.Pqge 8
&oddn' 4-H:
"(Continued from page 1)
Working for him, Bullcr
learned about horses, and the
experience has been a part of
his life ever since.
Last fall Buller was teaching
at Jefferson County Middle
School, when he got to know
Jasper Smith, one of his eighth
grade students from Simnasho.
They shared a common inter
est, riding horses.
Buller began meeting with
Smith and other young people
at Simnasho for informal riding
sessions. Butch David, Warm
Springs liaison at the middle
school, helped Buller meet other
families in the Simnasho area.
Soon there was a core group
of riders who were meeting ev
ery week. They would spend
some time riding and learning
skills needed for ranching. Then
they would have a barbecue.
The parents thought it was a
good thing, and the young
people liked it too.
About this time Fara Currim
became the Warm Springs OSU
Extension Office agriculture
agent. As part of her work with
livestock on the reservation,
Currim wants to see young tribal
members involved in cattle
; ranching. She thought the
i Rockin' 4-H Club would be the
perfect way, but the club needed
I to be revived.
The first thing was to find a
club leader, so she approached
: Buller, who agreed to take on
I Yakamas prepare to study
TOPPENISH, Wash. (AP) -1
The faded gray stallion with four
white socks and a long face fer
tvently nods his head, serving
t notice not to come any closer
to his herd. Moments later,
I startled by a sudden movement,
;the horses kick up a cloud of
dust as they storm across the
; hillside, disappearing behind a
ridge.
: The stallion is just one of
several thousand wild horses
I thundering across south-central
."Washington's Yakama Indian
Reservation. Their exact num
bers are unknown. But in the
desert scrubland known as Dry
I Creek, tribal wildlife officials
know there are too many to
: share habitat with the native
Salmon: chemicals found
in wild and hatchery fish
(Continued from page 1)
The highest levels were in
Scotland, where the fish tested
at almost 4 ppb.
It's unclear exactly how the
PBDEs leach out of products,
but they've have been turning
up in everything from house
hold dust to women's breast
milk.
"Add this study to the mount
ing evidence that shows the
PBDEs are in the environment
and moving up the food chain,"
said Ivy Sager-Rosenthal of
People for Puget Sound, an en
vironmental group.
The study's lead author, In
diana University professor
Ronald Hites, said it "was a real
surprise to us" to learn that some
wild salmon in the Pacific
Northwest had levels as high or
higher than farmed fish.
Studies of Puget Sound
chinook and coho also have
shown levels of PCBs on par
with farmed fish.
Besides Hites, the study in
volved researchers from Cornell
University, the University at Al
bany, the Midwest Center for
Environmental Science and Pub
lic Policy and AXYS Analytical
Services.
The source of PBDE con
tamination is likely the salmon's
food. Farmed fish eat a fish
meal made from ground-up
smaller fish, and Chinook also
T
0
I 1 .
- :av
V
0
the task. They went to Tribal
Council with the suggestion that
the 4-H pastures again be put
to use by the Rockin' 4-H Club.
The Council was enthusiastic in
its support, as this kind of
project - encouragement of
young tribal members - is a top
priority of the Council.
Donations of cattle for the
species they aim to restore to
the land.
"We know just by observa
tion that there are problems -inbreeding,
overgrazing, lack of
range management. We know
that they have displaced other
natural species, such as deer and
elk, in some places of the res-'
ervation," said E. Arlen
Washines, wildlife manager for
the Yakama Nation. "But we
don't know what's needed to fix
that, to create a balance."
The Yakama Nation has be
gun preparing a wildlife manage
ment plan they believe will bet
ter help them understand how
plants and animals best coexist
on the reservation. They also
hope to reintroduce some na
Health authorities and
scientists urged people
to continue eating
salmon, which is a good
source of protein and
fatty acids.
eat smaller fish. The other
salmon species generally eat
lower on the food chain, feed
ing on jellyfish and planktoa Pol
lutants such as PBDEs, PCBs
and mercury tend to build up in
animals, concentrating in organ
isms higher on the food chain,
such as orcas and people.
Unlike other pollutants, there
are no dietary recommendations
restricting how much PBDE is
safe for people to eat
Health authorities and scien
tists urged people to continue
eating salmon, which is a good
source of protein and fatty ac
ids. PBDEs and PCBs concen
trate in the fatty tissue of the
fish, so removing the skin and
using cooking methods that al
low fat to drip off can reduce
exposure.
Next month, the state Ecol
ogy Department plans to release
a draft version of a plan to re
duce PBDEs.
"These things shouldn't be
out in the environment when we
don't know what their effects
are," Sager-Rosenthal said.
I V 4
Spilyay Tyrooo,
Back in
A ' VV ' J
J :
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L' ''Avt
1 . er
m " 1 t ' v
Jasper Smith and Leander Smith on their horses.
newly reformed club are com
ing from Tribal Councilman
Buck Smith and his son Jason
Smith, Council members Rita
and Earl Squiemphen, Council
man Raymond Tsumpti, and
Secretary-Treasurer Jody Calica.
The hope is for each Rockin'
4-H Club member to have two
cattle, said Currim. And along
wild horses
tive species that haven't been
seen in the area for decades, in
cluding pronghorn antelope, big
horn sheep and sage grouse.
But to reintroduce native
species, the tribes first must
learn more about the wild horses
that roam freely across the land
and their habitat. ' ,
Research has shown that wild
horse herds across the West are
the descendants of horses
brought to North America by
the Europeans. Whether horses
were extinct on the continent
before the Ice Age remains un
der debate.
American Indians believe the
horse was already on the land,
much like any other native spe
cies, Washines said.
Spill
(Continued from page 1)
But Redden rejected the
analysis, calling it "arbitrary and
capricious."
In their lawsuit and their ar
guments to Redden in court,
conservation groups said more
than a half million young salmon
could die if spills were reduced
at the Bonneville, John Day, The
Dalles and Ice Harbor dams.
r
1.
CZnSUPERMARKETSCl
1 .
Warm Springs, Oregon
the saddle again
JV . . A .:
with the livestock will come re
sponsibility, and in the long run
a profit.
"We're trying to build stew
ards of the range, to support a
cattle industry that is geared to
the uniqueness of the reserva
tion," said Currim. Part of this
involves horsemanship, as the
reservation rangeland can't be
15 off
Dinette
Sets
Aug 1-31
6500
raw
- c'
We now have DRY ICE
j-
..A. -
Dave McMechaiVSpilyay
worked only with trucks and 4
wheelers, she said.
So there are many aspects to
Rockin' 4-H: horseback riding
and horsemanship, cattle-working
skills, ranch management
and business skills, roping, ani
mal doctoring and breeding.
"The kids are going to have their
own cattle ranch," said Currim.
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Chris Buller, 4-H leader
This won't happen overnight,
and that is a good thing.
"These are long-term goals,
and when you're thinking about
the future, you have hope," said
Buller.
"This is something the kids
can feel is uniquely theirs in
Warm Springs, and they can
have pride in where they live and
in what they're doing. A blessing
of the reservation is the 60,000
square miles of range."
Rockin' 4-H can be a way for
the generations of people on the
reservation to learn from one
another. "There are elders in the
community who are not con
nected with the youth," said
Buller. "And the youth want to
know what the elders know."
And as much as anything else,
the Rockin' 4-H Club is about
having a good time.
"The kids would be out here
every day riding if they could,"
said Buller.
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(541)475-2578
525 S.E. 5th St.
Madras, OR 97741
Edward & Donna
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4th Street
OR 97741
475-3637