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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2012)
Spilyay Tymoo, Wgrrn Springs, Oregon June 27, 2012 Page 5 Treaty tribes commit to lamprey Letters to the Editor Pacific lamprey were front and center at a two-day lam prey summit last week. The summit, held at the W orld F o restry C en ter in Pordand, focused on thc^en- tire West Coast, and brought together over 200 biologists, m anagers, executives and policy staff, and tribal offi cials. The summit was hosted by the C olum bia River Inter- Tribal Fish Commission and Adult Pacific lamprey. the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser vice. There was candid conver ' ignore.” sations on lamprey, and the The entire region, he said, steps necessary to restore the has a responsibility to help ancient fish care for these creatures “and “Eels have always had a time is running out,” Lewis significant role in our tribal said. “We cannot afford to lose com m unities,” said G erald Lewis, C RITFC chairm an. them from our ceremonies or “T heir significance to our our watersheds,” D uring the summit, par culture, and their decline, is' something the region cannot ticipants from Oregon, Idaho, Water rights Courtesy of CRITFC W ashington and C alifornia discussed: The current status o f lam prey populations; and on-go ing efforts to conserve and restore lamprey populations collaboratively. T h ey also ex p lo red rer g io n a l a p p ro a c h e s fo r im plem enting lam prey res toration actions. Many entities at the sum mit expressed firm commit ments to lamprey conserva tion actions. Some signed a c o n se rv a tio n a g re e m e n t while others signed letters o f support for the actions. “At the first lamprey sum mit eight years ago, the tribes put the Pacific N orthw est on notice that lamprey popula tions were ip trouble,” said Paul Lumley, CRITFC execu tive director. “We sounded the alarm. By the time the second lam prey summit came around in 2008, we needed more. We needed commitments— com m itm en ts fo r re sto ra tio n . Now, fo r this sum m it, we need to move forward with real com m itm ents and on- the-ground actions. Lamprey populations simply can n o t wait any longer.” Satellite upgrade The Public Radio satellite system that operates the distribu tion of Public Radio programming across America, including Na tive Voice One pro grams like Native America Calling, is re placing old satellite dishes and upgrading receivers. KWSO completed installation of their new dish on June 9. Yvonne Iverson/Spllyay Wash, state may change fish consumption estimate (AP) — The Washington Ecology D epartm ent wants to raise the estimate o f the am ount o f fish Washington residents eat as a way to im prove water quality standards and to p ro te c t fish eaters from taking in too many con taminants. The move comes after the state o f O regon pushed its estimated fish consum ption rate to the highest in the na tion at just under 6.2 ounces a day.For decades, Columbia River tribes— Warm Springs, Y akam a, N ez P erce an d Umatilla— have complained that consum ption rates are n ot protecting their people who are large consumers o f fish. A low consum ption esti mate means people could be ingesting more contaminants than are considered healthy. Washington state currently has a confusing system o f two rates. An estimate o f .23 ounces a day governs water quality, and an estim ate o f 1.9 ounces a day is used to regulate cleanup o f toxic sedi ments. T h e Ecology D epartm ent wants to set a single, higher rate. “We feel like it’s high time to fix these num bers,” said sp o k esw o m an Sandy Howard. “We don’t think the c u rre n t ra te is p ro te c tiv e enough.” A proposal from Ecology’s toxic cleanup specialists is expected next m onth. A fter public hearings across the state a new rate could be set by the end o f the year, said E co lo g y sp o k esm an Seth Preston. “We’re still in thinking and listening mode in trying to put a proposal together,” he said. “It’s starting to firm up.” Something as simple as an estimate o f fish .consumption has big implications for pol lution regulations. “T here’s a lo t o f money in v o lv ed , o bviously. B u t there’s hum an health issues involved here as well as envi ronm ental issues,” said D e partm ent o f H ealth toxicolo Head of BIE resigning W A S H IN G T O N , D.C. (AP) — T he director o f the Bureau o f Indian Education is resigning to take a position in his hom e state o f South Dakrita. Secretary o f the Interior K en Salazar announced that K eith M oore is leaving the B IE to serve as state direc to r fo r th e Fellow ship o f Christian Athletes in South Dakota. Moore, an enrolled mem b er o f the R osebud Sioux Tribe in South D akota, has led the Bureau for the past two years. H e was selected for the position by then-Assistant Secretary o f Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk. B IE Chief o f Staff Brian D rapeaux will serve as act ing director until a replace m ent is named. The B IE operates the fed eral school system for Native American students. It oversees more than 180 facilities on 64 reservations in 23 states. gist Dave McBride in Olym pia. Industry is willing to make changes to im p ro v e w ater ■ quality but doesn't want to get hit with unrealistic standards, said Courtney Barnes, the di re c to r o f e n v iro n m e n ta l policy for the Association o f W ash in g to n B u sin ess in Olympia. “I think the fear is having environmental standards that are n ot achievable,” she said. Fish are generally healthy fare. T h e A m erican H eart Association recommends that people eat about 6 ounces o f fish a week. Washington’s water quality rate— 0.23 ounces a day—- was established by the federal E n v iro n m en tal P ro tectio n Agency from a national sur vey conducted sometime in the 1970s. W hen the EPA in 2000 began recommending a rate o f 0.62 ounces a day, the sta te ’s rate stayed at 0.23 ounces. And, the cleanup rate o f 1.9 ounces was derived from a survey o f recreational anglers at T acom a’s C om m encem ent Bay m ore than two decades ago. A 2002 consum ption sur vey conducted by the Colum bia River Inter-T ribal Fish Commission, which oversees fisheries o n the C olum bia R iver, sh o w ed th a t trib al members eat anywhere from 2 to 13.7 ounces o f fish daily, said Yakama Nation Environ mental Restoration manager Russell Jim. Y akam a trib a l m em b er Alan Tahsequah spends each spring and summer along the b anks o f th e Y akim a and Columbia rivers, catching fish for his family. “I have five kids, plus I keep some extra for friends,”, th e 35-year-old said while fishing near the Parker D am on the Yakima River one re cent afternoon. T h e Y akam a N a tio n is hoping for an estimated fish consum ption rate at least as high as O regon’s, said Emily Washines w ith the tribal fish eries department. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- X W arm S prings recen tly q u an tified o u r S enior R e served Water Rights with the state to ensure that O regon administered water resources in the D eschutes Basin to m eet tribal municipal, farm ing or economic development or fisheries needs! Yet I read on a monthly basis where jun ior water rights are being is sued by O regon with no con sideration w hatsoever o f its legal obligation o f reserving enough w ater resources in the Deschutes Basin to fulfill its legal o b ligation to the tribes? O regon and the O r egon D epartm ent o f Water Resources have been and con tinue to be very malfeasant in their oversight and admin is tra tio n o f th e w ater re sources in the Deschutes Ba sin, so what have our leaders done about this negligence? It is critical for our leaders to hold the Oregon D epartm ent o f Water Resources to this agreement if we ever hope to actually realize any local eco n o m ic d ev elo p m en t. O u r Tribal Council can no longer allow Oregon to disregard the legal implications o f ignoring our Senior Water Rights, al lowing Oregon to continue to issue additional junior water rights in a watershed where w e p o sse ss S en io r W ater Rights will make it that much harder to bring economic de v elopm ent to our com m u nity. The failure o f our Tribal C ouncil to spearhead legal action against O regon will di m in ish o u r S e n io r W ater Right to a “paper water right” o f no real economic benefit whatsoever to the people. S u b sta n tia l ec o n o m ic growth is dependent on hav ing adequate w ater, w aste water and power supplies be fore any grow th can occur! O u r failure to address the local infrastructure required o f any econom ic develop m ent has to be taken care o f first. We can no longer ignore this fact. Economic develop m en t does n o t h appen by chance. It is planned for. That is the prim ary reason th at R ed m o n d and B end have reeked o f economic develop m en t and why M adras and W arm S prings have n o t. They planned for it. W hat long-range economic goals have we established for the benefit o f our com m u 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ph. 541-553-1041 At Warm Springs St. & Hollywood Blvd. k _ _____________ -_______________/ Randy Smith School district offers free lunch T h e J e f fe rs o n C o u n ty School D istrict 509-J is of fering free summer lunches to kids ages 1-18, beginning on June 25 through August 24. (There will be no lunch served on- Wednesday, July 4.) ,, Starting Monday, June 25, the lùnches in Warm Springs will be served from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in the Warm S prings cafeteria. I f you would like more inform ation on this program, please call 541-475-0339. Peaceful Spirit Outing in July The Peaceful Spirit O ut ing, honoring w ounded war riors through fly fishing and cultural sharing, will be on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 24-25 at Lower D ry Creek in Warm Springs. Open Wednesday thru Saturday nity? Warm Springs Ventures presented som e outlandish proposals at the last public meeting. T he m aterial p re sen ted d e m o n stra te d tw o things: 1. T hat we have been paying these employees way too much and haven’t been provided any econom ic as sumptions that are practical or realistic. 2. W hy do we continue to fund this depart m e n t k n o w in g th a t th ey haven’t the “comm on sense” to even coordinate with tribal m em b ers w ho have co m pleted their Small Business Plans and build upon that? A t least these econom ic goals would establish a foundation fo r a d d itio n a l e c o n o m ic growth; H ow many times do I have to state, It doesn’t take a master’s degree in econom ics to comprehend that tribal revenue kept in our comm u nity is a good thing, something we can build on. In our situa tion I am talking o f hundreds o f millions o f tribal dollars leaving the reservation and no economic benefit whatso ever to the people or com munity. I f it was any other entity, O regon senators and re p re se n ta tiv e s w o u ld be holding a dinner in recogni tion o f the economic contri bution we inject into Oregon’s economy! T hat’s a lot o f in direct and direct tax dollars that we have never received even a Thank —You for. N ow are you beginning to under stand why I question the cred ibility o f tribal em ployees working in Ventures. As long as our current rep resentatives choose to ignore the effective leadership style o f the leaders o f thé forties, fifties and sixties, we will con tinue to suffer. N o economic development will ever occur! I t is time to lead cohesively as previous tribal representa tives did. It is time to pru dently state and assert our R eserved T reaty R ights to achieve the economic devel opm ent that has been talked about for so long with no re sults. All our leaders need is “com m on sense and personal commitment” following in the precise footsteps o f previous leaders. It is time for our lead ers to believe in our Feder ally Reserved Rights to restore a bright oudook o f life to our children. Thank you. A dvertise in the Spilyay Tym oo T he organizers are look ing for fishing guides, volun teers and donations o f tackle, food or funding. C ontact Casey G reen at 541-325-2147 for m ore in form ation. I f you are interested in advertising in the Spilyay Tymoo, call Yvonne at 541-325- 1089. Or email yvonne.iverson@wstribes.org
