Page 10
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
January 20, 2016
Council supports Burns Paiute tribe
The Tribal Council of the
Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs Reservation
voted in support of the Burns
Paiute Tribe, as an armed
‘militia standoff ’ continued at
the Malheur National Wild-
life Refuge.
Many tribal members have
relatives there, “my grandfa-
ther is buried in the park area
in that reserve. I’m voting
yes,” said Councilman
Reuben Henry.
The Malheur area is the
traditional land of the Burns
Paiute. A militia group took
over the refuge headquarters,
protesting federal govern-
ment land policies.
All of the area, and many
square miles beyond—from
the Cascade Mountains to
Boise, and from the Blue
Mountains to Steens Moun-
tain—is ceded lands of the
Burns Paiute, descendants of
the Wadatika band of north-
ern Paiute.
Over time the tribes’ fed-
eral trust land shrank from
over one and a half million
acres to a 10,000-acre rem-
nant in Harney County.
Charlotte Roderique is
chairwoman of the Burns
Paiute Tribal Council.
“Armed protesters don’t
belong here,” she said of the
militia group.
“By their actions they are
desecrating one of our sacred
traditional cultural properties.
They are endangering our
children, and the safety of
our community, and they need
to leave. Armed confronta-
tion is not the answer.”
The tribe’s ancestors
signed a treaty with the fed-
eral government in 1868.
The treaty was not ratified by
Congress, but the govern-
ment guaranteed that it would
protect the safety and prop-
erty of the Northern Paiute
people, according to the tribe.
“The protesters have no
claim to this land,” Roderique
said. “It belongs to the Na-
tive people who continue to
live here. The Malheur Wild-
life Refuge is an important
place for us. We have no sym-
pathy for those who are try-
ing to take the land from its
rightful owners.”
The tribe has about 420
members.
Mini health fair at Heart Smart Dinner
The IHS Warm Springs
Model Diabetes Program in-
vites Warm Springs programs
to participate in the Heart
Smart Mini Health Fair on
February 24.
The fair is part of the
Twenty-Third Annual Heart
Smart Dinner, to be held at
the Agency Longhouse.
One half of the bench
tables will be available in the
dining room for educational
display. We are requesting the
booths be set up by 4 pm. on
Feb. 24. The Mini Health Fair
will be from 4 to 6 p.m.
Traditional drummers start
at 4:30. Dinner served at
5:30 in the main hall.
Please let us know by Feb-
ruary 10 if you would like to
have a booth at the Heart
Smart Mini-Health Fair.
Everyone is welcome.
Any questions, please call
553-6289. Leave a message
if no one picks up. Or email:
jeri.kollen@ihs.gov
Around Indian Country
Refuge designation honors Billy Frank Jr.
The federal government
has re-named the former
Nisqually National Wildlife
Refuge in honor of the late
Billy Frank Jr.
The refuge is now the Billy
Frank Jr. National Nisqually
Wildlife Refuge. A memorial
is planned in the refuge com-
memorating the Medicine
Creek Treaty of 1854.
The Billy Frank Jr. Tell
Your Story Act passed the
House and Senate last year,
and was signed by Pres.
Obama this month.
The act was unanimously
supported by the Northwest
congressional delegation, and
was also backed by the Na-
tional Congress of American
Indians, the Affiliated Tribes
of Northwest Indians and
the Northwest Indian Fisher-
ies Commission, it says.
The law also requires the
Department of Interior to
coordinate with the Nisqually,
Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and
Squaxin Island tribes in de-
veloping educational materi-
als for the new national me-
morial.
Frank was raised on the
Nisqually Reservation, near
the refuge. He lived there
until his death in May 2014
at 83.
Frank fought to enforce
the Medicine Creek Treaty—
particularly the provision en-
titling Indian tribes to half the
fish catch. He was a charis-
matic, larger-than-life civil-
rights hero, champion of
treaty rights and advocate of
environmental stewardship.
Since his passing, Mr.
Frank has received much
posthumous recognition.
Frank received the Presi-
dential Medal of Freedom
and Washington state’s Medal
of Merit. The Nisqually tribe
recently renamed a commu-
nity center after him, and de-
clared March 9, Frank’s birth-
day, ‘Billy Frank Jr. Day.’
In 1854, tribes in south
Puget Sound signed the Medi-
cine Creek Treaty, trading a
portion of their native land
to the U.S. government in
exchange for cash, reserva-
tion land tracts and the rec-
ognition of fishing, hunting
and gathering rights.
A century later, Billy
Frank Jr. championed those
fishing rights as the Washing-
ton State Fish and Game De-
partment cracked down on
off-reservation tribal fishing.
Frank was first arrested
for “illegal” fishing at 14 years
old. He protested for three
decades, organizing “fish-ins”
and getting arrested at least
50 times before a federal
judge upheld the Medicine
Creek Treaty in 1974.
The decision affirmed the
tribes’ right to catch half the
state’s fish harvest.
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