r
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECRWSS
Postal Patron
Coyote News, est. 1976
May 14, 2014
May - Xawit’an
Voi. 39, No. 10
Spring - Wawaxam
horses crossed the glacier, “We
w ere told to keep very quiet—
don’t even breath.” A nd they made
it safely over.
V iola is alm o st 93. She was
b o rn in early July o f 1921, at the
area th a t is now E lm er Q u inn
P ark. In th e old days p eo p le
w ould gather there by the river
for a F o u rth o f July celebration.
They w ould dry tro u t and camp
for a few days.
I n July o f 1921, “My m other
was pregnant,” Viola says. “She
stayed there at the camp, and I was
born in one o f the tents.”
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
See V IO L A on page 12
Edna Gonzalez and her mother Viola with Senior of the Year blanket.
Tribes host unmanned vehicle fly-overs
the Federal Aviation Administra
tion to operate UAV testing on
the reservation as part o f the Pan
Pacific UAS Test Range Com
plex (PPUTRC).
The PPUTRC is comprised of
test ranges in Oregon, Alaska and
Hawaii. In O regon, Tillamook
and P en d leto n also w ere ap
proved.
The PPUTRC is based out o f
th e U n iv e rsity o f A laska
Fairbanks.
T he C onfederated Tribes this
m onth hosted the first unm anned
aerial vehicle fly-overs on the res
ervation.
Staff from O regon State Univer
sity and the company Virtual D ata
O perations Support (VDOS) oper
ated the UAV flight, coordinated by
W arm Springs Ventures.
OSU is interested in studying the
effects o f wildland fires. During the
recent fly-over, the UAV flew above
th e a r e a o f t h e r e s e r v a t i o n t h a t
burned last summer, making a video
recordings
The following week they were
scheduled to conduct a flight above
a controlled bum, said Seth Johnson,
o f VDOS. T he plan was to fly over
the area before the controlled burn,
and then again afterward, Johnson
said.
T h e in form ation gathered by
OSU forestry personnel could help
generate strategies for reforestration
strategies. The use o f UAV’s for this
purpose could be valuable for for
esters nationwide, once UAVs are
integrated into the national airspace
system.
Economic development
Courtesy of Seth Johnson/VDOS
This UAV system flew over an area of the reservation that burned last
year.
V DO S is a pioneer in the com
mercial application o f UAVs. The
company is led by Brian Whiteside,
w ho is now working with Ventures
in developing the reservation UAV
program.
A fter three-plus years o f work,
the tribes received approval from
“W hile UAVs o r ‘d ro n e s ’
have historically been used for
military applications, the FAAs
directive from Congress is to
in teg rate UAVs in to the N a
tional A irspace System, so that
commercial operations can ben
efit fro m th e tech n o lo g y as
well,” says V entures’ C EO Jeff
Anspach.
Tribal leadership is hoping the
program boosts economic devel
opm ent and job creation.
: See U A VS on page 12
Group developing process
for salvage vehicle removal
Public Safety officials m et
with Tribal Court, the Land Use
Services program and Land Use
C om m ittee to discuss the re
moval o f salvage vehicles from
W arm Springs.
Currently, no company is au
thorized with a perm it to remove
broken down cars and trucks
from residences in the comm u
nity.
There are environmental con
cerns with removing these ve
hicles, and that is why a perm it
is required.
A new policy and procedures
are being developed by the Land
Use Planning committee that will
better address accountability for
the towing companies that get
permits.
The group also discussed le
gal issues related to car owner
ship, and the rights o f an indi
vidual to have vehicles removed
from their property. The group
will m eet again to continue to
improve the process.
Workers building the scoreboard at the Warm Springs Academy''
(see page 8 for construction update.)
L
f;
-I
tl
T he Jefferson C ounty School
D istrict 509-J has received a $1.64
million grant for W arm Springs EL
ementary. T he funding comes from
the U.S. D epartm ent o f Education
School Im provem ent G rant p ro
gram.
This federal funding is designed
to help im prove student achieve
ment. The funds will be distributed
over a three-year period*
Warm Springs Elementary is one
o f three in the state receiving ESI
grant funding. T he other two are
E ast G resham E lem entary, and
Woodlawn Elementary in Portland
Public Schools.
T h e O re g o n D e p a rtm e n t o f
Education identified eligible schools
based on a variety o f factors includ
ing reading and m ath scores from
2011 through 2013 and school rat
ings on O regon’s new accountabil
ity system.
Prevention
conference at
Kah-Nee-Ta
M eth am p h etam in e is a m ain
source o f personal danger and com
munity damage. Solutions to the
problem were a focus o f a three-
day conference this week at Kah-
Nee-Ta Resort.
Tribal and other health officials
were on hand, with experts in the
field o f drug abuse prevention. Over
100 people attended the conference.
O n Monday at the conference a
topic was high intensity drug traffic
areas, or HIDTAs. The reservation
is the only federally recognized tribe
to be designated as an H ID TA .
There was a presentation on how
local law enforcem ent works with
other agencies including the D E A
and FBI in identifying and appre
hending drug traffickers..
L ater in the afternoon D r Jay
W ursher presented inform ation on
methamphetamine and the many ill
effects o f its use.
O n T u esd ay th e d is c u ssio n
turned to suicide prevention. The
conference concludes Wednesday
with a discussion about tobacco and
a talk about how the Community
can respond to w hat was learned.
MHS graduation
coming up June 7
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
— Sue Matters
50 cents
Grant award
to W.S.
Elementary
Some time with tribal
elder Viola Kalama
In the early days the travel
was by horseback. “We went
everywhere on the reservation,”
Viola Kalama was saying last
week. “We rode in the M utton
Mountains, to M ount Jefferson,
all over.”
She remembers in the sum
mer they would ride to M ount
Jefferso n fo r huckleberries.
There was a small glacier they
had to cross— a prime huckle
berry area was on the other side.
But it was dangerous: In the past
someone’s horse had slipped on
the ice, sending the horse and
rider careening down.
Viola rem em bers, as their
U.S. Postage
PRSRTSTD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
The Madras High School gradu
ation this year will be held at the
Jefferson County Middle School.
The change in location is required
because the high school athletics
field, where graduation ceremonies
áre usually held, is under renova
tion. G raduation is set for Ju n e 7.