issues
before the joint committee
January 15, 1992 at Agency Longhouse
January 16, 1992 at Simnasho Longhouse
Dinner Is served at 6:00 p.m.
r t. . nrnwrnkti writ JNiMrasr "- zr-"- - -.Hi
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Jackson helps deliver them.
closes December 13
liam Markgraf, Larry Mullins and
Ron Thrasher.
Large Sawmill: Ronald
Adamson, Eugene Danzuka, David
Naugher and Donald Watkins.
Planer and kilns: Tony Boise,
Dennis Casey, Charlie Chee, Ron
Heath, Lyle McGrady, Alan Miller,
Erwin Stwyer, Frank Trimble, Jr.,
Derek Winishut and Jesse Yallup.
Plywood: Kent Alexander, Louis
Aripa, Leslie Bill, Anthony Boise,
Memory Brown, Gilbert Brunoe,
Donald Chapman, Eduardo Cuevas,
Winema Danzuka, Weston Gale,
David Gonzales, Robin Greene,
Dwayne Heath, Sanders Heath, Jerry
Hill, Kenneth Hill, Johnny Howtopat,
Sr. Corwin Howtopat, Gordon Kelly,
Elliot Lawson, Kenneth Linder, Jr.,
Continued on page 8
Over the past few years the Tribe
has started to organize a formal process
to formulate and maintain its policies.
Currently, with work from legislative
analyst Dale Hile and assistant Rosclla
Moscley in the tribal Legislative Of
fice, policies in environmental and
commercial law are being reviewed,
organized and expanded. Eventually
this will be accomplished for all areas
of tribal policy.
The Legislative Office has outlined
seven phases in the legislative process
beginning with phase one, inventory of
policies, ordinances and regulations.
DECEMBER 27, 1991
Initial sovereignty statement issued
A general council meeting was held
December 19 to discuss the Tribes'
"Declaration of Sovereignty" state
ment, prepared in part by Tribal
Council, tribal attorneys and Dick
Trudcll and Charles Wilkinson. Fol
lowing is a draft of the statement.
"We the members of the Confed
erated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon, comprised of
the Wasco, Warm Springs and
Northern PaiuteTribes, hereby dec lare
our national sovereignty. We declare
the existence of this inherent sovereign
authority the absolute right to gov
ern, to determine our destiny, and to
control all persons, land, resources and
activities, free of all outside interfer
ence throughout our homeland and
over all our rights, propcrty.and people,
wherever located.
"The geographic reach of our sov
ereignty includes the whole area within
the borders of our tribal reservation,
reserved by the Warm Springs and
Wasco Tribes in their 1855 Treaty
with the United States. This inspiring
reservation, located on the east flank
of the Cascade Range, is a spiritual
place of juniper, sage and thick
mountain forests; of the strong and
deep Deschutes, of the Metolius River,
Sceksccqua Creek, Shitike Creek, the
Warm Springs River, Oak Creek,
Whitc Water River and all their tribu
taries; of our sacred foods, the roots,
berries, salmon, deer, elk and other
plants, fish and game; and of lava
flows, hot springs and uplifting table
top mesas and mountains, all watched
over by our sacred Mount Jefferson.
"Our homeland also encompasses,
and our sovereignty extends to, tribal
off-reservation rights in our historic
ancestral domain, a vast region that
includes the Columbia Plateau and far
beyond. These off-reservadon rights
include rights attaching to our usual
and accustomed fishing grounds and
stations; to in-lieu fishing sites; to burial
sites and other sacred sites; to lands on
which tribal members can hunt, gather
roots and berries and pasture stock; to
acquired lands; and to other areas over
which our tribes now possess, or
may later establishights of any kind.
"Our people have exercised this
sovereignty, as nations, on the Colum
bia Plateau for thousands upon thou
sands of years, since time immemorial.
Our sovereignty is permeated by the
spiritual and the sacred, which are, and
always have been, inseparable parts of
our lives, for the Creator leads us all in
aspects of our existence.
"The Wasco Tribes, a Chinnoktan
people, occupied the lower Columbia
River. A hereditary tyee stumchk, or
Principal Chicftan, acting either per
sonally orbydelegauon to villagechiefs,
exercised full authority over all aspects
of live political, spiritual, family,
subsistence and military. The sovereign
position of the tyee stumchk carried
with it not only the power to regulate
Phase two includes a preliminary re
port which includes scoping the issues,
Tribal Councilcommunity review, and
analysis and alternatives developed. In
phase three, law is developed and Tribal
Council reviews it The community
has an opportunity to comment in phase
4. Enactment is part of phase 5, imple
mentation in phase 6, and an annual
review is included in phase 7.
Besides developing the actual pro
cedure for implementing law, the Leg
islative Office is collecting all tribal
policy into volumes which will be
available to the public for review. The
Tribal Policy Library will include
source documents, volumes on tribal
code, administrative rules, department
manuals and court opinions as well
as reports, periodicals and journals
relating to tribal policy.
The first public meeting scheduled
forJanuary 15and 16willreviewpolicy
regarding water quality on the reserva
tion and on ceded lands. Included in
this issue of Spilyay is an overview of
the proposed policy. The Legislative
office and Tribal Council invites and
encourages all tribal members to attend
the hearings and participate in devel
opment of tribal policy in this area.
and punish but also the duty to take
acuons to assure that the people would
have food, shelter, cultural and social
well-being.and protection from outside
forces.
"The Warm Springs Tribe, a
Sahaptin people, lived further up the
Columbia, and on the Deschutes and
John Day Rivers and their tributaries,
during aboriginal umcsThcy possessed
the sovereign prerogative of ne-shy-chus,
which meant that Nadvc Warm
Springs people were rooted in the soil
of their ancestral domain and were free
of any outside forces, free to follow
their own culture and religion. For
millcnia, Warm Springs people fol
lowed an elaborate structure of sover
eign tribal responsibiliucs embodied in
the Sahaptin phrase, tee-cha-meengsh-mee
sin-wit na-me ad-wa-ta-man-wit,
which means "at the time of creation
the Creator placed us in this land and
He gave us the voice of this land and
that is our law."
"In 1855, the Warm Springs and
Wasco Tribes entered into a treaty with
the United States of America. We were
not vanquished peoples and this was
notatruceagreemenurathcr.both sides
entered into the treatymaking process
as equals. In the treaty, the two tribes
ceded more than 10 million acres of
land but retained a reservation of more
than 600,000 acres as well as extensive
off-reservauon rights. Both tribes also
reserved their national sovercignty.The
United States assumed trust duties that
included a high obligation to protect
the reservation from outside forces.
"In 1879and 1884, he Untied States
moved groups of Northern Paiutes to
the southern part of the reservation.
Before being located on the reserva
tion, the Northern Paiutes had tradi
tionally roamed a vast territory, which
included parts of the Deschutes and
John Day river valleys and high desert
lands to the east and south; sovereign
Paiute law ways and religious mores
were established by custom and ad
ministered by a principal chief and
headmen. After being located on the
reservation, the Paiutes received allot
ments of reservation land and became
residents of the reservation.
"The two treaty tribes, the Warm
Springs and the Wasco, eventually in
vited the Paiutes to join their govern
ment. In 1938, the Warm Springs,
Wasco and Northern Paiute Tribes
officially formed a confederacy, es
Landowners, agencies, Tribe
look at Crooked River basin
"We can't keep fighting over the pieces.. ..We have made drastic
changes (in the environment) and the choices we've made have been
expensive." Moderator for the Crooked River Conference and radio
commentator Russell Sadler emphasized that agencies, private land
owners and tribes must work together to protect and rehabilitate
watersheds. He adds, "The prescriptions are not pleasant."
Approximately 200 participants at the December 13 symposium
held at Carey Foster Hall in Prineville listened to speakers relate their
knowledge about the resource, the changes that have occurred over
time, the problems and the scenerio for the future if changes are not
made.
Sponsored by the Oregon Rivers Council, the symposium is one of
several held around the state and planned for the future designed to
bring watershed users together. The workshop allows the exchanging
of ideas and planning the use and protection of the watershed.
The Crooked River includes a 4300 square mile drainage basin. It
flows into Lake Billy Chinook Throughout its length are two major
impoundments creating Ochoco and Prineville Reservoirs. Approxi
mately 700 diversions and withdrawals occur on the length of the
Crooked River.
Both conference participants and speakers were present at the
symposium each sees a need to manage the water resource better. All
came away from the conference with a more holistic attitude toward
the Crooked River. The interlocking parts of the system from the
importance of maintaining the integrity of forested areas to protection
of soil was shown to be crucial in protecting the quality of the River.
The impact of grazing on rangeland and in riparian areas was
discussed. Retired wildlife biologist Harold Wincgar saw the possibil
ity of reduced runoffs which would decrease sediment in the River,
increased diversity of plant and animal life, and increased summer
stream flows with the removal of cattle.
Dr. Lee Eddlcman placed emphasis on the encroachment of the
juniper tree whose root system can
the past tire eliminated jumper which
Warm Springs tribal representative from the Natural Resources
Department Louie Pitt explained the Tribe's position in regard to the
Crooked River resource and its watershed. Pitt explained that tribal
Continued on page 5
US
tablished a common government and.
adopted a written constitution. The'
constitution created a tribal council
for administrative purposes and re
served all other
sovereign powers to the people. In the
years since, the Confederated Tribes
have amended the 1938 constitution,
enacted a great many tribal laws, es-
tablishcd judicial and enforcement au
thorities, engaged in extensive and so
phisticatcdcconomicdcvclopmcntand entered into many agreements with the
UnitcdStatcsofAmcrica,othcrIndian
tribes, the state of Oregon, local gov
ernments, private business organiza
tions and other entities and individu
al These and other progressive actions
have been taken to preserve, protect
and strengthen our national sovereignty
that has existed, along with our songs,
dances, prayers, and longhouses, on
the Columbia Plateau for countless
generations.
'Today, the people of the Confed
erated Tribes continue to assert and
exercise sovereign authority over the
tribal reservation, over other territory
within tribal jurisdiction, over territory
that may come under tribal jurisdiction
in the future, and over the protection of
our rights and our people and their
welfare in all places. This complete
sovereign power encompasses legis
lative authority, such as the power to
define individual conduct, to regulate
business enterprises, to zone land, to
tax, to regulate the use of natural re
sources, to protect the environments,
to make provisions for education,
health and social welfare, to protect
our right to worship according to our
own religions and to follow our tradi
tional ways, and to make other laws
appropriate to the exercise of the full
rangeoflawmakingauthoritypossessed
by any nation. TheConfcdcratcdTribcs'
soverei gn powers also include executive
authority to implement tribal legisla
tion and judicial authority to enforce
valid legislative and executive orders.
Our sovereign authority includes the
right to choose not to adopt formal,
written laws, procedures, or policies
governing particular subjects; formal
laws can be intrusive and inflexible,
and we have learned that some issues
are best addressed by informal, tradi
tional ways.
"Ultimate sovereignty is vested in
the people, who received that soveriegn
authority in the form of laws given by
Continued on page 8
draw 33 gallons of water a day. In
nowcompetes with range plants.
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