Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 26, 2002)
OR. COLL. E 75 .sea v. 27 no. 6 Decenber P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 SERIALS DEPT. KNIGHT LIBRARY 1299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE, OR 97403 U.S. Postage Bulk Rate Permit No. 2 Warm Springs, OR 97761 50 cents Coyote News, est. 1976 Pecerober 26, 2002 Vol. 27, No. 26 Spiky 4 Tym School blaze Quick response contains flames to gymnasium The fire last week that de stroyed the Warm Springs El ementary School gymnasium could have been much worse. "Everyone agrees that the initial work of the Warm Springs Fire Department kept the whole building from going up in flames," said Dawn Smith, school principal. While the gym was de stroyed, the rest of the build ing - including two class rooms, a music room and staff room - did not burn. Computers, books and many other items were saved. , Another bright point in an otherwise gloomy story is that school is out for Christmas break until January 6. That leaves time to have the gymnasium building area leveled and cleared. Also, Tribes By Shannon Keaveny Spilyiiy Tymoo Tribal and federal govern ment negotiators are moving forward with a plan to relocate Columbia River petroglyphs to Horsethief State Park in Wash ington. , Negotiations are among the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Yakama Nation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It has long been the desire of many Native Americans to move the rock art - in posses sion of the Corps of Engineers - closer to the original location. Horsethief State Park, home of the She Who Watches picto graph, is the closest area to the original location. The original site is inundated by water of The Dalles Dam, built in I960. Top 5 Stories f 2001 New casino made the biggest headlines during the year By Dave McMcchan Spilyay Tymoo It was the year when tribal members honored their return to the Columbia River, with a May celebration on tribal land at Cascade Locks. Meanwhile in 2002, a second attempt at holding a tribal adop tion election failed for lack of voter turnout. During the year, a library opened in Warm Springs, The Elliot Palmer VI'W Post No. 4217 marked its I'iftith Anniversary, while tribal elder Nettie Shawaway turned 102. The year 2002 saw contro versy develop over the large number of people who each year raft down the lower Deschutes River. The Confed erated Tribes believe that a man agement agreement, signed sev eral years ago by various gov ernment and other entities, jus- Wind blowdown page 2 Holiday photos page 3 Letters page 4 Student crafts page 6 Languages pages 8,9 Art of hide tanning 10 4 : "ii .... ;!i . "X. The gymnasium area was fenced off following the blaze. there is time to "determine whether the rest of the building can still be used. An engineer will be making that determination in the near future, said Smith. "We'll prob ably have to move some of our programs around," she said. For instance, the Indian lan guage class may have to move back to the language office trailer, consider petroglyph relocation plan Before construction of the dam, Celilo Falls, a central fish ing and trading place of Native Americans, rushed and swirled its mighty waters. The dam turned the waters placid like a lake, and inundated the sur rounding land. A place known as Petroglyph Canyon, site of many petroglyphs, was submerged in these waters. Prior to 1960, the Corps of Engineers made an effort to preserve the rock art. Agency , crews bulldozed, dynamited or chipped out with a jackhammer many of the pictures on the cliffs. Since then the petroglyphs have been in the possession of the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1974 the large rocks, sev tifies the implementation of a rafting permit system. Some of the parties to the agreement - local governments, supported by guides - now op pose the permit idea. This de bate no doubt will continue into 2003. Each December, Spijay Tymoo looks back in order to determine the top news stories of the previous 12 months. The following is a brief description of the top five news stories of the year 2002 on the reserva tion. Top story ) This year the choice of the top story was easy, as the long standing plan to expand the gam ing enterprise saw many dramatic developments. The most dramatic event of the year in gaming happened in May, when nearly 1,000 tribal members cast their ballots in a tribal referendum. The referendum asked tribal members whether the gaming enterprise should expand to a site at the Columbia River Gorge. During the months leading said Smith. The music room may move to a nearby house that is currently not being used, she said. Another fortunate aspect of the fire: No one was in the gym at the time of the fire, last Friday night, Dec. 20. The previous night the gym was crowded with young people who had come to the winter craft night. Had the fire happened on that night the consequences could have been tragic. Damage to the gym, built in 1937, is estimated at $1.2 million, with another $300,000 in damage to prop erty inside. The building was insured. Cause of the blaze was determined to be oily rags that spontaneously caught on fire. eral weighing tons, were taken to the Dalles Dam, where they have resided since. There are 38 rocks total, of which one is a pictograph. Most of the rocks at The Dalles Dam were taken from Petroglyph Canyon. Some are from Miller Island .on the Columbia RHrr.. For others the original location is unknown. Recently, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the Yakama Nation p'resented the Army Corps of Engineers with a final design plan for the place ment of the rock art in Horsethief State Park. The Corps readily approved the design plan, and in a final move sent out a letter to the tribal councils of Warm Springs and Yakama. The Corps is hop up to May 18 vote, tribal offi cials held many informational meetings, including family-based gatherings, regarding the signifi cance of the vote. During that time, opposition to expanding the gaming enter prise to the Gorge was at times quite vocal. In the end, though, the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of such an expansion. Of the 940 total votes cast, 720 votes - or nearly 76 percent -were in favor of building a tribal casino at the Gorge. "The best place to obtain new revenue for the tribes is the Columbia Gorge," gaming spokesman Rudy Clements said after the election. The area, he said, is part of the tribes' ceded land, "and it has always provided for us, since time immemorial. Why not continue to use it to survive?" As the May election demon strated, a large majority of tribal members agreed. C Second") In the long run a new casino at the Gorge is expected to re turn the Confederated Tribes to financial stability, if not prosper P 3 r. . 1 ,-aar-" a . J ill TlfCf QnrNXT' J. 11 uL kJl 1LJW ing to hear soon from the tribal councils. "We want official approval from the tribal councils of both reservations," said Bert Radar, cultural resource team leader for the Corps. "We just want the tribes and everyone else in volved to be happy." Meanwhile, the Corps is pre; paring for the next step of the project. , "I'm putting my ducks in a row," said Gail Lovell, project manager for the Petroglyph Relocation Project. Bird drop pings on the petroglyphs need to be cleaned, Lowell said. The Corps has also hired an archaeological and ethnographic conservator to survey the con dition of the petroglyphs at their location at The Dalles Dam. ity. This may be some years away, though, as the tribes are just now entering the design phase of this multi-million dol lar, multi-year project. Tribal officials meanwhile are looking for ways to generate new revenue in the short-term. Over the past year the Geo Vi sions enterprise has provided the best example of this type of job and revenue-generation pro gram. In the summer of 2002, dur ing the wildfire season, Geo Vi sions staff were busy providing mapping technology to fire fighting agencies. But helping the fire crews appears to be just the beginning of the success that Geo Visions could bring to the Confederated Tribes. In October of 2002 the fed eral government, through the U.S. Army, set aside $5 million for development of resource plans for federal installations across the nation. "They recognize our skill in this field," Jim Crocker, general manager of Geo Visions, said at the time. In looking toward future gov ernment contracts, Crocker f ; r 1 1 . i ' ' ar"yn Suppah (left) and Linda people enjoying the snow that The final report will provide in formation on what needs to be done for restoration of each petroglyph before relocation. The report will describe" methods for moving the rock art to their new location with minimal damage. Before any -action is taken, die Corps is com mitted to receiving approval from the Wana-pa-koot-koot committee. The Wana-pa-koot-koot com mittee represents the four lower Columbia River Basin tribes: the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Yakama Nation, Umatilla and Nez Perce. Also sitting on the committee are the Bonneville Power Administra tion and Army Corps of Engi neers, among others. At a Wana-pa-k(K)t-koot Com- said, "We're right on the edge of a breakthrough, and the sky is the limit." Geo Visions grew out of the Global Imaging Systems (GIS) division of the tribes' Natural Resources Branch. While mak ing a dramatic emergence in 2002, Geo Visions holds great promise for the tribes in 2003. C Third p While the future holds prom ise for tribal economic ventures, the present situation is a some what different story. During 2002, for instance, the Tribal Council again faced difficult choices in developing a budget for the coming year. Because of the large amount of money involved, the tribal government budget is one of the top stories of the year. In the late fall, in developing the budget for the new year, the Council decided to use $1.5 mil lion from the Credit Enterprise retained earnings. At the same time the Council decided poten tially to use approximately $2 million from the tribes' revenue reserve, or rainy day fund. The rainy day money will be 1 I A JJ ; Dave McMechanSpllyay Smith were among the many young fell recently on the reservation. "The tribes weren't asked what they want. (The Corps) should have asked first. " Brigette Whipple Tribal ethnographer mittee meeting on Deal 1 in Port land, participants developed sub committees to work on each in dividual rock site at the park. Tribal elders will be asked for their advice on exact placement of the rocks and their translations. Lowell hopes the rocks will be ready to be moved by April and the project will be completed by May. See ROCK ART on page 3 used only if the tribal general fund working capital reserve drops below $6 million, an amount that is the minimum balance needed to make payroll and other essential expenditures. These decisions - along with cuts in most every aspect and department of the tribal govern ment - help demonstrate the se riousness of the situation. "We arc continuing to gradu ally cut back tribal government, and that means a cut in programs and services," Secretary-Treasurer Charles Jackson said at the time the budget was approved. Under die 201)3 budget, an estimated 20 job positions could be eliminated. "But Tribal Council has clearly stated that should explore all other avenues before doing that," said Jackson. C Fourth The federal court in Portland provided one of the big stories of the year for the Confeder ated Tribes. The news happened in June, when Judge Robert I lodges issued his opinion in the longstanding McQuinn Strip Blowdown lawsuit. Vltast see TOP NEWS oh ) N&i;!JtIWWfcubP Spilyay tymoo.