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C oyote News, est. 1976
A p ril 2 9 , 2015
P.O. Box 870
Warm Snrings, OR 97761
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OR
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April - Hawit'an - Spring - Wawaxam
ATNI at Kah-Nee-Ta
T h e C o n fed erated T rib es o f
W arm Springs will ho st the Mid
Year Conference o f the Affiliated
Tribes o f N orthw est Indians. The
c o n fe re n c e is s e t fo r M o n d ay
through Thursday, May 18-21, at
Kah-Nee-Ta.
The A TN I conference is one o f
several im p o rta n t item s o n the
Tribal Council agenda for May. A t
their meeting on Monday, Council
set th e agenda fo r th e fcoming
month.
On Council agenda
O ne o f the items is a meeting in
Warm Springs with the Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
CRITFC will share inform ation
on the issue o f coal transportation
along the Columbia and Deschutes
rivers. T he tribes are concerned
about the potential for an énviron-
mental disaster from the transport
o f coal. “It’s, not a question o f if,
but when,” said Councilman Carlos
Smith, CRITFC chair.
A t least one tribal m em ber has a
fishing site that would be impacted
by the developm ent o f a new coal
transport facility at the Columbia,
he said.
The federal government required
no E nvironm ental Im pact State
m ent for this development, w hich
is n ot consistent with the approach
they took with the Cascade Locks
casino proposal.
In a related item, the Council in
May will look at the possibility o f a
tax on railroad cars that pass through
the reservation.
The Confederated Tribes in May
will w ork on the m em orandum o f
understanding betw een the tribes
and the 509-J school district. The
current agreement is set to expire
this summer. Some other items on
the May agenda:
T he effect o f state m arijuana
legalization on the tribes and reser
vation.
A meeting with state officials re
garding off-resefvation hunting.
D iscussion o f the position o f
tribal secretary-treasurer.
Weavers of the
Confederated Tribes of -
Warm Springs are spending
some time this spring
getting ready for the 2015
conference of the Northwest
Native American Basket
Weavers Association.
The conference this year is
marking Its Twenty-Fifth
Anniversary, and is set for
the fall at Kah-Nee-Ta.
For the conference
promotional material,
Natalie Kirk, curator of the
Museum at Warm Springs,
made these baskets
available from the museum
collection. The baskets are
from the three tribes of the
Confederation.
Alyssa Macy/Spilyay
dents w ho are entitled to the irriga
tion water actually receive the wa
ter, Spino said.
A current problem is that the
canal runs dry for some o f the resi
d en ts. T h e re are 54 h o m e s at
Sidwalter that could use the irriga
tion water, Spino said.
Spino presented to Tribal Coun
cil a draft charter for a Sidwalter
Irrigation District, proposing a five-
m em ber board.
A t th e C ouncil m eeting, tw o
people voiced their current opposi
tion, or concerns about the irriga
tion district draft charter.
Susan G uerin said the residents
need to have m ore in p u t on the
content o f the charter. Some sug
gestions have not been incorporated
into the draft, she said. “This needs
to be fair to everyone,” she said.
J.S. Postage
PRSRTSTD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
50 cents
25th Honor
Seniors Day
There will be some special en
tertainm ent at the W arm Springs
H onor Seniors Day this year.
“I can’t tell you yet w hat it is, but
we will have som ething special,”
said Wilson Wewa, Senior Program
director.
S en io rs D ay is m a rk in g its
Twenty-Fifth Anniversary this year.
“We’ve never had bad w eather dur
ing any H onor Seniors Day— knock
on wood,” Wilson said.
H onor Seniors Day will be on Fri
day, May 8. The day will see guests
from all around the region.
A group is com ing up from
D uck Valley in Nevada, am ong oth
ers. “They’ve already booked their
rooms at Kah-Nee-Ta,” Wilson said.
Tribal enterprises and other do
nors have been generous this year,
he said, contributing some great gift
items. T he salmon dinner this year
will also feature buffalo meat.
uereK Matthews pnoto.
2015 Miss Warm Springs Suzanne McConville addresses the
audience at the Miss Indian World Competition.
Sidwalter considers irrigation district
The Sidwalter area may create an
irrigation district to oversee and
im prove the dehvery o f irrigation
water to the residents there.
T hrough an irrigation district,
grant funding would be available for
im provem ent to the Sidwalter irri
gation headworks and canal, said
tribal w ater engineer and W ater
C ontrol board m em ber Roy Spino.
The irrigation water for Sidwalter
com es o u t o f M ill C reek. T h e
headworks could use improvements
that w ould cost about $100,000,
Spino told Tribal Council last week.
This would help with fisheries in Mill
Creek.
The irrigation canal itself could
also be im proved, m aking fo r a
m ore efficient use o f water. This
could leave m ore w ater in Mill
Creek; and ensure that all the resi-
ECRWSS
Postal Patron
,Seña's
Glendon Smith said the Sidwalter . said, “but we also w ant to make
area already has a livestock district, sure the residents there are in
creating a potential conflict o f au agreement,”
thority over the irrigation water.
C ouncil vice chairw om an
Chico H olliday said im prove Evaline Patt said it is im portant
m ent to the irrigation system could to make sure that all the resi
h av e m an y b e n e fits , fro m dents w ho are entitled to the
firefighting efforts during the sum irrigation w ater share the re-
mer, tot the 4-H livestock program. . source equally.
T he Water C ontrol Board and
Councilman Reuben Henry
others have been working on the spoke in favor o f irrigation sys
Sidwalter irrigation district idea for tem im provem ents that would
about 18 m onths. Spino said that if keep th e salm on fro m Mill
steps are taken to establish the dis C reek o u t o f th e irrig atio n
trict, then grant funding could be ditch.
available for improvements in 2017-
Sidwalter would be the first
Tribal Council would like to see irrigation district on the reser
a consensus am ong the Sidwalter vation, and could serve as a
residents on the proposal before m o d el fo r o th e r areas th a t
making a final decision.
m ight consider a similar ap
“I see the need to m ove this proach.
along,” Councilman Orvie Danzuka
1' — Dai/e McMechan
Council
okays
WSFPI
mill plan
Tribal Council accepted a plan by
the W arm Springs Forest Products
Industries enterprise that will keep
the mill in operation.
The workforce at the mill will go
from 104 to about 85, and there
will be cost savings such as salary
reductions.
A key part o f the plan has to do
•with timber stumpage payments that
are owed to the tribes. The approved
plan o f operation calls for a 36-
m onth repayment schedule.
Councilman Orvie D anzuka and
Chief Joe Moses voted against the
proposal, feeling that an earher ver-
sion— with a 24-m onth repayment
schedule— should apply.
Nevertheless, all on Council ex
pressed support for the mill, and the
process that led to the new opera
tion plan. “It’s good to see every
one w orking together— the BIA,
Forestry, W SFPI and the board—
and I hope that continues,” C oun
cilman D anzuka said.
W SFPI interim m anager Jo h n
K atchiajr. also said the cooperation
among the parties has been produc
tive, and is necessary now and in
the future.
In approving the W SFPI plan,
Council Chairman Austin Greene Jr.
v o ted to 'b re a k a tie am ong the
Council members.
C hairm an G reene em phasized
that W SFPI needs to be diligent in
meeting the monthly payments to
the tribes.
Otherwise, he said, the BIA will
issue a cease and desist order stop
ping the operation. The plan is pro
posed by W SFPI, not Tribal C oun
cil; so it is up to W SFPI to irnake it
work, Chairman G reene said.
Ab
fer