jOl vav 1
P.O.BOX 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
• I
no. 26
®
20, 2007
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C o yo te News, e s t 1976
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1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1205
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. w.w. i uo iay c
December 20,
2 0 , 2007
2007
V oi. 32,
32, N o. 26
26
PRSRTSTD
warm springs, or 97761
50 cents
Council considers future o f m ill, tribal forestry
B y M a re n C o h n
W arm S p rin gs V entures
A strategy team is recommending to
the Confederated Tribes thé establish
ment o f a new forest management en
terprise, and careful consideration o f
a $25 million investment in the Warm
Springs Forest Products Industries mill.
The long-term strategy team respon
sible for examining the thill and its fu
ture gave its report earlier this month
to Tribal Council: A full house gath
ered on Dec: 7 to hear the presenta
tion. f
Ten Council members attended,
along with several mill employees, and
representatives from other branches o f
the tribe’s forest management and har
vesting Operations, including loggers,
andlay out timber sales.
the Natural Resources Branch, and the
It would operate in accordance with
BIA.
the tribe’s Integrated Resource Man-
Tom Tomjack, a longtime forest , agement Plan (IRMP) and other tribal
products ind ustry executive w ho policies, and would consult with Warm
chaired the strategy team, delivered the Springs Forest Products Industries
group’s report. The team’s recommen (WSFPI), Natural Resources, and the
dations dealt separately with the two BIA in reaching its silvicultural deci
revenue-producing components o f the sions and harvest plans.
tribe’s timber resource: forest manage
A s for the mill, the report made
ment and mill operations.
clear that investment o f $20 million in
Regarding forest management, the a new small log line, plus $5 million in
team recommended that the tribe es .working capital would be necessary for
tablish a new enterprise to be the sole WSFPI to become profitable on a con
manager o f its fo rk in g forest.
sistent basis. '
The new entity Mould oversee the
The mill’s current equipment is 18
activities currently administered by the years old and was not designed for the
BIA, would be responsible for imple smaller diameter logs currently being
menting the annual cut, and would plan harvested.
A s a result, WSFPI cannot keep up
with the high-tech machinery o f its com
petitors and is unable to operate prof
itably.
Whether or not to make the capital
investment in a new small log line will
require further study from Council. In
the m eantim e, C ouncil has asked
WSFPI to prepare a bridge plan show
ing how it would minimize its losses and
preserve jobs pending installation o f
the new mill.
Forest management
The strategy team was created early
in the summer at the behest o f Mark
Jackson, WSFPI’s chief executive of
ficer, and Jody Calica, the tribe’s secre
tary-treasurer, to assess current forest
products operations and recommend to
Council a ten-year economic strategy
for WSFPI. Early on, the team discov
ered that management o f the forest was
a major issue and would have to be ad
dressed as part o f WSFPI’s future.
“How the mill is operated has no'
impact on forest management, but how
the forest is managed has a tremendous
im pact on the m ill,” said Clyde
Hamstreet, a member o f the strategy
team. “The mill needs a three-year pan
try, or backlog o f sales to choose from,
and reliable projections o f what is com
ing out o f the woods at any given time.
The tribe’s current forest management
has not been able to provide those
things on a consistent or reliable basis'.”
See WSFPI on 9
Tribal commercial code
takes effect New Year’s Day
January 1 will usher in more than a
new year on the Warm Springs Reser
vation—it also marks the effective date
o f the Tribe’s, new commercial code.
“M ost people w o n ’t think that
sounds very exciting,” said Lonnie
James, managing director for the Warm
Springs Com m unity A ction Team
(WSCA'J).
“But it’s an important step for the
tribe^Cretting these taws drafted,
• riassfed, and implemented' his been a
long and complex process. I believe they
will be very beneficial to tribal mem
bers and I’m glad they’re finally going
into effect”
'& t
Just how the new commercial code
will affect, and hopefully benefit, tribal
members will be the subject o f two
information sessions to be held next
month, on January 14 and 16.
Sandra Danzuka at Warm Springs
8 Ventures will have details about the
meetings after the New Year. A ll com-
j^Munity residents are encouraged to stop
,"> j p'. in and fiqd, out what to expect from
fthe new laws.
Long development process
'
Leslie Mitte/Spityay
Katrina Wolfe, Derrek Main, Josh Olney and Aurora Squiemphen, from the Early Childhood Education
center, serenaded residents of High Lookee Lodge last week with Qhristmas carols, sgng in the three
traditional languages of the Confederated Tribes.
W inter Family Craft N ight this evening
Warm Springs Elem entary Scbqrib . Tables wilt b t set up with craft ma
will host W inter Family Craft Night terials, and the event will be free to the
fro m 5:30 to. 7: p.m, this evening Warm Springs community.
Thursday, Dec. 20 at the elementary ^.Assistance will be provided’to make
school gym.
Christmas ornaments and decorations:
For more information on W inter
Fam ily C ra ft .Night, call M ariana
Àtencio or Lucinda Heath at 553-
1128JÉ
Ellsbury jerseys to be raffled at hoops games
Red Sox jerseys autographed by
One medium, one. large, and- one
Jacoby Ellsbury will be raffled at home extra'large jersey will be raffled:
basketball games this winter.
: Five hundred tickets per jersey will
The raffle will raise money fo r the’ be sold &t home basketball games soon,
Class 'of <2008 and Senior All-Night and the three winning raffle tickets will
Party that is .hosted by the sènior par- be drawn on Feb. 21 during a home
•ents.Ä
game against Bend.
. However, if all f , 500 tickets are sold
earlier, the drawing could be held ear
lier as well.
Tickets will cost $5 each.
! W ith questions', please contact
Shawna 'McConnell at Madras High
School.- -
- Jâriies has been part o f the Com
mercial Code Advisory Committee for
the past three years— though his vision
for a commercial code on the reserva
tion goes back much further than that.
He got started with the Advisory Com
mittee after his Action’Team held com
munity focus groups in 2002 trying to
get at the root causes o f poverty in the
area..
«“The inability to garner investment
from outside, was a key,” he said. “In
addition, we found that it was hard for
people to do things like build hoilses.”
To change that state o f affairs,
Shawnele Shaw, James’ predecessor at
WSCAT, prompted the group to ap
proach Tribal Council and, with their
blessing, began to develop some new
laws.
The A d v iso ry C om m ittee has
worked with tribal attorneys to draft
several laws that together make up the
tribe’s new Commercial Code— the
part o f the law that regulates business
operations and commercial transactions
on the réservation.
Commercial codes are universally
used by states and the federal govern
ment, and they are becoming increas
ingly common on Indian reservations.
“They’re a very important piece o f
the economic development picture,”
James said. “Without laws that estab
lish the basic rules o f sales and leases,
for instance, or that tell lenders they’ll
be able to get their money o f property
back i f a debtor defaults on a loan,
creditors just don’t lend money. O r else
they do lend the money at an outra
geous interest rate.
• %
“Until recently, that’s how it’s been
on reservations. Indians without a good
credit report find it hard to get financ
ing to buy a car or get a business started,
without paying through the nose in in :.
terest. Which they often can’t afford
to do, not to mention that they shouldn’t
have to deal with predatory loans.”
Efforts to. establish a-commercial
code to support economic development
have been dn arid o f f the table since
the early 1980s. Some bits and pieces
"of a code were passed along the way
When Tribal Council got serious about
drafting a comprehensive code in 2002,
the project started making more head
way.
By the middle o f 2006, the advif
sory committee had drafted laws that
applied to business entities, taxation and
regulation, commercial transactions,
real property secured transactions^ and
consumer protection. Although each
set o f laws addresses different kinds
o f business needs, they all have the
purpose o f establishing clear rules
known to all parties, on which every
one can rely in getting things done. In
the event o f a dispute, the rules apply
to clarify everybody’s fights and solve
the problem fairly.
Personal Property Secured Trans*
actions
Before the new code could go into
effect, however, rules o f court had to
be developed.
“You can have the bfest code in the •
world,” James explained, “but without
the "court system to back it up, it won’t
be worth the paper it’s printed on/’
Promulgating those rules is the job
o f the tribal court, and that has taken
time. Meanwhile, the Advisory Com
mittee used the waiting period to com
plete yet ariother section o f the code.
“The most recent section deals spe^
dfically -with secured transactions on
personal property,” said James. Secured
transactions occur when a lender lends
money for a specific purchase and re
ceives a security interest in the pur
chased item. I f the borrower does not
repay the debt according to the terms
o f the loan, the lender has the right to
go to court to reclaim the item.
“It’s the second to last part o f the
code,” James said; “We knew it would
be the thorniest one to draft, because
it involves extending jurisdiction ovet
non-metribers. We gave consumer pro:
tection ordinances priority and wrote
that part first, so people would see they
weren’t being left behind in the whole
process.”
See COMMERCIAL CODE on 9
University of Oregon Library
Received on: 12-27-07
Spilyay tymoo