Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
February 12, 2020 - Vol. 45, No. 4
Wiyak’ik’ila – Winter - Anm
Forestry, Council look at 2020 timber sale
Timber practices on the reser-
vation have changed greatly over
the recent decades. The 2020 Wil-
low Summit timber sale is a good
example.
Natural Resources and Forestry
reviewed the sale last week with
Tribal Council. Some of their dis-
cussion illustrates how the forestry
practices have changed, specifically
how the allowable cut has by ne-
cessity been reduced.
The Willow Summit sale will
be in the northwest area of the
reservation, by Willow Springs
and Summit Butte, the features
that give their names to the sale,
said Matt Jimenez, the tribes’
area forester.
The sale will involve about 26.5
million board feet of timber, with
revenue going to the tribes’ gen-
eral fund, including areas such as
the Senior Pension, funded through
such projects.
Forestry and Natural Resources
began looking at the aspects of this
sale back in 2018, Mr. Jimenez
said. The inter-disciplinary team
developed a target area of about
17,000 acres from which to de-
velop the sale. Trees in the area
are from plantings of decades ago,
now coming within the harvestable
inventory.
Over the past two years the
team has developed a plan for miti-
gation of impacts to huckleberries,
wildlife and fisheries, fire, etc.
Some of the discussion with
Council showed how the reserva-
tion timber practice has seen a dra-
matic change: Most obviously, the
26.5 million board feet is within the
sustainable level as determined by
Natural Resources, Forestry and
the committee. Sustainability
means the harvest of timber is
below the amount of the for-
est growth.
The board feet of the Wil-
low Summit sale can be com-
pared with sales of three de-
cades ago, for instance, when
the reservation allowable cut
was more than 100 million
board feet.
To ensure long-term reser-
vation forest health, “It is get-
ting harder to develop a sale,”
Mr. Jimenez said, as
sustainability now is a top pri-
ority of the tribal forest prac-
tice.
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
From
Housing
The Warm Springs Housing Au-
thority invites the community to an
information session on from noon
to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Febru-
ary 19.
The meeting will be in the gym-
nasium of the former elementary
school. Lunch will be served.
Topics will be current and up-
coming Housing projects, including
items such as permanent support-
ive housing, a project to help ad-
dress homelessness; and a tax credit
housing development, among other
subjects.
2 art awards
this year
Forty-Third
Lincoln’s
The Confederated
Tribes and Simnasho
community this month
hosted the Forty-Third
Annual Lincoln’s Pow-
wow.
These are some of the
images from Saturday at
the powwow, as captured
by photographer Jayson
Smith.
(Powwow results in the
next Spilyay Tymoo.)
Council, staff discuss ‘IRMP III’ process
The Integrated Resource Man-
agement Plans of the Confeder-
ated Tribes provide a framework
for planning and managing the
lands of the reservation. At this
point there are two Integrated Re-
source Management Plans: IRMP
I and IRMP II, guiding the man-
agement of the forest land of the
reservation, and the rangeland of
the reservation.
The third component of the
overall approach calls for what has
been called ‘IRMP III,’ which
would guide the management and
use of land in the residential, com-
mercial and industrial areas of the
reservation, particularly the Warm
Springs area.
The first two components—
Forest, and Rangeland—have been
in effect for a number of years, as
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
approved by Tribal Council. The
third component, regarding the
zoning and management of the
residential and industrial areas, is
yet to be reviewed, modified as
needed, and adopted by Tribal
Council.
This is an important part of the
reservation planning: The third
component of the integrated plan-
ning would “provide a balanced ap-
proach between protection and
utilization of tribal resources
within the community and indus-
trial areas…,” according to an pre-
vious draft resolution of Council.
Governmental Affairs director
Louie Pitt, and Natural Resources
general manager Robert Brunoe
updated Tribal Council last week
on the status of ‘IRMP III.’ The
document could eventually go by
a different title, such as ‘Commu-
nity Zoning,’ as it would effectively
formalize existing zoning designa-
tions.
Tribal Council members said
that approaching the existing draft
document would be much more
productive if the tribes had a tribal
planner on staff. The planner po-
sition has been vacant for some
time, since former planner Lonny
Macy left.
“We need a planner if we want
to get a finished product before
the community,” said Councilman
Wilson Wewa. The draft document
is more than 100 pages long. The
introduction itself indicates why a
planner would be essential in its re-
view, and eventual adoption and
implementation:
“The Integrated Resource Man-
agement Plan for the Commu-
nity and Industrial Areas (IRMP
III) contains six chapters and ap-
pendices…. This management
plan provides guidelines for the
stewardship of human and natu-
ral resources within the commu-
nity and industrial areas, and
serves as a basis for making man-
agement decisions on the Warm
Springs Reservation….”
An issue is that the existing
pay scale for the tribal planner
is not competitive with many off-
reservation communities such as
cities and counties. An immedi-
ate issue then, in adopting the
‘IRMP III’ document, would be
to find a way to adjust the tribal
planner pay scale to attract the
qualified candidate.
Dave McMechan
Through an exchange this year,
the Oregon Folklife Network is
partnering with a prestigious Euro-
pean museum for the event Explor-
ing Indigeneity, Place, Traditions and
Transmission. The Folklife Network
for its part is examing Pacific North-
west Native American heritage,
through women’s traditions or re-
galia making and storytelling.
The Folklife Network has cho-
sen Roberta Kirk as a representa-
tive of the Northwest, for her work
with Wasco bead-, shell work and
regalia. As part of the program,
Ms. Kirk will travel to Romania, in
southeastern Europe, presenting at
the Alexandru Stefulescu Gorj Mu-
seum.
Roberta was chosen for this
honor along with Esther Stutzman,
of the Coos-Kalapuya, who will
demonstrate storytelling and lan-
guage revitalization. Through the
exchange, the Romanian artists will
present traditional folk costumes,
rug weaving, icon painting and
woodcarvings: These will be at the
University of Oregon’s museums,
and U of O Knight Library in May.
In itself this honor would make
for a memorable year. Yet Ms. Kirk
this month also heard from the First
Peoples Fund—a national organiza-
tion supporting Native American
artists and culture bearers. The First
Peoples Fund selection committee
named four individuals as recipients
of the 2020 Jennifer Easton Com-
munity Spirit Award.
This year Roberta joins three other
artists as the recipients of this award.
With this Community Spirit award the
First People’s Fund “recognizes ex-
ceptional artists who have shown a
continued commitment to perpetuat-
ing their art, and sharing within their
communities.”
With the First Peoples Fund
Community Spirit Award, Roberta
will be presenting her beadwork,
leatherwork, fashion design and cu-
linary arts. The other award recipi-
ents—two from Washington and one
from New Mexico—will show bas-
ketry techniques, weaving, painting
and sculpture.
With these two recognition hon-
ors 2020 clearly will be a memo-
rable year of culture and traditional
arts for Roberta Kirk.