Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
March 29, 2017
Work continues on the
new building by the
Warm Springs Ventures
and Construction
enterprise at the
industrial park.
Survey asks about W.S.
economic development
The new facility will
house a part of the
Ventures unmanned
aerial systems
manufacturing program,
a partnership business
with a drone company
based in Portland.
D.McMechan/Spilyay
Winter storms a challenge to enterprise
Changes to prevent
future outages
by Warm Springs Telecom
Icy roads, snow and an
unusually cold winter played
havoc with the residential
service for Warm Springs
Telecom this year.
The Telecom staff
worked overtime to keep the
wireless network operational
and all customers on line
with telephone and broad-
band service.
However, Mother Nature
had other plans as problems
with equipment at the Pelton
Dam,
Sidwalter
and
Seekseequa towers caused
issues throughout the winter.
Staff fixed problems as
fast as possible, and put in
place plans and new equip-
ment that should prevent
such problems from occur-
ring in the future.
Fortunately, service to the
business and tribal govern-
ment customers who are con-
nected with fiber optic cable
was unaffected by the
weather, and those custom-
ers continued to have rock
solid service.
At Pelton Dam, freezing
fog caused a significant
amount of ice to accumulate
on the equipment. This
caused a piece of equipment
called the ‘GPS Sync’ to mal-
function below 20 degrees.
When this happened, an
electronic message was sent
to the company switch alert-
ing the staff that there was
a problem. Crews were im-
mediately sent to the tower
to fix the problem.
Page 3
Unfortunately, the ice was
so severe that it was too dan-
gerous to climb the tower to
replace the equipment. The
inside technical staff was
able to electronically move
most of those customers af-
fected by the faulty equip-
ment to the Miller Flat tower.
The technical crew could
finally fix the rest of the af-
fected customers once the
ice melted enough that it be-
came safe to physically re-
place the bad equipment.
Also due to the weather
the Telecom had a battery
failure at the Sidwalter site.
This caused the batteries
to drain and the generator to
run for days. Outside plant
supervisor Kevin Gaston
used a purpose-built vehicle
to haul extra tanks of pro-
pane through the snow and
up to the tower to keep the
system operational.
With conditions being se-
vere, he had to spend long
nights out in the snow by the
generator.
He and the staff were
committed to get everyone
back online for their phones
and internet service.
Since then, the company
has replaced all the batteries
at Sidwalter tower site.
These are not small type bat-
teries, but large commercial
batteries.
In the Seekseequa area,
the weather caused a trans-
mission radio failure on the
tower. This radio provides
the wireless connections be-
tween the Seekseequa tower
and back to the Telecom
headquarters.
As the ice made it ex-
The Veterans and Family Healing Gathering,
Honoring the Sixty-Seventh Anniversary of the
Korean War, is coming up April 27-30 at the HeHe
Longhouse. The weekend includes healing ceremo-
nies, speakers, talking circles, men/women’s sweat
lodges, games and kids’ activities. There is no
charge to participate. Contributions of food, volun-
teer time and raffle items are greatly appreciated.
For information call Larsen Kalama at 541-553-3093.
tremely dangerous to climb
the tower and replace equip-
ment, the Telecom had to
wait for a break in the
weather for any repairs.
They replaced the prob-
lem transmission radio that
was the critical interface be-
tween the customers and the
wireless network.
The Telecom has been
working hard to rectify the
problems from this winter.
In addition to what was
done immediately to solve
the problems mentioned
above, new equipment that
will protect the GPS Sync
problem has been pur-
chased and installed by the
tower climbers on the
Pelton Dam tower.
The Telecom is installing
spare radios on all towers so
that if one radio fails, the
spare radio can be activated
without climbing the tower.
Due to the Sidwalter
tower site being difficult to
reach in the winter months
for any maintenance, a mo-
bile backup generator will be
placed in this location dur-
ing that time of the year.
While the problems have
all been resolved for this
winter, War m Springs
Telecom is being proactive
to avoid future service in-
terruptions for residential
customers in future winters.
“No one wants to repeat
these problems in the com-
ing years,” said Jose
Matanane, Telecom general
manager.
“Our goal is that every-
one is always connected all
the time. We believe that
our customers are number
one, and I’m really proud of
our Telecom staff who went
the extra mile on behalf of
our customers to fix prob-
lems during the extreme win-
ter conditions.”
Mr. Matanane added, “I
would like to thank Warm
Springs Construction for
clearing the road access for
us to get to our tower sites.”
To meet the goal of more
reliable service, he said, “We
need to do two things. First
is the continued preventa-
tive maintenance that must
be done in advance of the
bad weather, to ensure that
the outages are minimized.”
Second: “When we first
built the company, we in-
stalled state of the art equip-
ment that was appropriate
for the needs of the new net-
work and the conditions on
the reservation.”
Over the years, he said,
“the technology changes and
equipment ages. Now we
must replace some of the
older equipment with new
products that are both cost
effective but will function
better than some of the origi-
nal products. This is our
goal.”
Matanane added, “We are
evaluating and revamping
the overall network. This will
be a substantial investment,
but in the end, necessary to
better serve the tribe.”
The Warm Springs Tele-
communications Company
is a tribally owned enterprise
whose mission is to bring ad-
vanced broadband services
to the Warm Springs tribes,
including voice, data and
video.
Ag youth summit applicants due in April
Applications for the Na-
tive Youth in Food and Ag-
riculture Leadership Summit
are due April 11.
All food, lodging, instruc-
tional materials and field trip
costs are provided. Depend-
ing on the number of stu-
dents, travel scholarships will
also be provided.
If you have questions,
contact Emerald Hames on
the
IFAI
staff
at
ehames@uark.edu.
Or call her at 479-575-
5128.
Tribal economic de-
velopment coordinator
Kahseuss Jackson is con-
ducting a community
survey on tribal business
and economic develop-
ment. The results will
help in the development
of an economic im-
provement plan for the
tribes. Please respond
through April 5. A ver-
sion is available online at
the link:
www.surveymonkey.com/
r/C79XBCB
Or contact Kahseuss at:
kahseuss.jackson@wstribes.
org
The questions are:
1. What is your vision
for the Tribes in terms
of economic develop-
ment? (For example: “in
five years the tribes will
have two new revenue
generating enterprises,
lower unemployment fig-
ures and a growing pri-
vate sector.” Feel free to
be specific.)
2. What are some of
the strengths of the
tribes related to eco-
nomic development?
(For example: capable
work force, current
projects, access to mar-
kets, others.)
3. What are some of
the weaknesses of the
tribes related to economic
development? (For ex-
ample: lack of infrastruc-
ture, lack of space for
small businesses, lack of
financial resources to in-
vest, others.)
4. What are some of
the opportunities that the
tribes may have related to
economic development?
(For example: recre-
ational offerings, addi-
tional small businesses,
Highway 26, others.)
5. What are some of
the threats that the tribes
may have related to eco-
nomic development? (For
example: competition,
federal policies, others.)
6. What specific eco-
nomic projects do you
think the tTribes might be
able to do? (Feel free to
explain why certain
projects would work. For
example: market oppor-
tunity, available re-
sources, tax advantages,
others.)
Funding effort for housing at river
Oregon and Washington
legislators are lobbying for the
remaining $1.5 million
needed to plan a village for
Columbia River tribal mem-
bers at The Dalles Dam.
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers allocated $1.56
million last month to the ef-
fort, which would fulfill a
promise the federal govern-
ment made in 1957.
Former Assistant Secre-
tary of the Army Jo-Ellen
Darcy also tentatively agreed
to add $1.49 million in the
next budget cycle. But lead-
ership of the office changed
hands to an acting head.
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers has promised just
over $3 million to plan for
new housing at The Dalles
Dam. This is a first step in
making good on a 60-year-
old promise. Construction
could start in 2020, at the
earliest.
The current funding bill
expires April 28. At that point
Congress will have the choice
to pass a new bill with new
funding levels for govern-
ment offices or a continuing
resolution, which would main-
tain funding levels at their
current level.
Senators from Oregon and
Washington, as well as U.S.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-
Oregon, sent a letter this
month to Doug Lamont, the
senior official acting as head
of the Ar my Corps, and
Mick Mulvaney, the director
of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget. They want
to make sure the additional
$1.49 million comes through.
“Conditions at many treaty
fishing access sites and in-lieu
sites are highly unsafe and
unsanitary, and it is finally
time for the federal govern-
ment to fulfill commitments
made when the dams were
constructed and to honor the
treaties signed with the four
Columbia River Treaty
Tribes,” the letter says.
“A strong commitment
from the Army Corps and
Office of Management and
Budget is needed to make
progress this year in the in-
terest of public health and
safety and upholding treaty
rights.”
The Army Corps and tribal
leaders are considering three
sites for the new village. It
would be one step toward
providing more than 80
homes promised for tribal
families who lived along the
Columbia River when three
dams were built.