Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
October 14, 2015
Vol. 40, No. 21
October – Anwicht’ash – Fall - Tiyam
Looking at economic aspect of cannabis
Warm Springs Ventures met
with community members on
two evenings last week to discuss
the economic aspect of the le-
galization of cannabis in Oregon.
Ventures chief executive of-
ficer Don Sampson was the fa-
cilitator of the meetings. The
goal of Ventures is to create jobs
and generate revenue for the
tribes. Cannabis can now be seen
as a potential economic develop-
ment opportunity, Sampson said.
Ventures’ initial research into
this area, as approved by Tribal
Council, shows an opportunity
for significant revenue—more
than $13 million net the first
year—plus good-paying jobs in
the greenhouse or greenhouses.
In summary, the Ventures
proposal is:
To develop a tribally owned,
operated, regulated and managed
tribal cannabis cultivation and
extraction facility—possibly pro-
ducing medical or recreational
cannabis, and hemp—on the res-
ervation with retail sales off-res-
Jayson Smith/Spilyay
Hemp products at community meeting regarding cannabis.
ervation with three retail stores in
the Portland/Bend market. “This
would be accomplished in a highly
regulated, safe and controlled envi-
ronment,” the report says.
At the community meetings last
week, Ventures gave a timeline of
how the tribes have reached this
point in the process. Ventures and
Tribal Council initiated this project
back in February.
At that time, Council approved
the Cannabis Exploratory Team, a
group looking at economic oppor-
tunities of the legalization of can-
nabis, and the legal aspects of can-
nabis on the reservation.
The team met with business and
agriculture staff from Strainwise,
based in Colorado. Strainwise is one
of the largest legal marijuana culti-
vators and retailers in the country,
with over 130,000 square feet
of cultivation, and nine retail lo-
cations.
The War m Springs team
talked with a lending company
that is interested in working with
the tribes and Strainwise on a
development project: “The
model they propose is a wholly
owned tribal corporation with
minority representatives from
(the lending party), and the es-
tablishment of a management
agreement and revenue sharing
agreement with (the lender).”
Ventures and the exploratory
team met with federal and state
officials regarding the legality of
the idea. Some basic findings are
that the tribes can legally own
and operate a cannabis growing
facility on the reservation, and
have access to the same mar-
kets as off-reservation growers.
Ventures will present the in-
formation gathered at the com-
munity meetings to Tribal Coun-
cil, and they will discuss what the
next steps should be.
Council, WSFPI, BIA meet again on mill
The complicated matter of the
Warm Springs Forest Products In-
dustries mill was at Council twice
last week.
The first Council meeting was
with BIA officials, and the second
was with the WSFPI management
and board.
The issue is complicated because
of the finances at the mill, and the
jobs. No one in a decision-making
capacity wants to see the mill close,
as about 60 tribal members are
working there.
Meanwhile, though, the BIA can-
not approve timber sales unless the
Confederated Tribes receive a fair
value for the logs. WSFPI relies
exclusively on reservation timber.
In the past, WSFPI missed some
payments to the tribes. This sum-
mer WSFPI, Tribal Council and the
BIA set up a three-year repayment
plant.
These back payments are in ad-
dition to payments for any new tim-
ber harvests.
The agreement is that WSFPI will
make all payments to the tribes on
time. A missed payment means the
BIA will stop timber sales, effectively
shutting down the mill.
Preparing for any worst-case sce-
nario, the BIA last week presented
Tribal Council with a plan that
would apply if the mill at some point
were no longer able to take tribal
timber.
The plan will be incorporated into
the Council resolution regarding the
future operation of the mill.
A basic element of the plan is
that tribal timber would be sold on
the open market at a fair price, if
WSFPI cannot make payment.
John Halliday, Warm Springs
BIA Agency superintendent, and
Ken Borchert, from the BIA re-
gional office, made the presentation
to Council.
Timber is a trust asset of the
Confederated Tribes, funding, for
instance, the Senior Pension Fund.
The BIA by law cannot approve the
sale of a trust asset when the tribe
does not receive fair market value
in the transaction.
The WSFPI board and manage-
ment met with Tribal Council the
following day, giving a quarterly fi-
nancial report. They reviewed
the level of outstanding debt,
and gave projections of future
revenue.
The mill has made cuts in
operating expenses, laying off
some employees. This has
helped with the bottom line, said
John Katchia Jr., mill interim
general manager.
An issue that will further
complicate the situation in the
future is that the allowable cut
of timber on the reservation
will drop significantly in 2017.
The tribes have owned and op-
erated the mill for almost 40
years. Tribal Council is sched-
uled to meet again with the BIA
on this topic on October 27.
Rise & Shine at Eagle Academy
Mornings at the Warm Springs
Eagle Academy start with the Rise
& Shine program. Rise & Shine is
from 7:40 to 8:50 a.m., and is for
all students.
Rise & Shine includes activities
for students, including traditional arts
and crafts with the Culture and
Heritage Department.
While the students are taking part
in Rise & Shine, the teachers and
other staff are using the time for
planning and training. School Prin-
cipal Ken Parshall initiated this pro-
gram as a school improvement strat-
egy. Lana Leonard is the program
coordinator. In other recent school
news:
Meeting with 509-J
Tribal Council met with school
district 509-J officials last week. On
veloping; 1 for beginning; and
F for no effort.
For testing, if a student takes
four tests, the scores are aver-
aged, but the most weight (60
percent) is put on the last test.
Education agreement
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Students during Rise & Shine at the Eagle Academy.
hand for the meeting were Princi-
pal Parshall, district superintendent
Rick Molitor, and 509-J board vice
chairwoman Laurie Danzuka.
They talked about the new grad-
ing system at the high school. The
new system uses numbers: 4 for
mastery; 3 for proficient; 2 for de-
The school district and the
tribes are working toward a new
long-term education agreement.
The current agreement ends
next year. Council members
have said they would like to see
some specific items in the new
agreement that can be used to
measure the success of the dis-
trict and the tribal member stu-
dents. Tribal Council and school
officials are planning to meet
again in November regarding
the agreement.
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Budget
meetings
in Oct.
Tribal Council has posted a pro-
posed budget for 2016, and will
hold district meetings on the pro-
posal this month.
The Agency District meeting is
scheduled for Monday, Oct. 26. The
Seekseequa District meeting is
scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 27.
And the Simnasho District meet-
ing is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct.
28. For these meetings, dinner is at
6 meetings start at 7 p.m.
Tribal members will receive a
budget mailer soon, describing the
details of the 2016 proposal.
There is some additional revenue
in the 2016 proposal. Part of this is
due to the carbon sequestration pro-
gram, developed over the past year
by Tribal Council, Warm Springs
Ventures, and the Branch of Natu-
ral Resources.
Ventures chief executive officer
Don Sampson said he is confident
the carbon sequestration program
will generate new revenue for the
tribes in 2016.
Carbon credits can be sold to
California companies that are re-
quired by law to limit the emission
of carbon into the atmosphere.
The Power and Water Enterprises
dividend for 2016 would be the
same as for the current year, as
would that of Composite Products.
The Indian Head Casino divi-
dend would see an increase; and
Credit would also provide a divi-
dend. Reservation Timber, provid-
ing trust revenue, would see a de-
crease, from $2.85 million to $2.5
million.
The Utilities Department would
see an increase in its budget under
the 2016 proposal.
The Senior Pension Fund would
see an increase, ensuring its stabil-
ity through the following year. The
2016 proposal includes an increase
to the Revenue Reserve Fund.
These were priorities for Tribal
Council members during the bud-
get planning process.
While there are no reductions in
workforce in the budget proposal,
the Tribal Council and Committees
budget would see a decrease in
2016, as would Finance. The bud-
get for per capitas would be the
same as for the current year. The
budget for per capitas would be the
same as for the current year.
New positions in the organization
would be that of grant writer, and
internal auditor, working through
the Secretary-Treasurer’s office.
Member art show
opens Oct. 29
The Tribal Member Art Show
at the Museum at Warm Springs
will celebrate its Twenty-Second
Anniversary in October. The show
opens on October 29, and will run
through early January in the
musuem Changing Exhibits gallery.