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Acquisition Dept./Serials
Knight Library
1299 University of Oregon
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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.
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