Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2002)
Page 10 These are drawings of various petroglyphs of bighorn sheep. Dalles area. Courtesy of The Museum at Warm Springs. Bighorn return ... Continued from Page 1 At that time there were an estimated 1.5 million to 2 mil lion bighorns, said Terry Luther, Fish and Wildlife man ager for the Tribes. The current population of bighorn sheep is estimated at 2 percent of what it was prior to the arrival of the white set tlers, said Luther. For at least a few decades there were no bighorn sheep in Oregon. Before the state be gan its reintroduction program in the 1950s, the last sighting of a California bighorn in Or 'egon happened in 1906. The California bighorn is a relative of the Rocky Moun tain bighorn, which in Oregon can be found in the Wallowa Mountains. In 1954, Oregon wildlife officials released bighorn sheep into the Hart Mountain area. The sheep came from British Columbia. This was the first bighorn transplant in Oregon, said Luther. The new Hart Mountain bighorn herd in time grew to where sheep from this popula tion were used for transplant ing to other mountainous ar eas. There are now about 3,000 California bighorn sheep in Oregon at various locations. The Mutton Mountains were one of the best remain ing reintroduction sites not yet stocked with bighorns, said Luther. Talk of reintroducing the sheep into the Muttons began at least back in the 1950s, when Joe Warner worked at Natural Resources, Luther said. Luther, who has been with Natural Resources for 24 years, has been working on the rein troduction project for the past 15 years. Wildlife biologist Doug Calvin, and biological technician Stanley Simtustus have also been working on the bighorn project. Workforce Development Depart To the community, the fol lowing is the quarterly update from the Workforce Develop ment Department. During the past quarter, the department had over 2,478 contacts from customers (this includes some repeat of per sonal contacts, telephone calls, and drop-in calls.) The department partici pated in what the tribes is call ing the "Navigator Project," which has to do with focusing on specific employment ef forts. It appears that the focus will start out with a work crew, which is very similar to what we've been doing since 1988. The other project involves car pentryconstruction, which is al something we've been do ing nince 1986. It is believed that these projects will be implemented in early 2002. The department completed five homes during this past quarter, and is currently work ing on a couple more through IS) 't ff With the bighorns now be ing reintroduced, the Confed erated Tribes are seeing years of planning and preparation at an important juncture. Every one should realize, Luther said, that we all must provide stew ardship of the Mutton Moun tains bighorn herd. A main concern, he said, is poaching, which already hap pens to deer and elk on the res ervation. If the bighorns are poached, then the long-term reintroduction will riot suc ceed. Protecting the sheep against poachers cannot be left only to wildlife law enforcement. In stead, everyone has to be mind ful. If tribal members in the future want to see and on oc casion hunt the bighorns, then the herd has to survive and grow, said Luther. If the herd fails, then ODFW will likely not partici pate in a second reintroduc tion, said Luther. Tribal Council policy is that only tribal members will be eligible to hunt the bighorns that live on the reservation. If the new herd does well, then in three to five years a lim ited number of tags - perhaps just one or two annually - will become available, said Luther. A ram California bighorn sheep can weigh up to 350 the winter. Workforce Development has requests to build more Demo and private homes next spring. "We have ten home sites at Sunnyside subdivision, and arc still waiting for water and sewer lines to go in at Elk Ix)op to build more homes," the department report states. The department's Special Work Project Crew did several forestry projects, which in cluded tree planting, tree card ing, gopher trapping, and tree thinning. "We cut resale firewood as much as we could, up until we were shut out of the woods due to fire season," the report states. "We have firewood for sale. Contract WIDD at 553 3324. The reason we bought resale permits is because we need to be a more self-reliant operation with the budget con straints upon us." As the year ends, the depart ment has one program budget, . 5 ... ...... .j ''! It " .I A The petroglyphs are from The . pounds. Its horns continue to grow during its lifetime. You can tell the age, of a sheep by exam-' ining the rings of the horns. A bighorn sheep can live to be tween 10 and 12 years of age. If the Mutton Mountain herd does well, then some of the sheep may even tually be used by ODFW for trans planting to another location. This is a term of the agreement between the Con federated Tribes and the state. A transplanting project costs about 700 per sheep, so with 20 sheep, the Mutton Mountain reintroduction can be expected to cost about $14,0OO.This cost is being cov ered through a BIA wildlife management contract. The 20 sheep being intro duced into the Mutton Moun tains are part of a larger state wide transplant involving about 100 animals. Some of the 20 sheep' com ing to the Mutton Mountains will be ewes that are pregnant In this way, the transport of the 20 sheep will soon result in a larger herd. The Tribal Council resolu tion that provides for reintro duction of the bighorns onto the reservation states in part: "The Tribal Council be lieves that the reintroduction of bighorn sheep into their tra ditional habitat in the Mutton Mountains is highly desirable and furthers tribal objectives of fully developing the natural habitat and wildlife resources of the reservation." The story of the return of the bighorns to the Mutton Mountains will continue in the next edition of the Spilyay Ty moo. which exceeded, due to die vol umes of tribal members com ing in for service. This particu lar budget has been operating on only 35 percent of what it med to have. "Over time, we've lost 65 percent of what we used to have. Our programs are a big part of the Tribal Council's number one priority, cmployj mcnt. We very much need to be a priority because we help the people regain cmployabil ity and self-reliance. ; Tribal members not only benefit from hands-on training and development, but when coupled with a classroom training approach, their knowledge and skills are en hanced even more. The department served 114 youth with a tribally funded summer work opportunity and served 31 eligible youth with a federally funded sum mer work opportunity. There were 403 working age tribal Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon January 10, 2002 u-.l 3 V Photot by Tina Agullar Andtihe wkmeris Cece Herrera, 2002's Miss Warm Springs, was flanked by Natasha Mares, left, and Vera . Smith, right, before the announcement of the pageant winner. Herrera, who graduated in 2001 from Madras High School, was previously Junior Miss Warm Springs and Miss PRJrne-Sha 2001. - During her reign she will be an ambassador for the i commurjlty at powwows, conferences, parades and other gatherings. Council seeks prevention projects member youth in 2001. "So we basically were able to serve 28 percent of them. In 2002, there will be 548 work ing age tribal member youth; For 2002, we will accept sum mer job applications from youth 14-17 years of age start ing spring break-no sooner. "We aren't sure if we will be able to fund after School work under the tribal funds due to the amount of youth who will be applying to work during the summer. Youth who are eli gible for WIA, we do have six after school work slots. Eligi bility primarily has to do with household income criteria." The department began set ting up skills bank on adults and youth who have come through the WFDD programs. "While we are capturing the pre-employment skills, the tribe could also benefit from someone capturing all current employee's skills." The report also states the Av i! I , : ... A i m mm 1 1 .'iJ. The Warm Springs Council on Alcohol & Drugs is look ing to develop cornmunity based, youth prevention projects. Persons, families or community groups who have any jidea about a project or an activity that would help families and prevent alcohol and drug use are urged to contact the Alcohol & Drug Council. The Council would like to see more community mem bers involved in providing cultural activities, such as weekly craft nights or art clubs, throughout the community. ' To help do this the Council has limited funds that can be used to purchase materials and food to support the ac tivities people might want to do. If you are interested please write down your idea and what you think it might cost to do the project and give it to Sheilah Wahnetah at the Community Counseling Cen terPrevention Office, or call at 553-3205. . '. The Council will review these ideas and get back with you. . Please get your ideas in by January 31, 2002. updates following: With the old JTPA program closing out and new Compre hensive WIA program begin ning, we sponsored classroom training and served 31 eligible youth and 14 adults. We com pleted our first annual report our first Supplemental Youth Services semi-annual reports. We exceeded the planned stan dards which is very good. We ere informed by Eco-' nomic Development depart ment, to move the Dollar N' Sense Thrift Shop and Tradi tional Treasures Indian Market out of the Plaza, by December 31, 2001. We hive been busy doing this. Our new location is 2107 Wasco Street (previous Small Business Center office). Watch out for our re-opening, Saturday, January 12, 2002 at 10:00 a.m. We will have snacks and re-dedication of our shops. The exciting thing is, we will be moving toward the second phases of both shops during - j 1-ffVU ft activities 2002. The thrift shop will ex pand to household items and eventually into furniture, while Traditional Treasures will be moving toward the sew ing section. The goal is to have clean-finished garments (rib bon shirts, wing dresses, vests, shawls, in a range of sixes and much more). In addition, we will have splash bcadwork on selected items, as done in the past with apparel Industries. : We are anticipating aWery busy, challenging, and ener gized year of hard work and services to the best of our abili ties to Warm Springs. As you may or may not know, "em ployment" is the number "l". Tribal Council priority and our department is a big part of this. Happy, Happy New Year and make the most of 2002 ev eryone. From a team that cares and keeps hope. Marcis, Corey, Carlos, Laura, Trances, Yctlcen, and Mclinda.