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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2003)
OR. COLL. 75 .sea v. 8 no. 11 May 23, P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 SERIALS DOT". KNIGHT LIBKAUY 1299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE, OR 97403 U.S. Postage Bulk Rate Permit No. 2 Warm Springs, OR 97761 Coyote Aews est. 1976 May 29, 2003 Vol. 28, No. 11 50 cents Spiiysty yroot Councilman Patt takes fisheries job By Dave McMechan Spilyay Tymoo Tribal Councilman Olney Patt Jr. has decided to take the job of executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC). His new job begins fulltime on June 16, and he will continue serving on the Council until June 13. Until earlier this week Patt served as Tribal Council chair man. He served in that position for five years. Patt has been a leader dur ing a time when the Confeder ated Tribes took important steps toward gaming expansion and economic development, and construction of a new school in Warm Springs. "This is one of the hardest decisions I've had to make in accepting a job," Patt said of the CRITFC executive director po sition. "It requires that I forego the final year of my term on Council, and I see some things as unfinished business." The Gorge casino and the new Warm Springs elementary school, for instance, are still pending. "But these projects are well under way, and will be com pleted," said Patt. As executive director of the Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Patt will supervise 80 employ ees. In 1979 Patt worked for the -- ! 0 O 1 4 t X $. - . ;V L i " in i i ' II m. j WMimiiiii Dave McMechanSpilyay Newly chosen CRITFC executive director Olney Patt Jr. commission as the public infor mation officer, when CRITFC had just 12 employees. From May 2000 to May of 2001 he served as CRITFC chairman, and was a commis sioner since 1995. CRITFC provides technical and legal support to the Colum bia River tribes in protecting salmon, steelhead and other fisheries. The four treaty tribes of the Columbia - Warm Springs, Umatilla, Yakama and Nez Perce - established the commission in 1977. The fish and wildlife commit tees of these tribes make up the governing body of CRITFC. In the case of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Off-Reservation Fish and Wild life Committee serves on the Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. Representatives of the four CRITFC tribes were unanimous in selecting Patt for the position of executive director. Patt will be the commission's eighth ex ecutive director in its 26-year history. Patt, 51, will be the first member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to serve in the executive director position. In the past members of the Yakama and Umatilla tribes have served in the posi tion. In accepting the executive directorship, Patt will replace Donald Sampson of the Con federated Tribes of Umatilla, who served six years before announcing his resignation in March. Patt was a natural choice as the next executive director, said Allen Slickpoo Jr., CRITFC chairman and member of the Nez Perce Tribe. "He creates consensus and common ground among the various salmon inter ests in the region, including fish eries managers and politicians," said Slickpoo. "He's worked in the' Deschutes River Basin with the irrigation and ranching commu nities, as well as on land acquisi tions throughout the John Day. He has fisheries in his heart," said Slickpoo. In choosing Patt for the job, the CRITFC repre sentatives cited his experience in fisheries management, and his background with the Pacific Salmon Commission, the body formed by the U.S. and Canada to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty. See PATT on page 6 Vacancy to be filled Councilman Olney Patt Jr. resigned earlier this week as chairman of the Tribal Coun cil. The Council then named Garland Brunue as the new chairman. Brunoe formerly was serving as Council vice chairman. While naming Brunoe the new chairman, the Council also named Ron Suppah as the new vice chairman. Coun cil Chairman Brunoe and Vice Chairman Suppah were sworn in to the positions on Tues day afternoon, May 27. On June 13, a vacancy will come open on the Council, as Patt will be resigning his seat to take his new job with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. As the June 13 date approaches, the Tribal Council will determine who will fill the vacancy. The Tribal Constitution says the following in regard to filling a vacancy that comes open on the Council: If a councilman shall re sign, the Council shall declare the position vacant and ap point a successor to fill the unexpired term; provided that the person chosen to fill such vacancy shall be from the dis trict in which the vacancy oc- In the past the Tribal Council has looked to the most recent election for guidance in filling the vacancy. The vacancy that mil come open is of the Simnasho District. Spring chinook run keeping hatchery busy Workers at the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery are busy, as spring chinook salmon are migrating upstream. The fish began running in the Deschutes in April, and will con tinue through August. The busy time, though, is May and June, said Mike Paiya, hatchery man ager. The hatchery will keep about 800 fish for brood stock, said Paiya. The brood stock ponds at the hatchery are now about half full of fish, so the collec ' tion is on schedule, he said. This stock includes Deschutes River fish and some that will be used for stocking of Shinke Creek. In all, about 5,000 to 6,000 Warm Springs hatchery chinook salmon will come up the river, said Paiya. About 1,000 wild fish will also migrate up stream. The hatchery will use about 35 of the wild fish for brood stock. The rest pass by the hatchery to spawn upstream. Fish that are used for brood are later stored for ceremonial and other use by the tribes. Also, some fish are distributed to tribal members. The Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery is one of two on 6the Deschutes River. The other hatchery, the Round Butte hatchery operated by the Or egon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is also busy with the spring chinook run. Because of the good run of spring chinook in the Columbia Basin, tribal fishermen were able to open their second commer cial gillnet fishing season in as many months. , V .1.", ""...,," f. V 'V : .v " h Wt-. t i L V' i N n I , V.' , W ',', - 'ft,, 1 1 y imvo MCMecnarvapiiyay 4 ZlXCXCTi IS Twenty-tive tribal members are graduating this year from Madras High School. Some of the graduating seniors are tO Sr&ClllcltC P'duredabove-Graduat'onceremoriiesareat3p.m.,Sunday1 June 1 , in the school gym. Seepage 5 for more senior photos. curs. In the past when a position became vacant, the Tribal Coun cil has looked to the most re cent election for guidance in fill ing the vacancy. The vacancy that will come open is of the Simnasho District. The district will decide on the nominee to fill the position, said Patt. In the 2001 election, former council man Earl Squicmphen received the fourth most votes for the Simnasho District, after coun- cilmen Raymond Tsumpti, Vice Chairman Ron Suppah and Patt. An example of a council po sition coming vacant happened in 2001, when Paiute Chief Vernon Henry passed away. Joe Moses became Paiute Chief, and Carol Wewa was appointed to fill the council vacancy. Wewa had received the next most Seekseekqua Dis trict votes in the 2001 election, held a few months earlier. Museum celebration is Saturday This Saturday, May 31, is the Museum at Warm Springs Tenth Anniversary celebration. For the occassion the mu seum and the tribes will host a memorial horse parade, mu seum blessing and rededication, and a powwow on the museum grounds. The horse parade will begin at 10 a.m. The museum bless ing and rededication will be at 1 p.m., and the powwow begins at 2 p.m. A Korean War veterans me morial tree-planting event will also be part of the day's events. (See page 2 for more information on the veterans ceremony,) For information on the mu seum anniversary celebration, contact Rosalind Sampson at the museum, 553-3331. Tribes, BPA conduct three-year eel study A unique project determines the abundance levels of lamprey in the Deschutes River sub-basin. By Shannon Keaveny Spilyay Tymoo This summer fish technician Joel Santos and biologist Jenni fer Graham will be busy collect ing information about eels in over 47 locations in the Deschutes River sub-basin. The effort is part of a three year collaboration between the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the Bonneville Power Administration to assess what types of eels exist in the Deschutes River sub-basin, their distribution and abundance lev els. The project is being funded by the BPA. The study is the first of its kind on the reservation. "We've discovered Pacific lamprey in the Shitike Creek and Warm Springs River this year. We're potentially looking for three types of lamprey. But because nothing has ever been done in this area, we're basing that potential on information we found in books," said Graham. The Pacific lamprey is the eel commonly found in this area. It is an anadromous parasitic fish that sometimes catches a ride back up river by attaching itself to a salmon. Western brook lamprey, a yellowish-brown freshwater eel, has also been known to be in this area, but is less common. The third possibility, although unlikely, is the river lamprey. A river lamprey hasn't been spotted in the Columbia River Basin since the early 1980s. Like salmon, in the last cen tury Columbia River basin lam prey populations have dropped significantly. Water quality and dams are held largely accountable for the decrease. An important part of the Columbia River tribes' tradi tional diet, lamprey has been forced to have a decreasing role in ceremonial feasts due to lack val lamprey, based solely on their of abundance. tail pigmentation. For example, "There's no place for eel at a Pacific lamprey has a distinct feasts anymore. They used to be yellow outline on the ridge of at every meal," said Harold its tail. Blackwolf of the Warm Springs This year they are conccntrat- F'ish and Wildlife Committee. ing on another part of the study. "Lamprey is just as important Rach day Santos and Graham to the tribes as salmon," said visit a different tributary of the Santos, who is also a tribal mem- Deschutes River, primarily on the reservation, and collect eel samples. An electrical current is gen erated in the water that tempo rarily stuns the eels. The current ber. Creeling the status of eels and assessing the abundance lev els of eels in the Deschutes River sub-basin for the three-year project could pave the pathway encourages the eels to come out for future eel restoration plans, of their burrows in the mud and said Blackwolf of the current to the surface of the water, study. Then they arc caught with nets There are four part of the and weighed, measured, and as- study. Last year Santos and Gra- sesscd for any unique charac- ham learned to identify the lar- teristics, such as parasites. Immediately they are released back into the water at the same site unharmed. Another aspect of the study is to use rotary screw traps to collect emigrant eels. Emigrant eels include both larval and transformed eels. The large rotary screw trap allows water to flow in through a large rotating cone where fish are temporarily caught in a hold ing tank. Eels caught are marked with an elastamcre dye by injecting multiple colors into the eel. "We use a different combination of colors to indicate actual days and other information from when they were caught," ex plained Graham. See EEL STUDY on page 10 University of Oregon Library Received oni 86-132-03 Spilyay tyioo.