Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
January 22, 2022
January brought transportation challenges
The tribal organization, the Warm
Springs Academy and other schools
of the district were closed for part
of last week, as a winter storm passed
over the area. Jefferson County, the
Sisters District and Crook County
schools had to close because of the
storm, while all other schools in the
region were on a start delay.
The weather event began on the
Monday following New Year’s
weekend, and continued mostly
through the week before clearing
over this past weekend.
Meanwhile last week, transpor-
tation on the reservation was dis-
rupted for a time after a large boul-
der fell from a hillside and closed
one lane of Jackson Trail Road,
around milepost 8. BIA Roads re-
Page 5
Park for day use only
For the health and safety of
the membership, Tribal Coun-
cil has determined that Elmer
Quinn Park is for day use only.
In response, Warm Springs
Police, Emergency Response
and volunteers helped move
transients from the park.
They then cleaned up the
Courtesy KWSO
Boulder on Jackson Trail Road blockeing traffic last week.
sponded. No injuries were reported.
And in another weather-transpor-
tation event: Highway 26 was
closedfor a time last week from
milepost 62 to 96 due to the snow
and downed trees.
They made a difference for the tribes
Hello,
My name is Wa-Thlu-Na. My
given name is Valerie Squiemphen.
I am of Wasco/Warm Springs/
Yakima descent. Wa-Thlu-Na
came from my mother, Udwai,
Rita Squiemphen; which in turn
came from Eva Thomas, who was
Jake Thomas’ eldest daughter.
Jake Thomas was my grandfather,
Udwai Lucinda Smith’s grandfa-
ther.
Wa-Thlu-Na, or Eva Thomas,
was a no nonsense, take charge kind
of woman. My mother used to
take after her, she was the same
kind of strong, Wasco woman.
I’ve been told that I take after my
mother.
Wasco names have no particu-
lar meaning, they are Indian names
given to Wasco people. Wasco
people can choose who they want
to carry on their names. My
mother told me after I became an
adult and a mother, late in my life,
that I would get her Indian name.
I learned a few things about my
parents that I never knew. They
were both very strong leaders in
our community, which I already
knew. They stood up for what was
right and were always looking out
for their people; I knew this as well.
They didn’t just help their own
tribal people, they tried to help
people from either of our three
tribes. It was amazing to me that
they were smart and forward
thinking people. A lot of elders
are stuck in the ‘old days’ and have
‘outdated’ visions. They were par-
ents that I could look up to and
hope that I would become the kind
of people they were. I certainly
don’t have their drive to be on
Tribal Council, but hope I take af-
ter them in other ways.
They were always helping
people, not just on Tribal Council,
but on a personal level. They ap-
plauded the loudest when some-
one graduated from high school
or college, as they both only made
it to the eighth grade. Both of my
parents got their GED’s late in life.
My dad received his Mechanic’s
certification the old way… through
the mail. And I found out while
he was still working at the mill, that
he was short one or two classes
away from getting his Pilot’s li-
cense. He was taking lessons at
the airport in Madras after work.
Plus, he was always reading my
school books that I bought when I
was in college… He was always
willing to learn.
They helped people on the ro-
deo circuit, when people were
short on money getting to the ro-
deo or getting home from the ro-
deo, or if they needed help with
their entry fees. They even loaned
debris that had accumulated
around the park.
Health and Human Services
and Emergency Management
set up a temporary shelter in
the gymnasium at the former
War m Springs elementary
school.
out my Dad’s horse, Buck. My
mother helped out by baking pies
whenever someone lost a family
member. She never asked if they
wanted help, she just did it! Or she
would donate give-away items to a
funeral; she never asked them if
they needed help, she always
stepped up and did it! There was
never an ulterior motive to her
actions. She did it out of the good-
ness of her heart. Same with my
Dad, when he helped someone, he
didn’t expect anything in return. I
used to get mad because I felt that
some people were taking advantage
of them. But they were of the
mind-set that they get what they
deserve.
My parents believed that if we
needed money, we had to work for
it. Whether it was putting the time
and energy in to raise the money
or working our butts off to earn
it. They believed in not taking
handouts from the Tribe if pos-
sible; if we could raise the money,
all the better.
She and my Dad were instru-
mental in putting on the very first
Fire Management potluck/awards
banquet for All of Fire Manage-
ment staff, after a summer of
nothing but fires. She set a date,
then started recruiting the family
members of those workers in Fire
Management. They bought a lot
of the awards out of their own
pocket. They did some fund-rais-
ing, but it didn’t cover everything,
so they donated all of the rest of
the awards to the banquet. She had
help from William Wilson in get-
ting names together and what de-
partment. It was a major under-
taking and she pulled it off. I re-
member a lot of people com-
plained about the awards, but con-
sidering it came out of their pocket,
it was something. Together, my
parents were a force to be reck-
oned with. They got family mem-
bers to cook side dishes; my
mother had a way about her that
she could people excited about
something and then worked her
butt off to see it thru and make
sure it happened. And it did hap-
pen. There were a lot of apprecia-
tive people afterwards. People got
the recognition they deserved and
all because my folks had a vision.
I often wonder what they would
have done during the pandemic.
They would have had some ideas
about what could have been done.
They would have been proud of
their kids and grandkids, all are
hard-working adults and all have
jobs, or else they have retired. They
would be especially proud of their
granddaughters, Amanda and Teri
Jo, who live in Portland and are
making names for themselves do-
ing good work for their commu-
nity. At the young age of 28 and
30 years old, both are becoming
forces to be reckoned with.
Amanda is gaining a large circle of
contacts for certain projects she’s
working on. She was the driving
force behind the Chuush Fund.
Teri Jo is making a name for
herself in the world of photogra-
phy and other crafts. They take
after their parents and grandpar-
ents in that they work hard at what
they do and have a lot of integrity,
highly unusual in people so young.
I have gotten slightly off track
with where I was going with this.
But I did want to bring to light that
my parents were both strong
people of great integrity. My
mother was a hardworking Wasco
woman and my dad was a strong
warrior, both were strong leaders
in Warm Springs.
And thank you...
Anyway, after all that, I would
like to thank everyone that showed
up to help during our Name Giv-
ing on November 20. It was a lot
of work and I’m very proud of
my son in that he was the driving
force behind making it happen.
He is a strong Wasco man, who is
also taking after his grandparents.
We had many people helping with
making sure it was a success. Any-
body that puts one of those to-
gether knows how much work it
is.
Thank you to Gary and Angela
for making sure everything went
as it should have; thank you to An-
drew Wildbill for officiating. Thank
you to Monica, Amanda, Teri Jo,
Cr , Gladys, Terry, Jordan, Evelyn,
Aunt Susie, Cousin Emerson, in-
law Vernon Tias, Jennifer Clements
and daughter (for making all the
lunches) and everyone that worked
in helping to make sure it went as
it should have. We couldn’t have
done it without all of you. I espe-
cially want to thank my family
members that showed up to show
their support. It meant a lot to
me. A lot of us were not raised in
the traditional ways.
On behalf of myself, my grand-
son Gary III and great grandson
Kysen, Thank you everybody!
Because I wasn’t raised in the
traditional manner, I told my fam-
ily they better get all the pictures
they could of me in my wing dress,
as that’s the last time they’ll ever
see me in a dress!
Thank you, everyone who
worked to make it a success and
thank you to all the people who
showed up to witness this event.
Val Squiemphen, ‘Wa-Thlu-
Na’
Courtesy KWSO
Scene at Elmer Quinn Park, as volunteers and police
clean up debris from a transient camp, moved
temporarily to the former elementary school gym.
Around Indian Country
Nooksack disenrollment controvery
EVERSON, Wash. — The
Nooksack Indian Tribe are remov-
ing 300 people from tribal enroll-
ment. This has been bitter process,
with many people facing home
eviction. To make matters more
difficult, this happens in winter, and
during the pandemic.
Tribal police were called on to
enforce the evictions. Educational
aid, health services and financial
stipends are also denied to those
who are disenrolled; along with a
loss of some sense of community.
The disenrolled Nooksack mem-
bers are now petitioning the fed-
eral government to intervene. “On
the face of it, for sure we want
sovereignty,” said Michelle Roberts,
an expelled Nooksack member
who faces eviction. “But when that
sovereignty is used as a tool to bully
people and take advantage of the
system, to kick them out of their
tribe or to take any kind of ser-
vices or anything away from them,
then that’s when it needs to be con-
trolled somehow.”
The Nooksack Tribe includes
about 2,000 members. The tribe
has trust land and a small reserva-
tion, bringing in revenue from a
casino, convenience store and a gas
station. The right to fish salmon
along the Nooksack River is a
treaty right.
The Nooksack situation is not
unique around Indian Country: A
number of tribes have moved in
recent years to cut their member-
ship rolls. The process involves
scrutinizing family trees, and cut-
ting those deemed to have insuffi-
cient tribal heritage. This can
strengthen tribal identity. However,
another aspect involves casino and
other tribal business revenue, and
job opportunities.
Regarding the Nooksack, their
Northwood casino has not been a
big money earner. The disenrolled
say job opportunities and tribal
leadership positions are more cen-
tral issues, as they have been for
years.
Nooksack leaders have said the
expelled people are descended
from a tribal band based in Canada,
and should not have enrolled as
Nooksack in the first place. For
instance, none had direct ancestors
included in a key tribal 1942 cen-
sus.
Record large sturgeon at Idaho
In three decades of capturing
and tagging white sturgeon, re-
searchers with the Idaho Depart-
ment of Fish and Game have
handled more than 4,000 fish. Of
those, fewer than ten have mea-
sured longer than 10 feet, and the
people taking part in the sturgeon-
sampling work hadn’t caught one
that big in more than five years.
Then late last month, all that
changed in what regional fisheries bi-
ologist Joe DuPont called an “amaz-
ing week” on the Snake River in
Hells Canyon. The research team
hooked three 10-foot sturgeon.
Hatchery staff save 4 million salmon
On Christmas Day at 11:30
p.m. an alarm for low water was
activated on the ponds at the
Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife’s Kendall Creek Fish
Hatcher y on the North Fork
Nooksack River near Deming.
The failure of these two water
pumps put at risk 1.5 million spring
Chinook salmon, 850,000 Nooksack
River coho yearlings, 1 million coho
in incubation, 100,000 early-winter
steelhead, 375,000 Kendall Creek
coho, and “a bunch of trout,” ac-
cording to WDFW regional Fish Pro-
gram staff.
All told, the quick thinking and
hard work of Flowers and the oth-
ers protected nearly 4 million young
salmonids — fish vital for future
recreational, commercial, and tribal
treaty fisheries, and important for
species including Southern Resi-
dent killer whales.
Oregon’s southernmost glacier may be gone
Pet Food Bank this Saturday
The Warm Springs Com-
munity Pet Food Bank pro-
vides free pet food on the sec-
ond Saturday of each month.
This month Fences for
Fido postponed distribu-
tion to this Saturday,
January 15 from 10 a.m.
until noon.
You can reserve your
pet food by calling or
texting 503-319-9838 or
email: petfoodbank@
fencesforfido.org
Until recently, Oregon’s south-
ernmost glacier was on Mount
Thielsen, an extinct volcano moun-
tain in the Cascade Range, east of
Diamond Lake in Douglas County.
But sometime over the past half
decade, Lathrop Glacier disap-
peared.
Oregon Glaciers Institute Presi-
dent Anders Carlson said Lathrop
Glacier was a little less than half
the size of a football field, just
0.002 square kilometers in area. It
was Oregon’s smallest glacier.