Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
February 12, 2020
Coming up this month at Tribal Council
The following are some of
the items scheduled for the
rest of Februar y at Tribal
Council:
Tuesday and Thurs-
day, February 12-14: U.S.
v. Or egon policy meeting
with the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commis-
sion.
Monday, February 17:
Tribal organization closed in
observance of Presidents
Day.
Tuesday, February 18
9 a.m.: Secretary-Trea-
surer update.
10: March agenda/min-
utes.
11: Sold waste landfill
issues with Said Amali,
Herb Fricke and Lonny
Macy.
1:30 p.m.: Legislative up-
date calls.
2:30: Enrollments.
3:30: Development up-
date with Bruce Irwin.
Wednesday, February 19
9 a.m.: Human Re-
sources update with Cheryl
Tom.
10: Finance update with
Alfred Estimo.
11: Governmental Af-
fairs update with Louie Pitt.
1:30 p.m.: Managed Care
update with Michael Collins.
2:30: Administrative Ser-
vices update.
3:30: Procurement up-
date with Libby Chase.
Thursday, February 20
9 a.m.: Tribal Court up-
date.
10: Public Safety update.
11: Natural Resources
update.
1:30 p.m.: Health and
Human Services update.
2:30: Education update.
3:30: Public Utilities up-
date.
Monday, February 24
9 a.m.: Preliminary De-
cember financials.
10: TERO update.
11: Gaming Commis-
sion/Surveillance update.
1:30 p.m.: U.S. Forest
Ser vice/NOAA meeting
(tentative) with Robert
Brunoe.
Thursday, Februar y
27: Deschutes River Alli-
ance v. PGE and the Con-
federated Tribes mediation
session.
Items for further con-
sideration: Inter-Tribal
Timber Commission meet-
ing. Policy meeting: Colum-
bia Housing project.
Mass design group/
Willamette Falls Tr ust.
Tribal Stewards program
update.
Southern Oregon Uni-
versity president visit.
NACI mid-year conference.
TERO training.
State of Indian Nations kicks off busy week for tribal leaders
The National Congress of
American Indians kicked off
a busy week of events in
Washington, D.C., as NCAI
president Fawn Sharp deliv-
ered her first address as the
new leader of the largest in-
ter-tribal advocacy organiza-
tion in the U.S.
Ms. Sharp, who also
serves as president of the
Quinault Nation, gave the
State of Indian Nations on
Monday morning. The an-
nual address helps NCAI
present its priorities, highlight
successes and outline chal-
lenges facing tribes as they
seek to hold the U.S. ac-
countable to its trust and
treaty obligations.
“Every single tribal nation
across this continent and
around this world is full of
mighty, unstoppable power,”
Sharp has said. She is the
third woman in NCAI’s his-
tory to win election as the
organization’s president.
Since NCAI’s Seventy-
Sixth Annual convention,
which took place in Albu-
querque, New Mexico, Sharp
has continued to advocate
for some of Indian Country’s
most pressing needs. Just a
couple of weeks ago, she
helped lead a large tribal del-
egation at a critical court
hearing, where the ability of
tribes to protect their most
valuable and vulnerable as-
set through the Indian Child
Welfare Act, came under at-
tack.
“The rights that we are
advocating were not given to
us by anyone. They were not
given to us by Congress, they
were not given to us by any
state,” Sharp said at the time.
“These rights exist by vir-
tue of who we are as Indig-
enous peoples and tribal na-
tions.”
The days since that hear-
ing have been busy for Sharp.
In addition to addressing the
needs of her people on the
Quinault Nation in Washing-
ton state, she helped the Af-
filiated Tribes of Northwest
Indians, an organization she
once led as president, wrap
up a successful winter meet-
ing in Portland.
The travels put Sharp to-
gether with another promi-
nent Native woman leader:
Rep. Deb Haaland of New
Mexico, who is one of the
first two Native women in
Congress also was in Port-
land to meet with North-
west tribes.
The pair are sharing the
spotlight once again, this
time in the nation’s capital.
Following Sharp’s address,
Haaland delivered a re-
sponse from a Congressional
perspective, reprising a role
she played last year after her
historic rise to the halls of
power in D.C.
Starting on Tuesday,
NCAI began its executive
council winter session. The
event is being held at the
Capital Hilton, not far from
the White House.
Page 7
Howlak Tichum
Lillian Jo Blackwolf ~ Ch’ili
November 23, 1972 – January 28, 2020
Lillian was born to
parents Kennth W.
Blackwolf and Mary Lee
(Squiemphen) Wolfe.
She was an enrolled
member of the Confed-
erated Tribes of Warm
Springs Reservation of
Oregon.
Maternal Grandpar-
ents were the late Autwai
Ardis (Scott) and
Lawrence Squiemphen
Sr. Paternal grandpar-
ents were the late Autwai
Julia (Ike) and Ellery
Wolfe.
Lillian’s siblings are
the late Autwai Leander
Douglas Wolfe, Charles
Wolfe, and Hiram Yaw
Sr. Living siblings are
brothers Avery American
Horse, Melvin Stahi Jr.;
and sisters Angeline
Blackwolf, Mary Ann
Stahi and Agnes Stahi.
Her children who pre-
ceded her in death are
Martin
Sconawah,
Arnald Sconawah II,
Kenneth Sconawah, Jo-
seph Sconawah II. Her
surviving children are
sons Matthew Sconawah
II, Jeremiah Blackwolf,
and daughter Mary Lee
Sconawah.
Lillian lived most of
her life on the reserva-
tion of the Confeder-
ated Tribes of War m
Springs. She also lived in
The Dalles, Salem,
Toppenish, Washington,
and Portland.
Lillian loved to spend
time with her children
and all of her family, sis-
ters, brothers, nephews,
neices, grandchildren,
aunts and uncles, grand-
mas and grandpas. Lillian
had a light, and laughter
that lit up a room wher-
ever she entered. Her in-
terests included construc-
tion work, going to the
casino, adult coloring,
reading and studying the
Bible and Verses, listen-
ing to her oldies and
modern R&B, Hip Hop/
Rap. She enjoyed cook-
ing meals for her adult
children and family.
Lillian Jo’s smile, her
laughter and loving ways
will be greatly missed by
all of her children, family
and friends near and far.
Positive snow level at
higher areas of reservation
The snow level at higher elevations of the reser-
vation was above average during the first part of
the year, similar to the situation across the state.
Tribal Natural Resources general manager updated
Tribal Council on the snow level at a meeting to-
ward the end of January.
The January snow survey was an improvement
over the December readings, when the level had
been below average. More snowfall during the first
month of 2020 led to a 120-percent snow level at
higher elevations, Mr. Brunoe said. The report is
good news for fisheries, he said. Some other items
from the late January Natural Resources update:
The tribal farm had a good year in 2019, selling
and delivering hay, and working on equipment. The
farm operation brought in a little over $206,000 in
2019, according to the report.
Meanwhile, final hunter reporting for 2019 at
Natural Resources reflected a good season.
For Your Sweetheart on this Valentine’s Day 2020, from the artist Travis Bobb.
The Community Health Education Team is hosting
a feminine hygiene items drive. Please fee free to
drop off items at the CHET office located at the Family
Resource Center; or contact Jillisa Suppah at 541-
615-0036; or email jillisa.suppah@wstribes.org
Long Memory of the Land with Liz Woody
E
lizabeth Woody,
poet and executive di-
rector the Museum at
Warm Springs, presented
N a t u r e N i g h t —L o n g
Memor y of the Land.
Ms. Woody made the
presentation at the
Deschutes Land Trust
Nature Night.
Here are some
takeaways from her pre-
sentation:
During her presenta-
tion, Elizabeth shared a
brief glimpse into the his-
tories of Indigenous
Peoples in Central Or-
egon:
As a people with
rights and memories of
this land from time im-
memorial, she shared her
understanding and con-
nection with Native life
along the Deschutes and
Columbia rivers.
Elizabeth noted that
colonization continues to
impact the world today, and
that loss of language and a
land-based culture built up
through millennia is a con-
cern.
Engaging these ways of
life, Elizabeth shared, is a
key to living with the land.
Some Columbia River
Peoples’ precepts:
As long as nature is
taken care of, it will take
care of you. Traditional
wisdom is ‘systems thinking.’
Do no harm. Take only
what you need. Let the rest
grow.
To understand a land’s re-
sources respect it enough to
know your own life is at
risk with its loss. Being ‘in’
it and able to see patterns
as interrelationships, and
responsibly adapt.
Elizabeth’s published
works of prose and poetry
include Luminaries of the
Humble and her first book
of poem, Seven Hands,
Seven Hearts.
Elizabeth Woody—
Navajo, Warm Springs,
Wasco and Yakama—
served a two-year term
as Oregon Poet Laure-
ate.
She is a published au-
thor and fine artist. Eliza-
beth received the Ameri-
can Book Award, William
Stafford
Memorial
Award for Poetry from
the Pacific Northwest
Bookseller’s Association,
and was a finalist in po-
etry for the Oregon
Book Awards for 1994;
among other accomplish-
ments.