Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
December 9, 2015
Page 7
2015 Year in Review
employment opportunities.
The TERO program will
involve training the local
workforce in the kinds of
jobs that will become avail-
able. And meanwhile this
month:
(Here is a look back at some
of the memorable news events of
the past year on the reservation.)
January
WSFPI presented its
downsizing plan to Tribal
Council. The plan—reducing
the number of employees
from about 115 to 85—is a
short-term solution, lasting
two years. The idea after two
years is to transform the mill
into a more efficient opera-
tion, designed for the timber
resources of the reservation.
The year 2015 started with
Suzanne McConville winning
the 2015 Miss War m
Springs Pageant. “I was ner-
vous and scared—all emo-
tions mixed in one,” Suzanne
said after the Pageant.
“But I went after it and
chased it, and here I am. You
really don’t know what you
can do until you try.”
Suzanne won the 2015
Pageant following a close
competition with Jazmine Ike
Lopez. Meanwhile in Janu-
ary:
March
The Travis Bobb art exhibit, Quiet Strength, was the
feature at the Museum at Warm Springs in April.
Spilyay photo
The Confederated Tribes
announced the acquisition of
a 278.5-acre property, the
Red Hills Conservation
Area, through the Willamette
Wildlife Mitigation Program.
The property is located in
Yamhill County in the
Willamette Valley. Also in
January:
Tribal Council in January
reviewed the progress on the
carbon
sequestration
project. The hope is that this
will provide a new source of
revenue to the tribes.
Carbon sequestration is the
process of capturing and
storing atmospheric carbon
dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
Certain forestry practices can
be a method of capturing and
storing carbon dioxide, and
the reservation includes ex-
tensive forest land.
Meanwhile in Januar y,
Tribal Council endorsed the
designation of Highway 26
on the reservation as a Tribal
Veterans Memorial High-
way. The level of service
by veterans of the Confed-
erated Tribes is not widely
known off the reservation,
said Charles Tailfeathers. The
memorial highway would help
correct this.
At least 499 Warm Springs
veterans are listed as having
served with honor, dedication
and selfless conviction. And
this good news in education:
At the start of the school
year, the g oal of War m
Springs Roots was to enroll
30 students in the program.
The goal of 30 students
was ambitious, as the previ-
ous year only 12 students had
enrolled in the Warm Springs
alternative education pro-
gram. As of this month, there
were 41 students in the Roots
program. In other education
news:
Miss Warm Springs 2015 Suzanne McConville
The current Education
Agreement between the
Confederated Tribes and the
Jefferson County School Dis-
trict 509-J will end in a year
and a half.
The tribes and district fi-
nalized the agreement in July
of 2011. This is a five-year
agreement, so it will expire
in July of 2016.
The Tribal Council and the
509-J school board met in
January to discuss a new
agreement. This was the first
Council-school board work
session on the 2016 agree-
ment. The Council and
board agreed to meet at least
quarterly from now on re-
garding the new agreement.
And this:
The Warm Springs Forest
Products Industries board
and management in January
met with Tribal Council, pre-
senting three alternatives for
the future of the WSFPI
mill.
One option is the closure
of the sawmill, and the sale
of all future tribal timber to
mills off the reservation.
The second option would
be to downsize the mill from
120 workers to about 80,
operating the sawmill at 60
percent of one shift. Mean-
while:
Indian Health Services is
in the process of demolish-
ing four former residences
in the campus area of the res-
ervation.
February
Tribal Council voted in
February to open the smelt
fishing season early this
year, after consulting with
the Branch of Natural Re-
sources.
Council voted to open the
smelt, or Pacific eulachon,
season on the Cowlitz River
and tributaries, as the fish
were already in the river.
They are expected soon
the Sandy River and tributar-
ies as well. Last year tribal
members harvested about
2,000 pounds of the smelt.
In other February news:
Tribal Council approved
the creation of a team to
study
a
cannabis
production project, as
proposed by Warm Springs
Ventures. The directive from
Tribal Council is for the team
to confer with the U.S.
Attorney’s office regarding
cannabis laws.
This is an economic
development proposal, with
tribal laws remaining in effect
in regard to personal
possession or sale of cannabis
on the reservation.
Medical marijuana is
allowed in many states.
Meanwhile more states,
including Oregon, are
legalizing the possession of
the drug for recreational
purposes. In other economic
news:
Tribal Council in February
adopted the Tribal Employ-
ment Rights Ordinance, or
TERO. This is an impor-
tant job creation program
that applies on the reserva-
tion, and within a 60-mile ra-
dius of the reservation.
The on-reservation as-
pect applies to construction
projects including work done
by the tribal enterprises.
The TERO officer will
work with the contractors
and subcontractors, ensuring
tribal member access to the
Spilyay photo
The Recreation Department hosted an ice-skating trip to Sun River in February.
A total of 31 kids and adults enjoyed the day.
The
new
Greeley
Heights subdivision is
unique in Indian Country.
The partnerships in-
volved—tribal and private
enterprises, state and federal
agencies—is the first of its
kind.
The project will serve as a
model for affordable housing
developments on other res-
ervations. The total cost of
the 35-unit Greeley Heights
subdivision is $9.7 million.
The project is well under
way, with a grand opening
planned for this summer.
Meanwhile:
The Warm Springs Reser-
vation is Wild Horse Race
Country. An example this
month:
Two generations of Warm
Springs horse racers each
won Championships at the
March competition of the
Professional Wild Horse Rac-
ers Association.
The Jason Smith Team
won the over 18 division.
This was to be expected, as
the Jason Smith Team is best
Wild Horse Racing team, and
has been for several years.
The winner of the 13-18
year division was the newly-
formed Warm Springs team
of Preston Stevens, Cody
Florendo and Carlos Estrada.
A Professional Wild Horse
Race Team consists of three
people, known as the
shankman, the mugger and
the rider. The equipment used
is a lead shank, halter and
saddle.
All of the positions are
equally difficult, and can be
dangerous. On the young
Warm Springs team, Cody is
the shankman, Carlos is the
mugger, and Preston the
rider.
The War m Springs
Wellbriety Program gives
help to people who are in
trouble because of an alco-
hol or drug problem. A per-
son who completes the
Wellbriety Program will have
his or her criminal charge dis-
missed by the court.
The Tribal Court and pros-
ecution
adopted
the
Wellbriety Program this year.
Other partners are Parole and
Probation, and Community
Counseling. In fisheries news:
Tribal Council voted to
open the tribal subsistence
fisher y
below
the
Bonneville dam in early
April. The fishery will remain
open at least until an esti-
mated 500 spring chinook are
caught from the sites below
the dam.
The tribes first re-opened
the below Bonneville fishery
in 2010, and it proved to be
popular with hook-and-line
subsistence fishermen. Be-
fore the 2010 re-opening, the
tribes had not had a regular
fishery there for some years.
Last year the Fish and
Wildlife Committee chose not
to open the below Bonneville
subsistence fishery. Mean-
while, the 2014 spring
chinook run was one of the
best in many years, and the
commercial fishery was open.
Many saw this as unfair to
the subsistence fishermen.
So this year the subsistence
fishermen urged Tribal Coun-
cil to re-open the below
Bonneville subsistence fish-
ery, and Council unanimously
agreed.
April
Miss Warm Springs 2015
Suzanne Slockish McConville
was a contestant for the Miss
Indian World title. The pag-
eant was held in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, during the
Gathering of Nations Pow-
wow.
Suzanne is the daughter of
Laura Slockish and Alfred
McConville Jr., and is finish-
ing up her first year at East-
ern Washington University,
studying criminal justice. And
this:
Weavers of the Confed-
erated Tribes are spending
some time this spring getting
ready for the 2015 confer-
ence of the Northwest Na-
tive American Basket Weav-
ers Association. The 2015
conference is marking its
Twenty-Fifth Anniversary,
and is set for the fall at Kah-
Nee-Ta. In other news:
The Sidwalter area may
create an irrigation district
to oversee and improve the
delivery of irrigation water to
the residents there.
Through an irrigation dis-
trict, grant funding would be
available for improvement to
the Sidwalter irrigation
headworks and canal.
The irrigation water for
Sidwalter comes out of Mill
Creek. The headworks could
use improvements that would
cost about $100,000. This
would help with fisheries in
Mill Creek.
The irrigation canal itself
could also be improved, mak-
ing for a more efficient use
of water. This could leave
more water in Mill Creek; and
ensure that all the residents
who are entitled to the irriga-
tion water actually receive the
water. Tribal Council in April
heard a summary of the pro-
posal, and took no action.
Later in the month,
Council accepted a plan by
the Warm Springs Forest
Products Industries en-
terprise 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 of the plan
has to do with timber stump-
age payments that are owed
to the tribes. The approved
plan of operation calls for
a 36-month repayment
schedule.
May
The weather held out again
for another incredible Warm
Springs Honor Seniors
Day. It was cold earlier in
the week, and then it rained
afterward, but the Friday of
Honor Seniors Day was
sunny and mild. Meanwhile
in May:
Fossil fuel transport
through the Columbia River
Gorge is of increasing con-
cern to the Confederated
Tribes.
There is one specific coal-
transport proposal that the
tribes are actively opposing,
at Coyote Island, Port of
Morrow. But there are many
other projects in various
stages of planning and devel-
opment.
The tribes are developing
a comprehensive approach to
deal with this problem, rather
than addressing each indi-
vidual case as it arises.
Tribal Council met with
CRITFC staff, discussing the
subject in detail.
Ventures is advertising for
a TERO director. Ventures
meanwhile is also looking for
a business development and
marketing manager, to over-
see the business and financial
growth of the economic en-
terprise.
(The Year in Review will continue
in the next edition of the
Spilyay Tymoo.)