University of Oregon Library
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Spilyay tyioo.
OR. COLL.
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.568 VTJ
v. 28 Jif A.
no. 24 V
November
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Warm Springs, OR 97761
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November 27, 2001 Vol. 28, No. 24
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Spilyay
Condors
return to
Oregon
By Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
For thousands of years the Califor
nia condor lived along the Columbia
River. The bird, known to some as the
Thunderbird, disappeared from Or
egon about 100 years ago.
The condor was of great spiritual
importance to Indians who lived at the
Columbia. In some instances the con
dor was perhaps of even greater spiri
tual importance than the eagle.
One hundred years after their ex
tinction in Oregon, the condors have
returned: several of the birds are now
living in the Condor Creek Conserva
tion Facility in Clackamas County. This
a condor breeding project of the Or
egon Zoo.
The hope one day is that condors
will be released back into the wild in
Oregon, 200 officials say.
The condor breeding facility is not
open to the public. It is important that
the condors not associate with humans,
or the birds will become unafraid of
humans, which will put them in jeop
ardy when released to the wild,
, There are only 219 .condors alive in
the world today. The off J came to the
brink of extinction in the 1970s and
'80s. In 1982 the population of Cali
fornia condors in the wild was just 22.
A captive breeding and release pro
gram has succeeded in increasing the ,
number of condors in the wild to 84.
Another 135 live in captivity.
See CONDORS on page 12
Tribes planning '05 timber sale
(An interdisciplinary team from the
'. Forestry and Natural Resources branches
, has been collecting tribal member comments
on a timber sale being proposed for 2005.
Responses to a number of comments and
concerns are included with this article pro
duced for Spilyay Tymoo readers.)
The Coltsfoot 2005 Timber Sale will
target approximately 42 million board
feet of timber (an estimated 10,000
' . truck loads) in the Badger Creek wa-
.' tershed.
, The process for planning this sale
officially began on July 10 when the
project interdisciplinary team (PIDT)
. completed its third and final scoping
meeting with the tribal public.
Meetings were held for Agency,
Seekseequa and Simnasho districts, ini
tiating the process to complete a draft
planning document. A tour of the pro
posed project area was held on August
13. The PIDT, which presents infor
mation about the proposed sale to in
terested tribal members, is comprised
of individuals from the Natural Re
sources technical staff and committees.
The team includes a fish biologist,
forester, wildlife ecologist, hydrologist,
fuels manager, forest engineer, silvicul
turist, archeologist, range conservation
ist, soil scientist, writereditor and rep
resentatives from Timber Committee,
Fish and Wildlife Committee, and
Warm Springs Forest Products Indus
tries (WSFPI). Presentations made dur
ing the scoping meetings contain gen
eral information regarding the project
area and sale objectives. All team mem
bers and members of the tribal public
are encouraged to attend the meetings.
Comments from the scoping meet
ings are used to develop a planning
document known as a project assess
ment. The assessment contains alter
natives for implementing the sale, a
strategy to monitor the sale after it has
.- "'''A , -'if- -i
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Dave McMechanSpilyay
Michael Miller (front) and Trent Heatb were among the performers at the
recent Native American Day celeberation at Jefferson County Middle
School. On the afternoon of Native American Day the student body of
, Jhe middle school gatheredin the gymnasium.,Tribal members - mostly
students with some adults - in regalia performed a small Grand Entry.
Dancers then performed on the main stage. The Quartz Creek Drummers
provided the drumming. Emerson Culpus and Simian Kalama played
their flutes. Master of ceremonies was Butch David, school liaison. The
audience showed great appreciation for all of the performances. See
page 8 for more photos.
been implemented, and mitigation mea
sures to offset negative impacts. After
considering input from the tribal pub
lic, the PIDT will develop two action
alternatives, one emphasizing treat
ments that deal with high priority for
est health issues and another that em
phasizes commercial thinning.
Some tribal members would like the
PIDT to develop additional alterna
tives and others would like to do away
with the alternatives in favor of one
action plan, so the Natural Resources
Branch fashioned the current strategy
as a compromise.
Species to be harvested will
include true firs, Douglas fir
and ponderosa pine.
The team will present their assess
ment and recommended alternative to
the Resource Management Interdisci
plinary Team (RMIDT) and they in
turn release the assessment for public
review. Following a 30-day review,
RMIDT approves one of the alterna
tives and attaches a decision document
to the project assessment, which is then
forwarded to the BIA superintendent
for concurrence. Tribal member com
ments are accepted throughout the pro
cess at the main office of the Forestry
Branch.
The entire process and all manage
ment activities related to the forested
area must adhere to goals, standards
and best management practices adopted
under the Integrated Resources Man
agement Plan (IRMP) for the Forested
Area. Federal law, as it relates to natu
ral resources, emphasizes the protec
tion of various resources.
The Coltsfoot 2005 Timber
Sale is being proposed because it will
generate revenue for the Confederated
Tribes. The size and type of trees har
vested will determine the amount of
profit. These sales are designed to pro
vide options for the Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries (WSFPI)
mill by creating a pantry of tiirfber.
Yearly harvests will meet the allowable
annual cut established by Tribal Coun
cil and provide jobs for tribal loggers
and mill workers.
Variety of tree species
Species to be harvested will include
true firs, Douglas fir and ponderosa
pine. Most of the trees selected for
harvest will be 10-20 inches in diam
eter and prescriptions will be based on
health and value. In most cases, the
largest and healthiest trees will be left
for future generations. Conditional use
areas will not be logged under this sale.
A variety of prescriptions will be
used to treat the stands, ranging from
commercial thins that leave about half
the mature trees to seed trees, which
have a leave of 3-9 mature trees per
acre.
See HARVEST on page 9
, . .
(fim one
'. j
Smith joins distinguished
principals in Washington
ByD. "Bing" Bingham
Spilyay Tymoo
The journey from Central Oregon
to Washington D. C. for Dawn Smith
to receive a National Distinguished
Principal Award was long and Some
times stressful. '
She was nominated for the award
locally, and had to pass several review
committees. Then there was the paper
work - it seemed like a short ton.
"It was actually worth it once you
got into the paperwork, because it asked
you to really think about the things you
did and what you thought was impor
tant," Smith says. "It really made me
think about why I do what I do."
After she was notified that she was
an award recipient, that's when the
problems started. The ceremony offi
cials told her she would be staying in
downtown Washington D. C, and she
would be attending a reception on the
eighth floor of the State Department,
in a room with five hundred million
dollars worth of antiques.
What troubled her was when she
heard she needed a cocktail dress and
ball gown - not common items in Cen
tral Oregon.
"What does a cocktail dress look
like? Where do you get a ball gown for
goodness sake?" she says. "We don't
have that much experience with that
out here. What do they mean when
they say those kinds of things, and how
do you behave when you're in a room
full of five hundred million dollars -worth
of antiques?"
It took some scrambling, but she got
it all together and headed to Washing
ton D. C. When she arrived at the State
Department reception, there was a bal-
Many proposals for station
Beginning in December the
Warm Springs Small Business De
velop Center will begin the review
process for the Shell Station project.
"We've received seven written
proposals and about 10 or 12 ver
bal suggestions over the phone with
the thought they will follow up with
a proposal," says Gerald Danzuka,
small business counselor with the
SBDC.
The idea of the project is to put
a private person in place and allow
them to produce more jobs available
to the reservation. "What the tribes
are looking for is 'Are there any re
alistic proposals, people with the ca
pability to maintain it as a separate
business rather than open it as a tribal
business or separate arm of the
tribes," Danzuka says.
According to Danzuka, the Shell
Station isn't a beginners project. Oil
and gas distribution is a highly com
petitive business. Any proposal pass
ing the Small Business Development
"reality check" will be submitted to
Tribal Council.
'Warm Springs 'Elementary
can hold it's head up as high
as any elementary school in
the United States, and it also
makes you realise there's so
much more you can do. "
Dawn Smith
Distinguished principal
cony overlooking the all the lights in
the downtown area. She knew she
wasn't in Central Oregon anymore.
"It was very, very nice," she said.
But it was the people at the recep
tion who really caught her attention.
"I had that feeling the whole time,
What am I doing here with all these
people who are so dynamic, impas
sioned, wise and intelligent. They're so
professional in what they do.' I guess I
was in awe a lot of the time," she con
tinued. "Then when we'd sit down
around the table and talk, I'd think,
Wow, we're doing the same thing.'"
Slowly, at first, she started to get her
feet on the ground with some of the
top school principals in the nation.
"It makes you realize two things,"
she says. "Number one is that Warm
Springs Elementary can hold it's head
up as high as any elementary school in
the United States, and it also makes you
realize there's so much more you can
do."
? Some of the 'top educators in the
nation were affirming each other. One
person would talk and the rest of them
would sit around and say, "Yeah, that's
what we believe too."
See SMITH on page 12
" see it as a good opportu
nity for one or two individu
als or maybe a family to own
or lease it from the tribes
and make a decent living. "
Gerald Danzuka
Small business counselor
"I see it as a good opportunity for
one or two individuals or maybe a
family to own or lease it from the
tribes and make a decent living at
it," says Danzuka.
The Shell Station project was ad
vertised as tribal member preference.
Non-tribal community members, es
pecially if they're married into the
tribes, were also invited to apply.
"So far the proposals are mostly
maintaining it as a gas and diesel sta
tion," Danzuka continues.
"The use of the bays varies from
mechanic work to photo processing
to gift shop type activity... a wide
range of activities to go along with
selling gas and diesel."