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no. 13
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PO. Box 870
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Coyote News, est. 1976
June 22, 2006 Voi. 31, No. 13
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Warm Sprìngs, OR 97761
50 cents
Tribes
Expanding role for Power Enterprises
welcome
Maori to
Pi-Ume-Sha
By Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
Members of the Maori culture of
Aotearoa, New Zealand will be among
the special guests at this weekend’s Pi-
Ume-Sha Treaty Days Celebration.
Maori artists have been in Warm
Springs this week, dem onstrating
their weaving techniques. Their ex
hibit Toi Maori: The Eternal Thread was
on display at the Museum at Warm
Springs.
The museum was the final N orth
west venue for the Maori exhibition.
The Maori chose to bring their exhibi
tion tour to Warm Springs because
Maori artists feel a special kinship with
Native American artists of the N orth
west. The tim ing of the Maori visit
to Warm Springs was perfect, as the
Maori can now experience Pi-Ume-
Sha.
Tribal Council has given Warm
Springs Power Enterprises author
ity to explore water marketing op
portunities. To reflect the expanded
role of the enterprise, the name will
change to Warm Springs Power and
Water.
Examples of potential water mar
keting opportunities are water bot
tling, or the leasing of water for
municipal or commercial use, said
Jim Manion, manager of the enter
prise.
Manion said that Warm Springs
Power and Water has authority to
research water marketing opportu-
nities, but cannot finalize an agreement.
Tribal Council would review and final
ize any agreements, Manion said.
Manion emphasized that no agree
ment would involve the sale of any
tribal water right. At most there may
be a lease to a right, he said.
The water marketing idea grew out
of the comprehensive water rights
settlement agreement among the Con
federated Tribes, and the federal and
state governments. The agreement
quantifies and describes the tribal wa
ter rights reserved by the Treaty of
1855.
The tribal right is the oldest in the
Deschutes basin. An older water right
has priority over all newer ones, so the
tribes’ right is significant.
The issue became of increasing con
cern to non-tribal interests, such as lo
cal governments in the basin, as more
people moved to the region, which
prompted the water rights settlement
agreement.
Now, with the tribal right quantified
and described in the agreement, the
tribes may have a chance to market the
water and generate revenue.
Manion said the transition from
Power Enterprises to Warm Springs
Power and Water will happen over the
next several months and should be fully
phased in within a year.
He said Power Enterprises is in the
process of developing a study that will
Casino team
promotes
‘one vision’
151 years
The theme of Pi-Ume-Sha this year
is “Traditional Healthy Lifestyle.” The
powwow this year is marking is 37th
Anniversary.
Pi-Ume-Sha com m em orates the
signing of the Treaty of 1855, which
was signed 151 years this month.
Grand Entries are at 7 p.m. on Fri
day, on Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m., and
on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Traditional Dress Parade is at
11 a.m. on Saturday. Dance contests
are throughout the weekend.
Specials this year are a Round Bustle
contest; and Verbena “Beans” Greene,
Geneva Charley, Tonya Mitchell and
Nadine Wesley Shell Dress Dance Con
test.
For powwow information call Cassie
Katchia at 553-1293 (h) or 553-2128
(w); or Louise Katchia 553-2416 (w)
or 553-7015 (h).
For sports fans, the ball fields will
be busy with the Pi-Ume-Sha softball
tournament. For information on the
softball tourney, call Sandra Greene
and Jerry Sampson at 553-6619.
The Kah-Nee-Ta Golf Course will
host the annual Fry Bread Golf Tour
nament on Saturday and Sunday. For
information on the golf tourney, call
Janel Smith at 553-7827, or Butch
David at 553-0112.
For information on the Traditional
Dress Parade, call Ramona Greene
Baez, 553-2406.
The Warm Springs Boxing Club will
be taking on challengers during the Pi-
Ume-Sha Treaty Days Boxing event,
starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the
Community Center. For more informa
tion call Austin Smith at the gym at 553-
3243 or at 553-3250 (w).
The rodeo is Saturday and Sunday,
starting at 1 p.m., at the Warm Springs
Rodeo Grounds. For information call
Sammi Bruised Head or Ladonna
Squiemphen at 553-1041.
The second annual skate park com
petition happens during Pi-Ume-Sha
weekend. For information call Yvonne
Iverson at 553-3225.
The center of activity will be the Pi-
Ume-Sha grounds, by the Community
Center, where the drums and the danc
ers are. The bleachers around the cen
tral field will fill with spectators. The
vendors will have all kinds of food -
Indian tacos are the specialty - for
sale.
E arlier this week the prep ara
t i o n w o rk b e g a n a t pow w ow
g ro u n d s, follow ing the M onday
m orning blessing.
There are the bleachers and booths
and teepees that need to be assembled,
plus the lighting and sound systems that
need to be set up.
y
describe the impacts that water mar
keting could bring to the tribes.
“Over the next year we’ll be devel
oping a management plan that identi
fies impacts, opportunities and poten
tial revenue streams,” he said.
The report will be presented for re
view to Tribal Council. In the mean
time, Manion said, “Power Enterprises
has no authority to enter into agree
ments. We’re merely identifying oppor
tunities.”
The tribes have water rights both on
the reservation and in the Deschutes
basin. “There are ways that we can im
prove water flows through our water
right if marketed in that direction,” said
Manion.
.chan/Spilyay
The Jefferson County Middle School earlier this month hosted a Cultural Dance Assembly. As part of the
program, young members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs performed traditional dances in the
school gymnasium, accompanied by a tribal drum. Among the dancers were Arlene David, Ashlynne
Danzuka, Julia Yahtin, Melinda Edwards (from left), and Sky Tillaquets (front). School liaison Butch David
was the MC. Middle school student Charles Wolfe was among the drummers (photo on page 6).
Salmon return in big numbers
(AP) - For a while, it looked like
the Columbia River’s spring chinook
salmon run might give 2006 a miss.
Fishing seasons were curtailed and
tribal fisheries were reduced as fish
biologists waited - and waited - for
the fish to arrive at Bonneville Dam.
But then the fish arrived - in big
ger numbers than last year.
When the counting season closed
on W ednesday nearly 124,000
chinook had passed the dam, more
than the 88,000 expected and more
than last year’s return of 95,000.
“This year’s spring run took its
time but it crossed the finish line with
a very respectable showing,” said Bob
Lohn, head of the Northwest region
of the National Oceanic and Atmo
spheric Administrations fisheries ser
vice. “The long-term average con
tinues to rise.”
While the run usually peaks in
mid-April, the salmon did not even
begin arriving at Bonneville Dam in
significant numbers until the first
week of May.
By mid-April only 135 adult
chinook had been counted at the
dam. The 10-year average at that
point, which includes a couple of
bumper years, is about 19,000.
It was the second year in a row
the run was seriously tardy. Nobody
is sure why or what finally sent them
on their way upriver.
Lohn credited improvements in
fish passage facilities at the dams, hatch
ery and harvest management and bet
ter fish habitat for the eventual healthy
return.
Fish biologists considered a number
of factors as possible causes for the
delay, including ocean conditions and
more recently, hordes of hungry sea
lions who camp out in the river just
below the dam seeking an easy snack
when the fish gather to go up the fish
ways over the dam on their way up the
Columbia.
Bonneville, about 45 miles upriver
from Portland and some 150 river
miles from the Pacific Ocean, is the
first of many dams the fish must navi
gate as they return to where they were
hatched to spawn.
Some of the sea lion exclusion de
vices that keep the mammals from get
ting into the fish ladders were removed
temporarily to see if it improved fish
passage, but biologists could detect no
real difference.
The devices are meant to keep the
sea lions out of the stairstep-like fish
ladders the fish use to pass Bonneville
and other dams.
By some accounts, the sea lions eat
about 3.5 percent of the run as it heads
upriver.
Lohn said poor ocean conditions in
2004 and 2005 may mean a smaller
return in 2007. He said early upriver
returns from fish that migrated to the
ocean in 200.4 and 2005 are about a
third less than last year, which could
mean fewer returning adults next
year.
“Our scientists are about to com
plete important research on the huge
influence that changing ocean con
ditions have on salmon from the
tim e they m igrate as juveniles
through the estuary into the ocean
to when they return as adults,” Lohn
said.
It may help identify the biologi
cal trigger th a t sends the fish
upriver, and what pulls it.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engi
neers is installing fish slides on some
dams on the Snake River, a major
Columbia tributary, to increase sur
vival of young salmon headed to sea.
Meanwhile, a NOAA Fisheries
scientist told the Northwest Power
and Conservation Council in Boise
this week that adult salmon and
steelhead at and between hydroelec
tric dams on the two rivers is aver
aging 98 percent or better in recent
years.
“That’s real high survival. Most
people would agree those are good
num bers to have,” said Ritchie
Graves, acting branch chief of
NOAA Fisheries regional Hydro-
power Division in Portland.
NOAA Fisheries is the federal
agency that implements the Endan
gered Species Act for salmon and
steelhead in the Northwest
>
C om m unity members of Warm
Springs and Cascade Locks have joined
together to form a Gorge casino am
bassadors program, aimed to promote
the “Two Communities - One Vision”
philosophy.
Currently, Cascade Locks has ap
proximately 20 people participating as
ambassadors. Cascade Locks business
owner Deborah Lorang said, “The true
beauty of ‘Two Communities - One
Vision’ is the freedom of self suffi
ciency. I belief the Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs has the right to come
full circle and take ownership of the
land that was once theirs.”
Gorge casino ambassadors are vol
unteers and donate their time for the
* ongoing effort of enhancing and
spreading awareness of the tribes’ ca
sino proposal in the Gorge area.
Tribal members will soon be able to
meet and visit the Cascade Locks am
bassadors here in Warm Springs some
time in mid summer. Gorge casino
project director Margie Tuckta will
soon be initiating a Warm Springs am
bassador program. For more informa
tion, call Margie at 553-4883.
Upcoming events promoting “Two
Communities - One Vision” include the
following:
Cascade Locks Stern Wheelers Days,
July 14-16 at Cascade Locks; and the
Second Annual Festival of Nations on
Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at Cascade Locks. Both
events will feature outdoor festivities,
food vendors and entertainm ent.
Tribal members and community mem
bers are invited to attend.
During the Stem Wheelers Days, Kah-
Nee-Ta High Desert Resort & Casino will
have its float in the parade scheduled for
Saturday, July 15 at 11 a.m.
Gorge casino project coordinator
Floyd Calica would like to inform tribal
members about the current Internet
websites that feature information re
garding the tribes’ casino proposal.
The w ebsites are as follow s:
www.gorgecasino.eis;
w w w .turninglivesaround.com ; and
w w w . k a h n e e t a . c o m /
cascadelockscasino/pressroom, htm.
Calica also wants to encourage tribal
members to remain vigilant and patient
during the federal approval process.
“We have to understand the rules
and procedures were shifted and
changed when our project came along,”
he said. “The Gorge casino will have a
significant positive impact on our live
lihood and those of future generations.”
For more information about the
Gorge casino open houses or family
home base meetings please contact
Margie Tuckta at 553-4883, Floyd
Calica at 553-1112 ext 3420 or Lena
Ike at 553-1112 ext 3492.
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