P3ge 2
June 5, 2008
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Celilo Village celebrates new beginning
B y Susan H e ss
fo r the Spilyay
A new Celilo Village opened
with a ribbon cutting Ceremony
on the m orning o f Friday, May
23.
The ceremony celebrated the
c o m p le tio n o f th e 15 new
homes for Celilo Village resi
dents. Thé residents are moving
this m onth into a village with the
new homes; new water, sewer
an d electrical system s; new
roads, and a new longhouse, re
built through a gift o f tim ber
from the Confederated Tribes
o f Warm Springs.
The ribbon cutting ceremony
w as h eld at C elilo re s id e n t
Delilah Heemsah’s new home.
T he U.S. Army Corps o f E n
gineers financed and directed
the redevelopm ent and spon
sored the ribbon cutting cer
emony. Corps .project manager
G eorge M iller w elcom ed th e
estimated 100 people w ho came
to share the event.
Following the invocation, rep
resentatives from Senators Ron
Wyden and G ordon Smith pre
se n te d C elilo V illage C h ie f
Olsen Meanus with an Ameri
can flag.
Meanus spoke o f the elders
and o f the people w ho have
waited so long for this to hap
pen.
BIA Regional Director Stan
Susan H ess photo.
Delilah Heemsah cuts the ribbon to her new home at Celilo. On hand representing the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs were Council Chairman Ron
Suppah (far left), and Reuben Henry, Wy-Am board member (third from right).
Speaks thanked all those who
worked on this project.
W y-A m B o ard C h airm an
A ntone M intharn said, “I am
happy to be here with you to
day. It is a m om ent o f history
where something good is hap
pening — something good that
can help lift some people out o f
poverty.”
Warm Springs Tribal Coun
cil Chairman Ron Suppah be-'
gan his remarks rem em bering
the three fisherman lost recently
on the Columbia River.
“But that is n o t to take any
thing away from this historic
day,” he said. H e asked th e
C orps and th e BIA to thin k
about the village and any miss
ing amenities.
Corps Portland District com
m ander
C ol.
T h o m as
O ’D o n o v a n
p re s e n te d
H eemsah w ith a framed letter
welcoming her to her new home.
. With that, Heemsah, dressed
in her g ran d m o th er’s beaded
buckskin dress, represented all
the village residents by cutting
the cerem onial ribbon to her
new home,
The project designers Cooper
Z ietz Engineers provided, re
freshments. After the ceremony,
the C orps held an award cer
emony at Shilo Inn in The Dalles.
A fter Col. O ’D o n o v an gave
Chairman Suppah his award, the
two o f them handed out plaques
to those w ho w orked on the
project:
Cooper Zietz prime contrac
tor, Colville Tribal Services Cor
p o ra tio n , s u b c o n tra c to r fo r
house construction Advanced
N ative C onstruction, Wy-Am
Board members, BIA Superin
ten d en t Paul Young, and the
lead Corps staff.
In July, the contractor will
rem ove the tem porary hom es
residents have been living in the
past year arid begin construction
on a combination classroom and
BIA office building, scheduled
for- cdmpletion by this Decem
ber. With that, the Corps rede
velopm ent o f Celilo. Village will
be complete.
New US-Canada salmon agreement proposed
(AP) -f The U.S. and Canada
reached a tentative agreement
to prevent overfishing o f en
dangered Chinook salmon o ff
the w estern coast o f Canada
and southeast Alaska, officials
have announced.
The new 10-year agreement,
a revision o f the existing Pacific
Salmon Treaty, was announced
in late M ay by th e P acific
Salmon Commission.
“The reductions in catch in
northern ocean fisheries will in
crease annual returns o f sum
m er and fall C hinook to the
upper Colum bia River by 3-7
................."
percent, a significant im prove
ment from the 1999 agreement,”
said O lney P att Jr., executive
director o f the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission,
and US. Tribal Commissioner on
the Pacific Salmon Commission.
The agreement reduces C hi
nook catches in the Southeast
Alaska fishery by 15 percent and
in the West C oast Vancouver
Islan d fishery by 30 p ercen t
from the previous agreement.
The new agreement includes
funding to aid harvest reduc
tions in the Canadian comirier-
cial salmon troll fishery. Addi
'
tional funding im proves stock
assessments, including estimates
o f fisheries impacts and escape
ment.
“Chinook was the m ost com
plex piece o f th e p u z z le , b ecau se
the fish migrate through many
jurisdictions,” said Patt. “We
w ere able to give som ething
back to the stocks and m eet the
interests o f multiple constituen
cies.”
O n the commission Patt, a
m em ber o f the C onfederated
Tribes o f Warm Springs, repre
sented 24 treaty fishing tribes
from Puget Sound, the Washing
■ ■
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Recliners 10%
Off and special
pricing on Air
Conditioners
................
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catch o f wild salmon 15 percent
over the next 10 years; Canada
will make a 30 percent reduc
tion under the plan. T he U.S.
would give Canada $30 million
feurol 9.04 million) f o r its effort
to reduce comm ercial salmon
fishing. Alaska w ould receive
about $7 million (euro4.44 mil
lion). W ashington state would
receiv e a b o u t $7 m illio n
(euro4.44 m illion) in federal
m oney to im p ro v e C hin o o k
habitat.
T he allocated funds w ould
need congressional approval.
Paul Macgillivray, associate
regional director general for the
Pacific Region C anadian D e
p a rtm e n t o f F ish e rie s and
Oceans, said that while Canada
d o e s h a v e to re d u c e a larg e p o r
tion .of-AftSifiarypst, it -benefits
from the Alaskan reduction.
H e said that the final agree
m ent was a “balanced approach
where both countries made re
ductions in response to conser
v a tio n c o n c e rn s th a t w ere
brought to the table.”
Macgillivray said participants
have until the end o f the year
to get both governments to sign
o ff on the agreement.
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Legal Aid Services of Oregon provides free
assistance to low-income Oregonians in
many civil cases. Speak with an attorney
during drop-in hours 1 to 4 p.m. on the
\
ton Coast and Columbia River.
T h e n u m b e r o f C h in o o k
salmon has declined significandy,
even drastically, this year o ff
the West Coast, prom pting calls
fox. a. federal disaster .declaration
to aid coastal communities de
pendent on fishing.
W hile th e new agreem ent
does n o t address the coastal
salmon fishery collapse, officials
said that the return o f salmon
from the north will help with the
fisheries problems that Oregon
and Washington are having.
U nder the proposed treaty
change, Alaska will reduce its
475-3861
18l SW Merritt Lane, Madras
first Monday of the month at the Family
Resources Center in Warm Springs. Or call
us at 385-6944 Monday through Wednesday
between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
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