Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
May 10, 2017 - Vol. 42, No. 10
May – Xawit’an – Spring - Wawaxam
Veterans Memorial Park ceremony Saturday
A plan that has been in discus-
sion for some time now will mark a
milestone this Saturday, May 13.
On that day at 11 a.m. the Vet-
erans Memorial Park Committee
will host a ground breaking cer-
emony at the Museum at Warm
Springs, site of the future Veterans
Memorial Park.
The memorial park will be in
honor of all veterans from the Con-
federated Tribes of Warm Springs,
representing all military branches
and all major conflicts, from the
early Scouts to the present.
The Veterans Memorial Park
Conceptual rendering of what the Memorial Park may look like.
Committee provides this descrip-
tion:
The memorial will display the
official seals of all the branches
of service, along with seven flags.
There will be 10 pillars on a
raised mound with the names of
the veterans inscribed on the pil-
lars. And there is a plan for walk-
ways of bricks inscribed with the
names of donors.
Tribal Council gave its approval
for the project a few weeks ago
to the Veterans Memorial Park
Committee.
The committee then worked
with an architectural firm, which
donated its service, to develop
the preliminary design.
Representing the committee
are Tamera Calhoun, president;
Charles Tailfeathers, vice presi-
dent; Susan Guerin, secretary;
Johnathan Courtney, treasurer;
trustees AJ Atencio, Dennis
Dowty, Dan Martinez and Alvis
Smith III; and Chaplain Phillip
David.
Language
Bowl 2017
F ourteen teams of young lan-
guage students represented the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs at the Language Bowl
2017. There were 44 students,
with teams representing each of
the three languages. There were
three each for Kiksht and
Numu, and eight for Ichichkiin.
The Language Bowl was held
at the Wildhorse Casino in
Pendleton. Chaperoning the stu-
dents were 26 adults plus seven
elders, for a total of 77 Warm
Springs community members at
the Language Bowl 2017.
(See LANGUAGE BOWL on 8)
Teams waiting to compete at the Language Bowl.
Positive report during
recent cannabis update
The Confederated Tribes’ can-
nabis project is unique. No other
tribe in the state has tried, or is try-
ing to develop such a project. For
this reason the process has taken
more time than initially expected.
Warm Springs Ventures and the
Commission oversee the cannabis
enterprise. Ventures chief execu-
tive officer Don Sampson met last
week with Tribal Council, giving an
update on the latest developments
with the project.
One of the more difficult points
had been the lease arrangement for
the area that will house the grow
facility.
This was complicated as the BIA
had no precedent for such an ar-
rangement. Positive news is that a
lease arrangement should be done
in the near future, Mr. Sampson
said.
Another delaying project has
been the partnership that the tribes
will need in order to develop and
initially manage the facility.
Mr. Sampson mentioned that the
tribes could have an opportunity to
get the project going soon, with
some modification to the original
concept.
Once in operation and generat-
ing revenue, the tribes would have
more options in terms of further
development of the facility.
The initial concept was a
grow facility that would be com-
pletely indoors, inside a specially
designed greenhouse.
Ventures tried to work out a
partnership and funding ar-
rangement for the development
of the greenhouse. But this
proved to be difficult, especially
in terms of funding and rev-
enue sharing.
An idea being looked at now
is to partner in the development
of an outdoor grow area, at the
same site as the future green-
house.
The outdoor site would be
secure with high fencing and
wire, and a visual block, among
other security precautions.
A 36,000-square-foot out-
door grow facility could be in
operation very soon, such as
starting in June, Mr. Sampson
said.
A down-side is that the out-
door facility would not at first
create as many tribal member
jobs. But the facility would be a
way to generate revenue in or-
der to continue with the enter-
prise.
Photo by Gerald Cardenas
University partners with tribes
in planning Native theme dorm
The University of Oregon is
working on its first Native Ameri-
can dormitory wing. Tribal leaders
met at the university last week to
have a first look at the design.
This is part of the effort by the
University of Oregon, in partner-
ship with the Oregon tribes, to re-
cruit more Native American stu-
dents.
The university, its Native
American Advisory Council, and
the tribes have an on-going effort
in the recruitment. The Native-
themed dorm housing is the lat-
est project.
Natives are among the least
represented minority population
in higher education.
(See U of O on 10)
Siletz Tribe proposes
North Salem casino idea
The Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians announced a plan
to build a casino in North Salem.
The Siletz announcement came
just several days after the open-
ing of the Cowlitz Tribe’s ilani
Casino Resort.
The Siletz announcement says
the casino could open in 2021, and
may be expected to bring in $185.4
million in gross annual revenue.
And they estimate the creation of
1,500 full-time jobs.
Cost of construction is esti-
mated at $180 million. The size
would be 140,000 square feet.
The idea is possible because
Siletz has property, already in trust,
in North Salem off I-5 at exit
258. The Grand Ronde casino
is nearby.
A unique aspect of the Siletz
proposal, as stated in their an-
nouncement:
This casino, if it happens,
“will give Oregon tribes the op-
portunity to come together to
share 25 percent of the net rev-
enue of the entertainment fa-
cility.”
The plan as announced calls
for 50 percent of net revenues
to be distributed with participat-
ing tribes, and another 25 per-
cent to go to the state and local
governments.
RETURN SERVICE
REQUESTED
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Oxbow
project
dedication
The Confederated Tribes this
week are celebrating the completion
of the fish habitat restoration work
on the Oxbow Conservation Area.
The official on-site celebration is
planned for this Thursday, May 11,
beginning at 10 a.m.
The Oxbow Conservation Area
is located on the Middle Fork of
the John Day River.
After the opening ceremonies on
Thursday, the Natural Resources
Branch will host a tour of the
project, with stops at the various
phases—there were five of them—
of the overall work.
After more than 15 years of
planning and work, the 1,022-acre
Oxbow is now one of the largest
stream restoration projects in Or-
egon.
The work involved the planting
of tens of thousands of trees, the
movement of many tons of earth,
the placement of river restoring
structures, among other aspects.
The project restores habitat on
two miles of the Middle Fork of
the John Day that was severely al-
tered by dredge mining in the early
1940s. This project is also adjacent
to another restoration project com-
pleted in 2009, so over 2.5 miles of
the river has been restored in this
area.
The Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs acquired the prop-
erty in 2001, through a mitigation
funding program with the
Bonneville Power Administration.
Tribal Natural Resources and
Fisheries began developing an ap-
proach to determine how to go
about reversing the damage and re-
building a healthy river. The next
decade and more saw the five-phase
effort that has returned the once
badly damaged site back into a pro-
ductive fishery.
Honor
Seniors Day
on Friday
Warm Springs Honor Seniors
Day will celebrate its Twenty-Sev-
enth Anniversary this Friday, May
12.
Honor Seniors Day, hosted by the
Warm Springs Senior Program, is
the popular event that sees hun-
dreds of guests from around the
region visiting the reservation.
Most of the activities happen at
the Agency Longhouse, throughout
the day. Trips to the casino are also
a popular feature.
Volunteers of all kinds are
needed. If you would like to help,
contact the Senior Program at 553-
3313.