Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
Vaccinations
for W.S. youth
The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is
now approved for young people
ages 12-15. The Warm Springs
Clinic is hosting a Youth and Ado-
lescent Covid-19 vaccine event this
Wednesday, May 19, and Monday,
May 24.
Hours both days will be from 1
to 7 p.m. at the clinic. No appoint-
ment is needed. For more infor-
mation call 541-553-2131.
Meanwhile, the clinic is also
planning a community event the
first week of June to encourage
the reservation community in the
effort to vaccinate the young
people.
Health workers will be reaching
out by phone to families regarding
the interest in getting the household
child or children vaccinated. They
also encourage parents to give
them a call, 541-553-2131. Either
way, this is a chance to get your
child or children’s names on the
youth vaccination list.
When the young people are get-
ting their vaccines, the clinic can
also provide vaccination to the
adults of the same household, who
have not already had the shot.
Some other covid updates from the
clinic:
If you would like to be tested
for Covid-19, check in at the front
gate at the Warm Springs Health
and Wellness Center and they will
direct you where to go. You should
not get a Covid-19 vaccine if you:
Have had a known Covid-19 ex-
posure and are currently quaran-
tined. Have symptoms of Covid-
19, including cough, fever, short-
ness of breath, or loss of taste and
smell. Also: No vaccine if you have
a pending Covid-19 test; or had any
other vaccine in the past 14 days.
As IHS continues its vaccine
program, covid testing among the
tribal community is trending in the
right direction.
The positivity rate for Warm
Springs last week was 2.2 percent.
For comparison, the rate for the
week of May 3 was 3.28 percent;
and for the week of April 26, the
rate was 7.98 percent.
Tribal Council continues to
require Covid-19 safety stan-
dards on the reser vation:
Masking and social distancing
are required (see page 3). St.
Charles Health System is main-
taining its Covid-19 protocol as
well.
The CDC has not lifted its mask
and social distance guidance for
people using public transportation,
visiting nursing homes, at homeless
shelters, and at prisons.
Some of the latest covid
numbers from War m Springs
IHS:
· The Health and Wellness Cen-
ter has administered more than
10,875 Covid-19 tests since the
pandemic began last spring.
· Over that time, of the total
tested, 757 have come back posi-
tive. Ninety-seven tests of Con-
federated Tribes members have
come back positive from other
facilities, for a total of 854 total
positive cases among the tribal
community.
May 19, 2021 - Vol. 46, No. 10
May – Xawit’an – Spring - Wawaxam
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Water Project opening Saturday
The community is invited this
Saturday, May 22, to the grand
opening of the tribes’ solar-
panel water project, hosted by
the Confederated Tribes, Warm
Springs Economic Develop-
ment and Source Global.
Warm Springs Economic
Development (WSED) has
partnered with Source Global to
create the innovative and new
source of Warm Springs drink-
ing water.
Source Global, based in Ari-
zona, is a public benefit corpo-
ration. The company creates
sustainable drinking water infra-
structure for communities in the
U.S. and around the world.
The technology involves a
‘Source field’ of solar
hydropanels.
The panels harness solar
power to condense water from
the air. The high-quality drink-
ing water will be made avail-
able for the first time to the
tribal community this Saturday
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. WSED
is also making available 2.5 gal-
lon jugs that can be reused; or
you can bring your own jug for
filling.
The panel field is located at
the Warm Springs industrial park
on Holliday Street.
“We’re excited about this. It’s
been a lot of work,” said Jim
Souers, chief executive officer
of WSED . “Now we’re creat-
D.McMechan/Spilyay
Warm Springs Construction crew—Jeremy KillsFirst, Warner Williams Jr. and Warner Williams
Sr.—installing frames for a new set of Source solar-water panels.
ing our own sustainable source of
drinking water, using nothing but
the earth’s renewable resources:
Sunlight and air.”
The Saturday grand opening will
follow covid safety guidelines as
developed by Tribal Council and
the Response Team. After the
opening, the WSED-Source water
distribution site will be open on
Mondays for water refills.
The Source field currently fea-
tures 200 of the solar panels, pro-
ducing about 158 gallons of water
per day. The field eventually will
be three times the current size, and
able to produce up to 720 gallons
a day.
See WATER on page 5
Source
An aerial view of the Source panel field at the industrial park.
Tribal fisheries issue at Willamette Falls
Portland General Electric last
week submitted to the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission
a draft “perpetual cultural prac-
tice easements” for Willamette
Falls property, regarding tribal
fishing at the falls.
The Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs and two other
Treaty Tribes of the Colum-
bia—Yakama and Umatilla—
would not require the ease-
ments, as the tribes rely on their
reserved fishing rights at all
usual and accustomed fishing
stations as specified in their re-
spective ratified treaties of
1855.
PGE operates a hydro-dam
at the falls, and under its hy-
dro-facility license from FERC,
it must ensure that it knows of
and approves of all uses occur-
ring within the license bound-
ary area. The easement de-
scribes tribal cultural activities
that PGE wishes to support, and
for this reason submitted its
draft easements request to
FERC.
The Warm Springs member-
ship has always fished at the
falls, mostly for lamprey in
modern times, and on occasion
for salmon and steelhead as
well.
The reason why PGE has
now felt compelled to file the
FERC ‘perpetual cultural prac-
Mid morning scene at Willamette Falls.
tice easements’ goes back 2018,
when the Confederated Tribes of
the Grand Ronde constructed a
fishing platform at the falls.
The Oregon Department of
State Lands approved the Grand
Ronde application for the plat-
form. Previously, the Oregon De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife
granted the Grand Ronde Tribes a
state fishing permit to harvest 15
salmon and steelhead each year;
and before they received state per-
mission to build a platform, they
fished from the rocks downstream
of the falls. The Grand Ronde
Tribe wanted to fish under its state
license from a platform. However,
the Department of State Lands did
not conduct government-to-gov-
ernment consultation with Warm
Springs, Yakama or Umatilla, all
treaty tribes with fishing rights at
Willamette Falls, before making its
decision to authorize the Grand
Ronde Tribe platform. The treaty
tribes and PGE have a appealed the
DSL approval, citing a number of
errors made by DSL in the process.
The administrative appeal pro-
cess is still pending, as the parties
continue trying to resolve the mat-
ter, said John Ogan, tribal attorney.
While the Department of State
Lands approved the Grand Ronde
application, PGE claims the prop-
erty actually belongs to PGE. If
PGE is the owner of the rocks
where the scaffold is located, then
the state would not have had the
Courtesy
authority to issue the scaffold per-
mit.
A means to resolve the matter
may be to confirm PGE ownership
of the site. And to ensure tribal
fishing access for all tribes, PGE
also would grant the perpetual cul-
tural practice easements.
This would guarantee fishing ac-
cess to members of all tribes claim-
ing historic fishing at Willamette
Falls, including Grand Ronde and
Siletz. Warm Springs, Yakama and
Umatilla would continue to rely on
the usual and accustomed rights as
specified in the treaties of 1855, and
the easement from PGE would add
to, and be consistent with, those pre-
existing treaty reserved access rights,
Mr. Ogan said.