Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
December 20, 2017
Page 7
A Year in Review ~ 2017
June
Students at the Warm Springs
Academy got to see a test flight of
a high-altitude helium bal-
loon—the kind that will launch here
during the August 21 solar eclipse.
The Space Grant Consortium
NASA partnership and Academy
conducted the balloon demonstra-
tion.
The architect working with the
Warm Springs Veterans Memo-
rial Park Committee revealed a
design for the project. Meanwhile
the funding details are being ham-
mered out. Architects Statsny Brun
also designed the museum, and are
donating services to the memorial
park committee. Elsewhere:
Workers have installed the un-
derground fuel tanks at the Plateau
Travel Plaza. The walls are going
up for the main building, and the
steel frames are in place for the
canopies over the gas and diesel
pumps. The project is a little over
three months into construction, and
on schedule. With the framing in
place, the various components of
the operation are coming into view:
There is the main entrance way
leading to the convenience store.
The restaurant with seating for 70
is to the back right. In June on the
reservation:
When it first opened in the
1970s, Kah-Nee-Ta was the pre-
mier resort in the region.
“The playing field has changed
significantly since then,” said Jim
Manion, Kah-Nee-Ta board mem-
ber. “Now we have to find our
niche—to make this a unique expe-
rience—and become competitive
again.” The hope is to find a part-
ner to take over management, and
make investment at the resort. Else-
where:
The tribes’ carbon seques-
tration project, through Ventures
and GeoVisions, is moving into a
final phase. The concluding process
involves detailed third-party verifi-
cation, registration, and then sale of
the credits.
July
The Jefferson County School
District 509-J board and school of-
ficials hope to continue the Ma-
dras High School Junior Reserve
Officers Training Corps pro-
gram.
The board and new superinten-
dent Ken Parshall heard testimony
in July from the public on the
JROTC program.
The meeting room was at ca-
pacity for this topic in particular.
Many in attendance were military
veterans. All those who spoke were
very much in favor of finding a
way to continue the high school
JROTC program in the next school
year.
Native Aspirations and Health
and Human Services have been
working on plans for a three-day
event for the August 21 solar
eclipse.
The Native Sol Eclipse Fest will
be August 19-21 at the grassy area
behind the Family Resource Cen-
ter, in front of the Behavioral
Health Center.
There will be live music perfor-
mances, and food and merchan-
dise vendors.
The Natural Resources Branch
hired five youth to work on
projects through the summer.
Seven more young people, part of
the Native Aspirations program,
are also working with Natural Re-
sources. In July the youth Natural
Resources team made a trip to
Willamette Falls for eeling.
The group collected more than
1,400 eels. These are to be shared
with elders and others in the com-
munity.
Tribal Council took a step to-
ward financing the Cannabis
Project, or CP Enterprise. The
next important step will be the
General Council meeting set for
Monday evening, July 24. In a
narrow vote last week, Tribal
Council approved the formation
of Warm Springs Financial Strat-
egies, a limited liability corporation
wholly owned by the tribes.
The sole purpose of Financial
Strategies LLC is to provide financ-
ing for membership-approved
capital improvements and eco-
nomic development, such as CP
Enterprise.
Tribal Council voted in July to
continue the War m Springs
Timber Co. beyond the current
year. Council early this year
approved the enterprise to operate
through 2017. The vote this month
allows the company to continue as
long as the Council sees positive
results.
(Continued)
Great American Eclipse comes to Warm Springs
One of the best places in the
U.S. to view the Great
American Eclipse was the
Warm Springs Reservation.
For the Monday, August 21
event, the Warm Springs
Academy hosted a team of
scientists who launched the
high altitude balloons. Tribal
Aspirations and Health and
Human Services hosted the
Native Sol festival.
Public Safety staff were on
hand through the weekend
and the day of the event. The
Kah-Nee-Ta Resort, the Confed-
erated Tribes and the Warm Springs
TERO this week are hosting the
2017 National TERO conven-
tion.
Tribal TERO officials were on
hand from many tribes, including
Blackfeet, Colville, Umatilla,
Hoopa Valley, Makah, Navajo,
Nez Perce, Northern Cheyenne,
Quechan, Seminole, Tohono and
Yakama. The national TERO con-
vention began 40 years ago, with
the first convention held at Kah-
Nee-Ta.
August
About 680 students returned to
class this week at the War m
Springs Academy. The year be-
gan early this year, made possible
by an Extended Learning Grant. In
other school news:
Tribal languages and culture
once are again part of the regular
school day for younger students
with 509-J, but the district discon-
tinued the program some years ago.
This year marks the return of
the tribal Language program to the
regular school day at the Warm
Springs Academy.
Culture and Heritage had been
teaching the languages and culture
during Rise & Shine, before the start
of the school. With the start of
the 2017-18 school, the languages
are now an elective course for stu-
Jayson Smith photo
picture at top is of the ‘Ring
Effect,’ taken by Iljitsch van
Beijnum, who visited Warm
Springs from The
dents, taught during the regular
school day. And this:
The future of health care, and
the threat from North Korea were
two of the main topics of discus-
sion at the Senator Ron Wyden
town hall meeting last week in
Warm Springs.
The town hall at the War m
Springs Academy was the first by
the Senator on the reservation. It
was his eight-hundred and forty-sec-
ond town hall since becoming a U.S.
Senator in 1996, his sixty-second
town hall this year.
September
DMJ Cattle this month hosted
the Western States Regional
Finals Rodeo, a first for Central
Oregon.
In the past, the event—a year-
end chance to qualify for the Fi-
nals Rodeo in Las Vegas—has been
held in Klamath Falls.
This year the usual organizers
couldn’t host the event, and the
DMJ stepped up and agreed to help.
It was a lot of work with not much
time, but the family put in a great
effort. Elsewhere:
Oregon now has a state law
recognizing the importance of
accurate Native American his-
tory and culture lessons in the
public school system. During this
Oregon legislative session, Coun-
cilwoman and Culture and Heritage
director Val Switzler testified two
times in favor of Senate Bill 13,
signed into law this month by Gov.
Kate Brown.
The downtown, or campus area
of Warm Springs holds an eco-
nomic development opportunity
for the tribes. The vision of the
downtown plan is for small busi-
ness development, serving resi-
dents of the reservation, and visi-
tors from Highway 26.
The tribes are planning the re-
moval of several old and aban-
doned buildings on the campus.
Meanwhile, the War m Springs
Community Action Team has been
working on a project that could
help the downtown plan.
A key component of the
WSCAT program involves the ‘old
commissary’ building—an historic
structure—currently located by the
Post Office and police station.
Based on public input, WSCAT
is now pursuing a plan to move the
old commissary to the lot by High-
way 26, at Paiute Avenue and Sum-
mer Street. The renovated build-
ing could then be a small business
Hague, Netherlands. And
above, a family enjoys the
eclipse at the Academy.
incubator, said Dustin Seyler,
WSCAT finance counselor and
small business advisor.
October
The tribes are taking a step to-
ward a new beginning at Kah-
Nee-Ta. Along the way the re-
sort will receive attention that is
overdue. A major investment in
Kah-Nee-Ta requires a partner.
Tribal Council and the resort
board met this month with Tom
Hansen and Michael Gaskin, se-
nior partners with AV Northwest.
Over the past several weeks the
parties have worked on an agree-
ment that will lead to a long-term
lease of Kah-Nee-Ta to AV North-
west. For its part the company
will invest about $17 million in the
resort.
James Edmund Greeley first
played a Native flute about 20
years ago. About two and a half
years ago James began working on
what would become the album
Before America.
He recorded the songs at the
Portland studio of Ibori Records.
After two years of work, he re-
leased Before America in 2016.
The album this month won the
Best Traditional Recording at
the 2017 Native American
Music Awards.
One of the more popular ex-
hibits each year at the Museum at
Warm Springs is the Tribal Mem-
ber Art Show. This year the
Judges Choice Award in the Tra-
ditional category went to Roberta
Kirk for In Beauty I Walk and
Dance, dentalium beaded dress with
dentalium breast plate. The Judges
Choice Award in the Contempo-
rary category went to Travis Bobb
for Queen of the Amazon, oil and
air brush on gesso board.
November
Tribal Council last week ap-
proved a request from the Kah-
Nee-Ta board to proceed with a
lease agreement with the new in-
vestment partner, AV Northwest.
AV Northwest will manage the
resort operation and make substan-
tial investment, perhaps $16 million,
for improvements at the property.
The Department of Interior
has signed the land buy-back co-
operative agreement with the Con-
federated Tribes of Warm Springs.