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.