Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
December 19, 2018
Page 7
Treaty: arrives at Museum at Warm Springs for rare display
(Continued from page 5)
The museum partnered with the
High Desert Museum in Bend to
fabricate a new exhibit case to
NARA specifications. The museum’s
archivist Evaline Patt selected six
pages of the treaty to be displayed,
including the signature pages.
In late September, on a sunny,
cool, and crisp morning, Carol met
NARA conser vator Beatriz
Centeno and I at our hotel in Ma-
dras, and we drove to the museum,
where we to discussed plans for the
installation of the treaty.
Claus Koch from Security Pros
joined us to review security proto-
cols while the treaty was on site.
Later that morning, Gus Brad-
ley and Cindy Bradley from the
High Desert Museum joined us.
Gus and his colleague Dustin
Cockerham had fabricated the case
in Bend.
Our greatest challenge was low
relative humidity. With the very help-
ful museum staff, we were able to
have the relative humidity in the
gallery raised up to an acceptable
and sustainable level (in the weeks
that followed, regular reports
showed the environment inside the
case was being maintained within
Photo courtesy Jim Zeender
The 2018 Museum at Warm Springs Treaty Exhibit installation team: Museum curator Natalie Kirk,
former director Carol Leone, Joseph Brisbois, Cindy Bradley and Gus Bradley (from left).
NARA’s specified limits). When all
was ready, National Archives con-
servator Beatriz Centeno carefully
placed each of the six pages into
the display case. After taking some
time to obtain balanced light lev-
els, everyone agreed the case could
be closed.
With our mission completed,
Carol took us on a driving tour of
the high desert, and we rode out
to the Deschutes River Dam.
On our way back to the airport
in Portland, we traveled through
the Cascade Mountains and had
great views of the majestic Mount
Hood.
Meanwhile, the museum
hosted a prayer service to bless
the arrival of the Treaty.
On October 25-27 the Mu-
seum at Warm Springs hosted a
Treaty conference, where Living
Treasures awards were presented
to Redline Billy, Geraldine Jim,
Foster Kalama ‘Ku-Na,’ Arlita
Rhoan and Maxine Switzler.
We are most grateful to former
museum executive director Carol
Leone and her talented staff, espe-
cially Natalie Kirk, Sunmiet Maben,
and Joseph Brisbois for their warm
welcome and help in making the
installation go so smoothly. Dana
Whitelaw, Director, Dustin
Cockerham, Head Preparator, Gus
Bradley, Assistant Preparator, and
Cindi Bradley, Director of Exhib-
its at the High Desert Museum pro-
A Year in Review ~ 2018 ~
also works part time; so her time
for fundraising is limited.
To raise the travel money,
Thyreicia’s family and friends de-
cided to host a Coronation and
Banquet. Elsewhere:
April
April 2018 saw the grand open-
ing of the Plateau Travel Plaza,
project of the Confederated
Tribes and Indian Head Casino.
Many customers, tribal members
and friends showed up for the
opening day.
The Travel Plaza offers some
many amenities—convenience
store and fuel stations, restaurant
and gaming room, laundry facili-
ties and large parking area for
trucks—for local residents and vis-
iting travelers.
The Travel Plaza and casino
hosted a number of job fairs lead-
ing up to the opening, with tribal
members hired for most of the
new positions. In other news:
Mary Olney was chosen as the
2018 Wheeler County Fair and
Rodeo Queen—a first for both
War m Springs and Wheeler
County. Mary is a junior at Ma-
dras High School, where she ex-
cels at academics, being an Honor
Society student.
She plays varsity softball, and
is president of the Lyle Gap 4-H
Livestock Club. Mary was voted
incoming president of the Future
Far mers of America Madras
Chapter. The Wheeler Fair and
Rodeo is coming up this summer.
Elsewhere:
Tribal Council and management
learned that decontaminating the
Agency Longhouse—closed to
the public earlier this year—will
cost more than initially thought.
Upon inspection of the building,
cleaning companies said they could
not address the methamphetamine
contamination until the completion
of asbestos and lead paint mitiga-
tion.
This would require two con-
secutive bids—first for the asbes-
tos-lead paint mitigation, followed
by the methamphetamine decon-
tamination. And meanwhile:
The deadline to respond to a
purchase offer from the Warm
Springs Land Buy Back pro-
gram is this month. The percent-
age of respondents wishing to take
part was not as high as had been
expected.
Spilyay photo
Gaming board chairwoman Fran Ahern addresses the gathering at
the grand opening. With her in the picture are board members Ted
Kulongoski and Elizabeth Furse, Miss Warm Springs Thyreicia
Simtustus, and Tribal Councilwoman Brigette McConville.
A major funding piece of the
Warm Springs ballfields renova-
tion project came into place in
April.
The Oregon Parks and Recre-
ation grants division this month
awarded the tribes $360,500 to
help complete the work. The tribes
will match this amount, bringing the
total budget for the renovation to
$721,000. In youth sports news:
The Warm Springs Academy
Eagles hosted a three-school
track and field meet. This was
the first track and field meet hosted
by the Academy. And this:
An emerging tradition in Warm
Springs is the Welcome Home
Vietnam Veterans Parade and
Expo, hosted by the Eugene ‘Cou-
gar’ Greene Sr. American Legion
Post and Auxiliary No. 48. This
year the parade and expo were held
the last Saturday of April. In a le-
gal development:
A federal judge has approved a
new U.S. v. Oregon fisheries man-
agement agreement, as proposed
by Columbia River treaty tribes,
states and federal agencies.
The approval is a great achieve-
ment for the tribes, and all parties
involved—Warm Springs, Yakama,
Umatilla, Nez Perce and Shoshone
Bannock; the states of Oregon,
Washington and Idaho; U.S. Fish
and Wildlife, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration,
and the BIA.
Originally filed 50 years ago, U.S.
v. Oregon became among the long-
est-standing open lawsuits in U.S.
history. But then in approving the
new U.S. v. Oregon management
plan, the judge in the case closed
U.S. v. Oregon. The Judge’s action
to close the case came as a surprise
to all of the parties to the case, who
plan to ask for a reconsideration of
the closure.
May
There is much to like about the
Lil’ Miss Warm Springs Pag-
eant. “It’s great seeing all the sup-
porters, the family and friends who
show their support,” said Norene
Sampson, Recreation fitness coor-
dinator, who also helps with Lil’ Miss
Warm Springs.
This May at the pageant, the
judges chose Jessica Bruised Head
as 2018-19 Senior Lil’ Miss Warm
Springs, Junior Lil’ Miss Warm
Springs Julia Wolfe, and Lil’ Miss
Warm Springs Kyra Eastman. In
other pageant news:
2108-19 Miss Warm Springs
Thyreicia Simtustus has been invited
and hopes to attend powwows and
other tribal events in 2018, repre-
senting the Confederated Tribes.
There is a need for funding for her
travel expenses, though, as there is
no tribal budget for Miss Warm
Springs. Thyreicia goes to Central
Oregon Community College, and
Warm Springs Power and Wa-
ter Enterprises has been research-
ing the possibility of developing a
solar farm on the reservation.
Power and Water has worked
with an experienced partner, Cy-
press Creek Renewables, on some
of the preliminary research, keep-
ing Tribal Council updated from
time to time. And tribal leaders
met this month with Cypress Creek
for a tour of the solar farms east
of Bend. Elsewhere:
Tribal executive management
announced the start this week of
phase 2 of the BIA obsolete build-
ing abatement and demolition
project.
Phase 2 will be in Warm Springs
and at Simnasho, namely the old
Simnasho school. Work includes
the abatement and cleanup of
buildings, demolition of the build-
ings, and removal of underground
storage tanks. In sporting news:
The Warm Springs Academy
Eagles track and field teams
had a tremendous day at the Dis-
trict Championships at Gilchrist.
The students, in grades 6, 7 and
8, won 13 individual district titles,
plus numerous runner-up and top
three finishes. The Eagles were
competing against teams from 12
other schools. Also in May:
The Warm Springs Meth and
Opioid Work Group is working
on a resolution with specific steps
to help address drug-related prob-
lems on the reservation.
The work group this month pre-
sented a draft resolution to Tribal
Council, listing some of the adverse
consequences the tribes are expe-
riencing due to meth, other drugs
and alcohol abuse.
June
The critically acclaimed
Netflix series The OA was film-
ing in Warm Springs in June. And
vided invaluable assistance that
helped make the treaty display pos-
sible. Back home at the National
Archives, Patrick Kepley, Jane
Fitzgerald, Michael Hussey, Beatriz
Centeno, and Abigail Aldrich helped
with all the essential preparations
behind the scenes.
Interested in learning more
about Native American records?
At the National Archives, we are
in the process of digitizing hun-
dreds of Indian Treaties. They will
soon be available for free on our
online catalog. Our Professional
Development webinars will feature
Native American themes during
the coming year.
At the National Museum of the
American Indian in Washington,
DC, visitors can view the original
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 in the
“Nation to Nation” exhibition.
And for even more information
about Native American records at
the National Archives, visit our
website.
(This article was originally pub-
lished as a National Archives blog ,
and is reprinted here with permission,
at request of the Museum at Warm
Springs.)
(Continued )
the show from some local talent
to serve as extras. Elsewhere in
June:
For years the D r y C r e e k
Landfill has been used for ille-
gal dumping, including dangerous
and toxic chemicals, and the prob-
lem has now reached a level of
serious concern.
The issue has come to the at-
tention of the U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency, and the
need to plan for a long-term solu-
tion is now at hand. In land-use
news:
The second wave of offers
from the Warm Springs Land
Buy Back program continued
in June. The earlier buy-back
resulted in some allotment pur-
chases for the tribes, but the
hope is generate more, prompt-
ing wave 2. And this:
An interesting new exhibit—
Patriot Nations: Native Ameri-
cans in Our Armed Forces—is on
display at the Museum at Warm
Springs. This is a traveling exhibit
from the National Museum of the
American Indian in Washington,
D.C.
Patriot Nations tells the history
of American Indian and Alaska
Native men and women who have
served in the United States mili-
tary.
The Confederated Tribes were
joined in a lawsuit with PGE, re-
garding operation of the selective
water withdrawal, or fish tower,
at the Round Butte dam.
The tribes and PGE co-own
and -operate the hydro-facility.
The plaintiff to the lawsuit, the
Deschutes River Alliance, argues
the temperature of the lower
Deschutes is being affected by
operation of the tower.
This month the tribes cel-
ebrated the Forty-Ninth An-
nual Pi-Ume-Sha in June,
marking the sixty-third anniver-
sary of the signing of the Treaty
of 1855, signed in that year on
June 25.
Meanwhile, the Museum at
War m Springs this week will
open the new exhibit Memory of
the Land: The Treaty of the Middle
Columbia River Tribes and Bands.