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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2011)
SCft O rC ol1 E Acquisition Dept./Serials Knight Library 1299 University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403-1205 U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 July 27, 2011 Vol. 36, No. 15 Coyote News, est. 1976 50 cents J u ly - Pat’ak-Pt’akni - Summer- Shatm Council takes up adoption question Paddle to Swinomish 2011 By Yvonne Iverson Spilyay Tymoo * P h o to b y S te v e n L a n e /T h e C o lu m b ia n The N’Chi Wanapam canoe family en route to Swinomish ,Wash. T h e Warm Springs canoe team made their Second Annual Canoe Journey this month. The N’Chi Wanapam canoe fam- ily left Warm Springs on July 9, and arrived earlier this week at Swinomish, Wash. The Paddle to Swinomish 2011 ca- noe landing and welcoming ceremonies, lasting through this week, are being hosted by Swinomish Indian Commu nity. The tribes last year rejoined other tribal canoe families when they took part in the Paddle to Makah. Biomass project facing tough challenges By Dave McMechan Spilyay Tymoo The tribes are still considering the possibility o f developing a biomass energy plant on the reservation, al though now there are some significant challenges facing the project. Financing, an assurance of sufficient fuel, and time are the main challenges facing this project. The tribes came to an agreement earlier this year with a company, Or egon Bioenergy, to possibly develop a biomass energy plant. The plant, producing 37-megawatts of energy, would be located just south of the transfer station-landfill in the Dry Creek area. The agreement between the tribes and the company was similar to a land- lord-tenant agreement, with the tribes as landowner receiving payments from the company, which would build and operate the plant. The tribes also would agree to pro vide some fuel for the plant from res ervation land. The fuel would be plant and wood material. The tribes would provide a maxi mum of 30,000 bone-dry tons of ma terial from the reservation. The biom ass plant would need more fuel than that to operate. The additional material would come from other sources, such as nearby BLM or National Forest land, among other places. The tribes have been awarded a $5 million federal grant toward this project. Benefits to the tribes o f the Staff from the Vital Statistics De partment have worked hard gathering information, double checking lists, and researching past enrollment practices of the tribes. Vital Stats presented the informa tion to Tribal Council last week at an enrollments workshop at Kah-Nee-Ta. Staff shared information and numbers of current and past automatic enroll ments. The bulk of the workshop was spent discussing tribal enrollment by adoption, and issues pertaining to this process. Some of the questions presented were: Should an adoption election be a tribal election or a BIA secretarial elec tion? And what is the difference be tween the two? Tribal attorney Howie • Arnett explained: “For a Tribal election the voting age would be 21, and more than 50 per cent of the eligible voters would need to vote for a valid election. A secre tarial election,” Arnett said, “requires voters to register with the BIA office prior to the election, and you would only need to be 18 to vote.” The majority o f past adoption elec tions have been tribal elections. * biomass plant would be revenue and jobs. Removal o f some stand ing dead trees, followed by replant ing, could also benefit reservation forest health. The $5 million grant is through the American Recovery and Rein vestment Act of 2009. According to the act, the biomass plant would have to be operational by Dec. 31, 2013 in order to qualify for the money. Residency Another question addressed at the workshop was in regard to residency on the reservation: If an adoption election were held today, how many adoption candidates would m eet the residency require ments? And should there be exceptions to the residency requirements? There are currently up to 237 people waiting to become members o f the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. O f those, 91 would meet the residency requirement. (See BIOMASS on page 7) (See ADOPTION on p a ge 7) Study group to report on m ill, timber conditions By Duran Bobb Spilyay Tymoo By recom m endation o f N atural Resources and Warm Springs Forest Products Industries, a small work group will form to draft a preliminary report regarding the allowable cut decision and mill operations. Tribal Council voted unanimously to approve the formation of the group, which will examine the facts and cir cumstances of tribal forestland condi tions, management assumptions, mill operations and market options. Tribal attorney John Ogan read the recommendation to form the group. “In the meantime,” he said, “it is our belief that we can preserve all options through the difficult decision points we face. The mill would run on status quo. We have enough material on-hand to operate until the middle of next year.” With 86 people present, many of them em ployees o f W SFPI, Tribal Council C hairm an Stanley “B uck” # # • Smith said he understood their over whelming concern for their jobs. Mill worker Jason Palmer said, “I remember my dad talked about the future. Now I’m older and the future is right here. You should see some of the young families that I’m working with. They have babies. I’m worried about my brothers, my friends... Do I need to go back off the reservation now?” Chairman Smith said, “We’re be tween a rock and a hard place. We’re trying to create jobs. The bottom line to me? You’re worth more to me than a tree. We don’t have much time on earth, but trees will come back. I would like to see jobs for all of you here.” The problem, though, is the possi bility of overcutting the tribal forest land. “We want to look at the facts. We’re cutting five generations down the road,” said Couniclman Raymond Tsumpti. It’s not a question, he said, o f whether Tribal Council is going to shut down the mill. The decision, he said, is >■ k based on research and the timber re source. If the resource is not there, “it’s not there,” he said. “It is limited. If we’re cutting five generations into the future, • • • w what are we going to leave the children? Is that going to be our legacy for those unborn today? It’s not easy to sit here and make these decisions. I have an obligation to preserve and watch out for the future generations, for all time. That’s what I was taught.” The approach to the issue should not be seen as “us versus them,” Tsumpti said. Warm Springs Chief Delvis Heath said, “Now we have to decide, Do we leave some for our children? I’m glad this small group will be formed, but it should have been done a few years ago when we were asking for it. Our tribal members are working at the mill. They have loans that need to be paid back. They need to put bread on the table. We have to keep them employed. If we shut down the mill, are we going to provide them with jobs? Or make it easy for them to get their education?” The goal of the small work group is to have a final report by. the end of 2011, providing for Tribal Council de cisions in early 2012. Secretary-Treasurer Jody Calica will lead the development of the reviews and reports. Natural Resources and WSFPI will be assisted by the tribal at torneys. j U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra ry Received on: 0 B - 0 £ - ii S p ily a y tynoo
