Page 6
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Gearing up for Paddle to Nisqually
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Tribal Councilwoman Brigette McConville
(second from right) and her Salmon King shop
donated many cans of salmon and dried
salmon, and gift t-shirts to the N’Chi Wana
Pum Canoe Family. The salmon is for the
Family during their upcoming Paddle to
The N’Chi Wana Pum Canoe
Family is getting ready for the
2016 Paddle to Nisqually.
The N’Chi Wana Pum family
will be one of more than 100
Tribal Canoe families expected
Nisqually Canoe Journey.
Accepting the donation for the Family were
Marcus Johnson, Emma Marquez and Rolin
MorningOwl (back row from left); Carlicia
Dixon, Colleen Johnson, Deb Stacona and
Becky Picard (front row from left).
to land at the Port of Olympia’s
NorthPoint area on Saturday, July
30. The N’Chi Wana Pum Canoe
Family has participated in the an-
nual tribal canoe family journeys
since 2010.
They will leave from the
Celilo area, and then make their
way over the next several days
to the final destination. The
Canoe Family is a program of
the Museum at Warm Springs.
Heart of Oregon: building success
(Continued from page 1)
YouthBuild is an ideal program
for Warm Springs, said Heath of
Oregon Corps advocate Amorita
Anstett.
Home-building projects on the
reservation, she said, could help in
alleviating the housing needs.
Building on the reservation could
also bring more Warm Springs
youth into the program.
Heart of Oregon has met with
Tribal Council in the past, and their
presentation was well-received.
ties.
Heart of Oregon has the
YouthBuild program, teaching con-
struction, electrical, plumbing and
related skills. Other opportunities
are the Heart of Oregon Thrift
Store in Madras, AmeriCorps, the
Central Oregon Youth Conserva-
tion Corps, and Camp LEAD.
Butch David is leading the Youth
Conservation Corps on the reser-
vation. They are working on the
reservation on natural resource
projects.
YouthBuild, COYCC
Rodger Jack is a young man
from Simnasho, and works with
Heart of Oregon YouthBuild.
He has perfect attendance at
the classes and at work. He does
this, amazingly, while commuting
two and a half hours each way.
Rodger learned of the Heart of
Oregon Corps through a principal
at the Madras High School.
He’s now taking the Heart of
Oregon classes on some days,
while helping build a house on non-
class days.
This week he was working on a
house with Leionah Scott, Alyssa
Culps and other co-workers.
YouthBuild will host an open house
for the newly-built home on Fri-
day of this week. You can visit the
house on Lincoln Court in Madras.
Heart of Oregon is a non-profit
education and job skills training
program. Their goal is to help
young people and their communi-
Jobs, education solution
Joining Heart of Oregon, stu-
dents can earn high school credits,
a diploma, job training and contacts,
college scholarships, and a stipend.
It is a 12-month program for youth
ages 16 to 24.
The students first attend a two-
week orientation at the Sisters class-
room center. The school district
provides transportation.
After the two-week Mental
Toughness session, the students will
spend some days at the classroom,
and some days working on commu-
nity projects, such as building
houses.
After the 12 months, the Heart
of Oregon workers offer their sup-
port to the youth have completed
the program.
Once a young person has com-
mitted to Heart of Oregon, “They
are always a part of Hearth of
Oregon,” Amorita said.
Heart of Oregon is a great solu-
Horses: relieving overpopulation
(Continued from page 1)
This would be a disaster for
tribal lands, as well as federal
lands that deal with the same
horse problem, he said.
The horse removal program
is funded through the settle-
ment money the tribes received
in a natural resources lawsuit
against the federal govern-
ment. The money was ear-
marked for horse population
control.
Warm Springs is a leader in
the National Tribal Horse Coa-
lition, representing five tribes.
The NTHC gives a unified
voice to the tribes in advocat-
ing for the reasonable manage-
ment of horse populations on
reservations.
The National Congress of
American Indians, and the Af-
filiated Tribes of Northwest
Indians have both endorsed the
efforts of the horse coalition.
The report last week to
Tribal Council also included
letters of support from
Jonathan Treasure, tribal Hy-
drologist and Climate Change
Program coordinator, and
Brad Houslet, Fisheries De-
partment manager.
tion for some high school students.
Through Heart of Oregon a stu-
dent can earn up to 15 credits in
one year, about two and a half years
worth of high school credits.
Rodger and Amorita gave a pre-
sentation on the program earlier this
month to the Warm Springs Health
and Human Services Branch.
You can learn more about the
program at the website:
heartoforegon.org
Or call their office at 541-526-
1380.
July 20, 2016
Support for tribal
fishing sites along
Columbia River
Tribal fishing families living in
distressed conditions along the
Columbia River received major
Congressional support last week.
The Oregon and Washington
members of the U.S. House and
Senate introduced legislation that
would authorize the Secretary of
the Interior to assess and improve
the living conditions at federally-
owned tribal treaty fishing sites.
The proposed law is called
“The Columbia River In-Lieu
and Treaty Fishing Access Sites
Improvement Act.”
If successful, the new law
would call upon the BIA to assess
the current sanitation and safety
conditions at Bureau-owned facili-
ties that were constructed to pro-
vide treaty tribes access to tradi-
tional fishing grounds.
The bill recommends expendi-
tures as necessary for actions that
would improve sanitation and other
infrastructure such as water and
sewer for the sites.
Unsafe conditions
The construction of federal
dams on the Columbia River re-
stricted tribal members’ access to
tribal treaty fishing grounds, and
displaced tribal fishing families that
lived along the Columbia River. As
a result, tribal families now reside
in unsafe and unsanitary conditions
at multiple sites along the Colum-
bia River.
“It is long past time that we hon-
ored our commitment to tribal
members along the Columbia
River and this legislation is another
step in the right direction,” said
Sen. Merkley.
“Tribal members shouldn’t
have to live in unsafe or unsani-
tary conditions without running
water or electricity. This bill will
help make much needed improve-
ments at the 31 tribal fishing sites
along the Columbia River.”
Jeremy Red Star Wolf, chair-
man of the Columbia River Inter-
Tribal Fish Commission, applauded
the action:
“We need to start by providing
some basic human necessities such
as clean water, basic sanitation, and
fire safety infrastructure to tribal
fishing sites along the Columbia
River,” he said.
“The bill introduced last week
in both chambers of Congress
highlights the importance of this
near-term need, and lays a path for
the BIA to remedy many of these
problems now.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, of
Oregon’s Third Congressional Dis-
trict, said:
“While we work to provide
longer-term relief through the con-
struction of permanent housing,
this legislation calls for immediate
action to improve conditions at the
tribal fishing sites along the Colum-
bia River.
“Urgent upgrades are needed
for electrical, sewer, and other ba-
sic improvements to address safety,
sanitation, and other conditions.
The federal government shouldn’t
let more time pass without helping
to make sure that the basic neces-
sities of clean and safe conditions
are pursued. The status quo is un-
acceptable.”
Multiple Congressional actions,
including appropriations and fed-
eral authorizations, are driving a
multi-agency coalition to ad-
equately address tribal housing con-
ditions along the Columbia River.
Rep. Blumenauer, Sen. Merkley,
Sen. Wyden, Sen. Murray, and Sen.
Maria Cantwell’s leadership—
along with the work of their col-
leagues, as well as the Army Corps
of Engineers, BIA, the Treaty
Tribes and CRITFC—will be in-
strumental to improving the con-
ditions at these sites, and address-
ing the needs of tribal fishers along
the Columbia River.