Pgge 10
October 19, 2011
Spily^y Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
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Restoration dollars at work
B y Duran Bobb
Spilyay Tymoo
Judgement funds awarded
to the Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs by the U.S.
Court of Federal Claims in
2009 are being put into ac­
tion, says Gerald Henrikson,
restoration coordinator.
Under a plan outlined by
Tribal Council, $32 million
of the settlement funds are
directed to the tribe in its sole
discretion for tribal opera­
tions and purposes.
Twenty-nine million is be­
ing used to fund the imple­
mentation of the Strategic
R esto ratio n Plan for the
Natural Resources.
Six-million dollars are des­
ignated for a baseline assess­
ment of the current condi­
tions of the tribes’ natural re­
sources on the reservation—
which includes the forest,
range, roads, watersheds and
cultural resources.
“That baseline was for
doing an inventories of the
natural resources on the res­
ervation,” Henrikson said.
“That would lay the bench­
mark for what the land was
like when the tribe took man-
This year, the Resto­
ration Program has
employed a total o f
62 tribal members in
either baseline studies
or actual restoration
projects.
agement from the BIA under
the 638 Contract. The tribes
do the work of the BIA under
the Indian Self-Determination
Act.”
The ultimate goal of the pro­
gram is to restore the health of
the watersheds on the reserva­
tion and increase the productiv­
ity of the land for the people.
That includes such aspects as
wildlife, cultural foods, timber,
livestock and fisheries.
This year, the Restoration
Program has employed a total
of 62 tribal members in either
baseline studies or actual resto­
ration projects.
The First year o f the pro­
gram, Henrikson says, involves
a lot of logistics.
“That’s getting the equipment
ready, purchasing, working on
training to get people ready for
the woods,” he said. “There are
crews out building fences, do­
ing thinning, working on road
closures and various projects
to restore watersheds.”
Funds also help to restore
huckleberry harvesting areas
on the reservation.
Crews thin and remove
brush and species that are
competing with huckleberries.
The program is also help­
ing to restore fire trails on the
reservation.
“There are close to 100
miles of footpath and horse
trails that were not working
anymore,” Henrikson said.
“These are used to give the
firefighters access to remote
areas. There are two six-per­
son crews that are working on
thinning those down in order
to help fire-proof the forest.”
O ther funds are being
used to remove horses from
the reservation.
“Foals have been going to
homes,” Henrikson stresses.
“They haven’t been killing
them. Some go to bucking
stock, and some get shipped
out of the country.”
Tribal Council launched
the program by resolution,
hoping to provide up to 15
years of work.
Composite Industries wins
Manufacturer of the Year
Warm Springs Com posite
Products was chosen as Manu­
facturer of the Year during the
recent Minority Enterprise De­
velopment Week at the Conven­
tion Center in Portland.
The Business Development
Institute holds Minority Enter­
prise D evelopm ent Week as
part of its mission to provide
education and training for mi­
nority business development in
Oregon.
Each year, Minority Enter­
prise Development Week fea­
tures a morning of training ses­
sions and mini workshops fol­
lowed by a luncheon and the pre­
sentation of Business Develop­
ment Institute’s Minority Enter-
Holiday ‘Make and Take’
cooking classes in Nov.
B y L inda Porter
Warm Springs IHS
W ith T h an ksgiv in g righ t
around the corner, we start
thinking of our favorite holiday
meals.
Nothing smells better than
that fresh turkey coming out of
the oven. Taste buds start to
anticipate mashed potatoes and
gravy, turkey and stuffing. Fam­
ily favorites are anticipated and
new recipes are examined.
The Nutrition Department is
offering three Make and Take
Cooking Classes for the month
of November.
Each session will feature a
new recipe or revised healthy
traditional standby. Additionally,
in one of the sessions each par­
ticipant will take home a turkey
cooking bag to make the holi­
day turkey one of the very best,
with no muss, no fuss.
These sessions are open to
the first 50 participants. The
classes are from noon to 4 p.m.
in the Health and Wellness Cen­
ter kitchen conference room.
Thursday, Nov. 3: Cornbread
Apple Stuffing.
Nov. 10: Green Bean Casse­
role. Nov. 17: Cranberry/Or­
ange Relish.
prise Awards.
Warm Springs Composite is
wholly owned by the Confeder­
ated Tribes of Warm Springs.
The company’s 50 employ­
ees— 80 percent o f who have
tribal affiliation— turn out com­
ponents for fire-rated door sys­
tems.
Tribal
symposium
KANSAS CITY, Mo.
(AP) - Representatives
of American Indian tribes
throughout the U.S. will
take part in a Kansas City
conference next month
on gaps in services.
The 8th annual Ameri­
can Indian Symposium
takes place Nov. 3 at the
University o f Missouri-
Kansas City. Topics range
from public health to the
current implementation
o f h isto ric a l treaties.
There also will be Ameri­
can Indian song and
dance dem on stration s
and explanations.
More News from Indian Country
Teacher’s passion leads to Native education job
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -
Yatibaey Evans, the new coor­
dinator of the Alaska Native
Education program, was in her
last semester of pre-med classes
at the University of Washing­
ton when a thesis project for
her major, Comparative History
o f Ideas, prom pted her to
change her career path from
medicine to education.
An Ahtna Athabascan, origi­
nally from M entasta, Evans’
thesis plan was to look into ste­
reotypes that elementary stu­
dents in grades 5 to 8 held of
Native Americans.
“I was interested in precon­
ceptions,” she explained.
To obtain data, Evans visited
fifth through eighth grade class­
room s in the S eattle area
dressed in Native regalia — a
summer moosehide dress and
beaded moccasins made by her
grandmother for her West Val­
ley High School graduation.
She would talk about her
culture and Native Americans
in the Lower 48, before asking
students to answer a list of ques­
tions.
While the students were fill­
ing out the questionnaire, Evans
w ould leave the classroom ,
change into street clothes, re­
turn to the classroom and re­
sume the conversation.
The students were surprised
to see E vans in everyday
clothes and not Native regalia.
“They thought I dressed like
that every day.
“We talked about that, and
why they were thinking Native
Americans had to look like that,
and why they were not looking
at Native Americans (without
regalia) as a living, breathing,
part of an unique, amazing cul­
ture,” Evans said.
Evans’ research confirmed
m uch o f w hat she thought
non-Native children were as­
suming about Native Am eri­
cans and that m ost o f their
impressions came from text­
books, the media, etc. - that
N ative Americans were part
o f th e p a st, n o t p a rt o f
present day society.
“It was very thought pro­
voking and showed me there
was a lot of work to be done,”
Evans said.
“It made me realize that I
really wanted to be a voice for
Native Americans. We are here
and we are a big part of soci­
ety,” Evans said.
“I wanted to help N ative
American youth to realize their
dreams and potential and carry
on their vision wherever they are
at,” Evans said.
Instead of applying to medi­
cal school as previously planned,
Evans enrolled at John Hopkins
University and earned a master
of arts degree in education.
Her classroom experience
includes interning in a third grade
classroom and being hired as a
kin dergarten teacher in the
same Maryland school for the
next school year.
In July, Evans was hired as
coordinator of the Fairbanks
N orth Star Borough School
District’s Alaska Native Educa­
tion program, after she, her Af­
rican-American husband, Lewis
Evans, and their three sons, Eli,
10, Robert, 8, and Michael, 3,
returned to Alaska.
Lewis was in the Army when
the couple married in 2000, and
they left the state shortly after­
wards when he was transferred
to his next post. Evans was a
stay-at-home mom raising three
sons, while continuing her edu­
cation.
But Alaska was always on the
couple’s mind.
“It was always our dream to
return home,” Evans said.
When Lewis was honorably
discharged in 2005, he began ap­
plying for positions in the state.
He now w orks w ith the
Wounded Warriors program at
Fort Wainwright.
And Evans’ desire to work
with Native youth also has been
fulfilled as coordinator of the
Alaska Native Education pro­
gram.
Funded primarily by federal
gran ts, the ANE program
started in the school district in
1974, to m eet the academ ic
needs o f A laska N ative and
American Indian students.
‘When ive come
together, ive see the
value o f each culture.
We all have great
attributes and should
combine them. ”
The program supports a co­
ordinator, a secretary, a gradua­
tion success coach/attendance
liaison, a family advocate, and
tutors in eight elementary and
four middle schools. The school
district funds tutors at three high
schools and the Alaska Room,
a cu ltu ral arts program for
grades three through six.
“Each part of the program
has the same goals,” Evans said,
“To have students succeed and
have the best outcome in their
lives.
“We want to support stu­
dents and see that they don’t
fall through the cracks and
th ey g rad u ate from h igh
school.”
E vans is settin g up a
mentoring program at Randy
Smith Middle School, to support
Native students. It’s similar to a
mentoring program Big Broth­
ers Big Sisters operates in the
school district where students
meet one-on-one with a mentor
on a weekly basis.
Evans is a new volunteer in
the BBBS program. She also will
be a volunteer mentor at Randy
Smith once the new ANE pro­
gram gets under way, and she is
recruiting volunteers for both
programs.
“It’s critical to develop self
confidence in our children and
prepare them for challenges in
high school and beyond,” Evans
said. “It will help them to stand
up to life and peer pressure.”
Another of Evans’ aims is to
introduce “W estern ways o f
knowing, and Native ways of
knowing,” into the ANE pro­
gram.
“Both are different streams
of knowledge and both are of
equal value,” she said. “When we
come together, we see the value
o f each culture. We all have
great attributes and should com­
bine them.”
After living out of state for
more than a decade, Evans is
reconnecting with relatives and
friends.
Her cousin, Suraiya John of
North Pole, is happy to be see­
ing Evans face-to-face again
rather than on Facebook.
The two women bonded as
teens when both attended Cul­
ture Camp in Nabesna, John
said.
“We both have been taught
our traditional values by our
grandparents and we are carry­
ing them on,” she said.
Evans’ educational interests
reflect her parents’ career paths.
H er
m other,
D onna
Galbraith, is the first Athabascan
to earn a medical degree and is
a
m ed ical
d irecto r
at
Southcentral Foundation in An­
chorage.
Galbraith is happy that her
daughter follow ed her heart
when changing her career paths,
and understands her reasons for
doing so.
“She’s always been outgoing,
never afraid to speak up, and
very people-oriented. She is very
focused, but also very dedicated
to her family, her marriage and
her children,” Galbraith said.
“I’m really proud of her for
taking this job. She’ll bring a lot
to the table.”
E vans’ father, Je ff M ann,
principal at Hunter Elementary
School, describes his daughter
as “passionate and determined,
who always does things in a
heartfelt way.”
He recalled his daughter re­
ceiving the “Hammer Award”
for her “persistence and deter­
mination, when she was a fresh­
man member of the West Val­
ley High School Swim Team.
“She’s always been someone
who has set a goal for herself
and stuck to it and persevered
to get to it.”
D espite his teach ing and
a d m in istra tiv e e x p e rie n c e ,
M an n d o e s n ’t a tte m p t to
serve as his daughter’s edu­
cation mentor.
Senate bill to help
Indian energy
(AP) - U.S. Sen. John
Barrasso has introduced a bill
to give American Indian tribes
more tools to develop their en­
ergy resources and to remove
barriers to economic develop­
ment.
The W yoming Republican
says tribes have expressed con­
cerns for years about federal
laws and regulations on energy
development.
He says tribes that want to
create jobs often face delays
and uncertainty because of poli­
cies coming out of Washington.
Barrasso says his proposal
would give the tribes greater
control over the management
and development of their own
trust resources.
The bill also includes a dem­
onstration project for biomass
energy production from tribal
forest lands, rangelands and
other federal lands.
Chinook salmon pens vandalized
TIBURON, Calif. (AP) -
Federal and local authorities
are investigating vandalism
at an environmental studies
center that led to the release
tens of thousands of baby
Chinook salmon from hold­
ing pens, a practice animal
rights activists have criticized
as inhumane.
Last Saturday, for the sec­
ond time in a week, some­
one cut the pens’ netting, re­
le asin g 20,000 ju ven ile
salmon called smolts nearly
a month ahead of schedule
M ore than 40,000 fish
being raised by students at
Casa Grande High School in
Petaluma in partnership with
the Tiburon Salmon Institute
were released early on Oct.
3.
Brooke Halsey, director
of the institute, called the
vandals “cowards.”
M arin County S h eriffs
Office and the FBI are in­
vestigating the incidents.
After the first release,
People for the Ethical Treat­
ment of Animals applauded
the net cutting, calling the
pens cramped.
Exhibit examines tribal treaties in Minn.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The
organizers behind a new exhibit
on tribal treaties in Minnesota
are hoping to spark new discus­
sions about treaty rights.
The exhibit is called “Why
Treaties Matter: Self-Govern­
ment in the Dakota and Ojibwe
Nations.”
It’s already been shown on
the White Earth Reservation. It’s
on display this month at the
B ecker C ounty M useum in
Detroit Lakes, and travels to
more than a dozen other loca­
tions statewide in the next 15
months.
Organizers say tribal leaders
signed the treaties under great
duress, but the treaties are liv­
ing documents that have pro­
tected the rights of the Dakota
and Ojibwe peoples to exist as
sovereign nations.
The exhibit is a collabora­
tio n am o n g D ak o ta and
Ojibwe tribal elders, the Min­
nesota Indian Affairs Council,
th e M in n eso ta H u m an ities
Center, and the Sm ithsonian
Institution.
“I try not to give too much
advice, and mostly listen,” he
said.
The best part, he said is hav­
ing Evans and her family back
in Fairbanks.
“To go out on a weekend walk
with her husband and boys is
fantastic,” he said.