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Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
A Year in Review ~ 2020 ~
The following are some of the
memorable news events during 2020
on the reservation.
January
T he year 2020 began with the
Warm Springs Complete Count
Committee planning for the 2020
U.S. Census.
The goal of the Warm Springs
2020 Census organizers is to get
an accurate count of the people
living on the reservation. The Cen-
sus determines the allocation of
close to $700 billion in federal
funds—distribution based on the
population of the particular place.
According to one estimate: For
each person not counted who
should be counted, some $3,000
in federal support for services is
lost. And reservations see an av-
erage estimated undercount of al-
most 5 percent.
According to a report released
last week: Native Americans are
the most undercounted group on
the U.S. Census. Census Day 2020
is April 1, and the count is sched-
uled to run into mid summer.
J anuary 2020 at the Museum
at War m Springs brought the
Twenty-Seventh Annual Youth Art
Exhibit. “Each year we celebrate the
creativity and talents of our tribal
youth,” said Natalie Kirk, museum
curator and exhibits coordinator.
About the upcoming show,
which opened January 23, Ms. Kirk
says, “Discover masterpieces cre-
ated by the hearts of our youth of
Warm Springs, and see first-hand
how art can positively affect our
community and young minds. The
exhibition will cherish the vibrant
creativity unlocked by local tribal
youth.”
T he team working on the state
Missing and Murdered Indigenous
People initiative met with the
Warm Springs tribal community in
January. The state legislature in
2019 created with the MMIP task
force, providing resources to help
address one of the most serious
problems among tribes. Terri Davie
of the Oregon State Police is lead-
ing the team.
She and Mitch Sparks, of the
Oregon Legislative Commission on
Indian Services, met with Tribal
Council, and then the tribal com-
munity, hearing ideas on how to
improve public safety response to
the MMIP crisis.
P ower and Water applied for a
$200,000 grant to assess the po-
tential of groundwater resources
on tribal land. Results of the study
could help determine the potential
use of groundwater for domestic
service, or a commercial potential
such as a water bottling business.
The domestic water source for
much of the reservation currently
is the Deschutes River. Water is
drawn from the river at the treat-
ment plant in the Dry Creek area.
The use of treated surface wa-
ter as the source of domestic
drinking water is common, espe-
cially for larger communities.
Groundwater, though, has advan-
tages: Filtration through the earth
helps clean the groundwater.
T he work is rewarding—chal-
lenging for sure, and for this rea-
son rewarding. Starla Green has a
lifetime of cooking experience—
from a longhouse helper as a child,
to her successful commercial food
business.
Starla joined the Warm Springs
Community Action Team last fall,
working now as the WSCAT Food
Courtesy
Charisse Heath and friends in January invite contestants to
compete at the 2020 Miss Warm Springs Pageant.
Cart manager and trainer. The
food cart—the Twisted Teepee—
is by the Action Team office on
campus. For now Starla opens for
lunch Wednesdays through Fridays.
D uring the first month of the
new year Tribal Council met with
its committees—Fish and Wildlife,
both On- and Off-Reservation;
Timber, Health and Welfare, Land
Use, Range and Ag, during this
week. Council review then contin-
ued with Human Resources, Fi-
nance, Governmental Affairs,
Managed Care, Administrative Ser-
vices and Procurement. Branches
were up next—Tribal Court and
Public Safety, Natural Resources,
Health and Human Ser vices,
Education and Utilities.
January also saw the Affiliated
Tribes of Northwest Indians 2020
winter convention.
February
T imber 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 in February 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.
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. The inter-disci-
plinary team developed a target
area of about 17,000 acres from
which to develop 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
mitigation of impacts to huckle-
berries, 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 forest
growth.
T he Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs this moth was cho-
sen to host and conduct the first
2020 census count for the entire
state of Oregon.
As with other rural areas, and
reservations in particular, Warm
Springs contends with being un-
der-represented during census
counts.
December 2, 2020
To help address this problem,
the U.S. Census Bureau for the
Western region contacted the
tribes earlier this month. Julie
Lam, census regional director,
based in Los Angeles, wrote to the
tribes: “We value our partnership
with the tribe, and are committed
to a complete and accurate count
of our nation’s first peoples,” Ms.
Lam said in a letter to Council
Chairman Raymond Tsumpti.
The tribes and regional Census
Center are now planning an event
for Thursday, March 12.
N ew
funding will become
available for the 2020-21 school
year at the Warm Springs Acad-
emy.
The funding, available after
July 1, will create new staff and
teacher positions, helping con-
tinue student improvement, said
Ken Parshall, school district su-
perintendent.
Student success at the Academy
has seen great improvement, es-
pecially over the past few years;
“and we’re planning additional in-
vestments at the K through 8,” Mr.
Parshall said.
An aspect of the new programs
will be addressing gaps that a stu-
dent may have in math or literacy
from a previous grade.
W arm Springs Geo Visions is
a semi-finalist in Honoring Nations
2020, an award recognition given
only to the most deserving of
tribal enterprises across the coun-
try.
Honoring Nations is an award
of the Harvard Project on Ameri-
can Indian Economic Develop-
ment, and the Native Nations In-
stitute of the University of Ari-
zona.
( Review continues on page 5)
T he
tribal vehicle closed
some time ago, due to various fac-
tors, and the building now stands
empty at the industrial park. The
vehicle pool and its equipment
could be put to use as an auto-
motive school, said Valerie
Switzler, general manager of the
tribal Education Branch. Ms.
Switzler reviewed the progress of
this project in January at Tribal
Council. A funding source for
an automotive school is Career
Technical Education, CTE; in
par tnership with the War m
Springs office of the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act,
WOIA—Workforce Develop-
ment.
The Confederated Tribes and the Simnasho community in February 2020 hosted the Forty-Third
Annual Lincoln’s Powwow. This image was captured on Saturday at the powwow by Jayson Smith.