University of Oregon Library
Received oni 02-14-05
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73
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v. 30
no. 3
Ftbruary
3, GB5
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
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February 3, 2005 Vol. 50, No. 3
Warm Springs, OR 97761
50 cents
Coyote News, est. 1976
Spilyay
Tvm
Members
discuss
settlement
By Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
The $16.4 million McQuinn
blowdown and HcHe fire settlement
agreement was the topic of discussion
at a gathering last week. About 150
people attended the Jan. 27 hearing,
conducted by the BIA and tribal lead
ers at the Agency Longhouse.
Tribal members commented that at
least part of the settlement money
should be distributed per capita. Some
also commented that the federal gov
ernment should not have the right to
approve or disapprove the tribal plan
for use of the settlement money.
The $16.4 million resolves the long
standing lawsuit by the tribes against
the federal government regarding mis
management of the McQuinn
blowdown timber sales. The settlement
also resolves the more recent HeHe
fire incident, during which a BIA pre
scribed fire escaped and burned across
reservation timberland.
The tribes and the federal govern
ment have agreed to the $16.4 million
settlement figure. However, before
transferring the funds to the tribes, the
federal government requires the tribes
submit a plan for use of the funds. The
hearing last week was part of the plan
approval process.
The plan that the tribes are submit
ting for approval is broadly worded,
indicating the funds will be used for
budgetary and other purposes. The fed
eral government is supporting the plan,
said tribal member Daisy West, of the
BIA Central Office in Washington, D.C.
A proposed tribal supplemental bud
get for 2005 indicates that the tribes
would use the funds for the senior citi
zen pension fund; for development of
a casino at the Gorge; and for tribal
government budgeting in 2006-07.
Part of the money would also be
used to repay the tribal reserve fund,
which was used to provide the Decem
ber 2004 per capita. Regarding com
ments that part of the $16.4 million
should be distributed per capita, tribal
Secretary-Treasurer Jody Calica said
that in effect this has already happened.
The idea in approving the Decem
ber 2004 per capita, which depleted the
reserve fund, was that settlement
money would be used to rebuild the
fund, said Calica.
He said that the tribes can expect to
receive the settlement money probably
around May of this year, if the pro
cess goes as planned in Washington,
D.C. Calica said the supplemental bud
get process should conclude at about
the same time.
Membership comments
The Jan. 27 meeting began with the
opening prayer by Councilwoman
Bernice Mitchell. Betty Scissons of the
BIA Northwest regional office then
discussed the purpose of the meeting
and the procedure. A difference be
tween the BIA meeting and a regular
tribal meeting was that the proceedings
were being recorded for inclusion in a
report to Congress. People who wished
to speak were asked to sign in, then
give their name and spell it for the
record.
Before the meeting was open to
public comment, tribal attorney Howie
Arnett gave a brief history of how the
tribes and federal government had
come to agree on the $16.4 million
settlement.
Bobby Eagleheart asked Arnett if
the dollar amount was in today's dol
lars, and if interest is included, as the
McQuinn blowdown sales, and the loss
of tribal timber revenue, happened
several years ago.
Set SETTLEMENT on page 7
Tribes explore biomass energy production
By Brian Moftcnsen
Spilyay Tymoo
Geovisions, the Confederated
Tribes' environmental services com
pany, will begin work on a study to
determine how efficiently wood -including
fallen trees, unwanted trees
like juniper and smaller trees - can
be harvested from federal lands
outside the reservation and brought
to Warm Springs for processing.
Work on the study could begin as
soon as next week.
If found workable, the results of
an administrative agreement between
Geovisions and the Deschutes and
Ochoco national forests would help
provide enough fuel to feed a biomass
cogeneration boiler at Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries, as well as
help remove materials that fuel cata
strophic forest fires.
The boiler would provide electricity
to help power the lumber mill and, de
pending on the electricity market,
Warm Springs Forest Products Indus
tries could potentially market the re
sidual power the biomass plant gener
ates.
Starting next week a Geovisions crew
will cut down and chip live juniper trees
from the Round Butte area on the
Crooked River National Grasslands,
and live green material from the Black
Butte Ranch area near Sisters.
Geovisions has just released a Re
quest for Proposal to chip already
downed material in the Bend-Fort Rock
Ranger District of the Deschutes Na
tional Forest near LaPine.
"So it gives us three different areas
that we can look at - live juniper, live
Johnson
honored
to represent
the tribes
By Brian Mortensen
Spilyay Tymoo
Christine Johnson was born on
the Warm Springs Reservation and
lived here as a child before she
moved away. But after a life jour
ney that has taken her to Pendleton,
to Europe, Canada and Arizona, she
has come back and now represents
the Confederated Tribes as their new
Miss Warm Springs for 2005.
Johnson, 24, was crowned in a
ceremony before a generous throng
of family and well wishers at the
Agency Longhouse Jan. 24.
"It's exciting knowing I'll be rep
resenting my tribe, the people and
my family, and I'll do the best I can,"
she said before the ceremony, in
which she was evaluated by a panel
of five judges from the community.
Johnson, who works at the Warm
Springs post office, answered a se
ries of questions about the Confed
erated Tribes before the audience
and performed in song and dance
before she was crowned by
Adrienne Merrifield, the 2001 Miss
Warm Springs.
Wearing the crown, Johnson,
whose Indian name is Yow-Sta, will
respresent the tribes in as many as
30 events during her yearlong term.
"She represents at major confer
ences and travels a lot," said Char
lotte Herkshan, a judge during the
pageant. "She represents us locally
at county fairs. People request her
to be at events like pow-wows, local
workshops and conferences, and
she'll travel with tribal members to
meetings."
The responsibilities of her title
will be well in keeping with what she
has done growing up.
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Brian MortensenSpllyay
Miss Warm Springs 2005 Christine Johnson
"Growing up, my family, we always be even more a big experience for
traveled," she said. "I traveled to pow- me to travel even more."
wows. I was (once) chairman of a con- As part of her duties, she will be
ference, and I went to Europe. called upon to appear at certain
"I went to all the biggest pow-wows functions with only cursory notice,
here in the United States. It's going to See JOHNSON on page 9
green thinning material, and dead slash
or slash piles," said Jim Crocker, gen
eral manager of GeoVisions. "That in
formation will be reported back to the
forest service, so that can assist them
in determining how to put up a biom
ass sale." ,
For GeoVisions and the tribes, the
biggest question is the cost of trans
porting the wood to Warm Springs
from the sites, whether it is chipped on
site or has to be transported to Warm
Springs and then chipped.
Set BIOMASS on page 7
Livestock deaths
investigated
At least 19 cattle are dead due to an
unexplained cause at Sidwalter. The in
vestigation into the cause of death was
still pending earlier this week.
A group of 15 carcasses were found
last Thursday afternoon near the old
Sidwalter dumpsite. One was found
alive, but it died later Thursday.
"We spent two days searching the
area," said Jason Smith, Warm Springs
range and agricultural manager. "Right
now, we're just trying to find out what
happened to them."
Smith said he enlisted a Madras
veterinarian to perform the necropsy
and take tissue and blood samples,
which were sent out for analysis.
Smith said he expected the test re
sults to be in as soon as Friday. In ad
dition, samples of water were sent to
Bend for analysis. With the recent warm
weather, there's plenty of water both
standing and flowing in the area.
The majority of the cattle, Smith
said, belong to the Squiemphen family
near Sidwalter and that most of the
cattle had been branded.
Tribal Councilman Earl
Squiemphen said that each animal had
a value of about $900, and that the
number of deceased livestock was 24.
Authorities suspect
theft of artifacts
PRINEVILLE (AP) - Authorities
delivered 22 search warrants in central
and southern Oregon last week regard
ing alleged theft of archaeological rel
ics from public lands.
The warrants were served in Bend,
Redmond, Lakeview, LaPine, Bly,
Christmas Valley, Terrebonne and Pais
ley and resulted in recovery of thou
sands of artifacts as well as firearms,
controlled substances and illegally pos
sessed wildlife parts, said Margot
Bucholtz, Forest Service and BLM
spokeswoman. She said the investiga
tion had been going on for two years.
There was no immediate indication
of the type of artifacts recovered.
Government early on had reservation in mind
(The following is an article in a
series regarding the Treaty of 1855.
This June the Treaty is 150 years
old.)
By Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
The treaty between the Confed
erated Tribes and the federal gov
ernment was signed in 1855, but
federal officials were planning the
basic terms of the agreement well
before that time. In the year 1850
U.S. Pres. Millard Fillmore reported
to Congress that he had appointed
a resident superintendent and three
general agents to deal with the In
dian tribes of Oregon. Until the fed
eral agents were on the scene it was
the governor of the territory, Joseph
Lane, who had been acting as agent
on behalf of the U.S. government.
In July of 1850 Lane made a re
port to "the Secretary of War, or the
Commissioner of Indian Affiars."
In the report Lane states:
"Having no assistants, neither agents
nor sub-agents, I found it necessary to
visit in person many of the tribes in
their own country. In the month of
April I proceeded to the Dalles of the
Columbia; called together the tribes and
bands in that vicinity, including the
DeChutes river and Yacamaw Indians;
held a talk with them; made them some
presents to the amount of $200; and
had the gratification, at the request of
the chief of the Yacamaws, to bring
about a peace between that tribe and
the Walla-wallas, who were at that time
engaged in war."
In another report Lane provides a
list of the many tribes of Oregon.
Among the descriptions are the follow
ing: "The DeChutes Indians are a part
of the Wascopaw tribe, and live upon
a river of that name. Their country is
poor, high, broken, sandy and barren,
yet it affords good grazing, their stock
being in good order the year round.
They are very poor, have but few arms,
are well disposed, and number about
300. They live on fish and berries."
Also: "The Wascopaw Indians num
ber about 200, and live on the east side
of the Cascade Mountains. Their soil
is not good, and they have no disposi
tion to cultivate what they have. They
are poor and live on fish, roots and
berries. There is a Catholic mission
among them. They are indifferently
armed, and friendly to the whites."
In all, according to the report, there
were 65 tribes and bands of Indians in
the Oregon territory.
In concluding his report to the Com
missioner of Indian Affairs, Lane
quotes from the message he had given
recently to the Oregon territorial Leg
islative Assembly.
The statement reads:
"Surrounded as many of the tribes
and bands now are by the whites, whose
arts of civilization, by destroying the
resources of the Indians, doom them
to poverty, want and crime, the extin
guishments of their title by purchase,
and the locating them in a district re
moved from the settlements, is a mea
sure of the most vital importance to
them. Indeed, the cause of humanity
calls loudly for their removal from
causes and influences so fatal to their
existence. This measure is one of equal
interest to our own people."
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