Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
February 23, 2022
Outdoor video features huckleberry harvest
Page 7
Winter fishery extension
H
uckleberry picking season
is still some months away, usually
starting around mid summer.
Meanwhile, though, there is a
great introduction to the tribal per-
spective on huckleberries—
Wiwinu in Ichishkeen—on the
website outsideonline.com
The 13-minute film, produced
by Brutis Baez of Warm Springs,
features several members of the
Confederated Tribes, sharing sto-
ries of harvesting huckleberries
with family and friends.
The documentary—c a l l e d
Wiwinu—was filmed near a tradi-
tional berry picking spot. Romona
Baez talks about growing up and
gathering berries with her elders.
The day they were making
Wiwinu, Romona was on a huck-
leberry outing with two of her chil-
dren and a grandson, sharing the
traditional knowledge with the next
generations.
The film narration begins:
“The wiwinu, or huckleberry, is a
traditional food for the
Indigenous Warm Springs tribe of
north-central Oregon. Every Au-
Jefferson Greene in scene from Wiwinu
gust, members set out in search of
huckleberry bushes to pick, har-
vesting a bounty for the
community’s annual feast that cel-
ebrates the fruit.”
Wiwinu then share some of the
narrative of how the berries have
remained important for Warm
Springs people to this day.
With Ramona in Wiwinu are
Veronica Baez, Koa Greene and
Jefferson Greene, who shares an
origin story about the huckleber-
ries and the bear. Others who were
part of the film are Mykael Sam,
Koa Greene, Kristy Kopplin and
Sarah Gonsalez. Special thank you
to the Confederated Tribes and
the Culture and Heritage Depart-
ment. Wiwinu is dedicated to Ver-
bena Greene, Alex and Blanche
Tohet, all Huckleberry pickers,
Drummers, Bel Ringers, hunters
and fishers. The film was made
possible through an Eddie Bauer
One Outside Grant.
BIA plan for infrastructure spending
The Bureau of Indian Affairs
has submitted to Congress its initial
spend plan for funding authorized
in the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law.
The plan says award announce-
ment for water infrastructure im-
provements in Indian Country—
such as on the Warm Springs Res-
ervation—will be made this year.
The spending plan is a blueprint
for how BIA will invest directly in
tribal communities across the coun-
try to bolster community resilience,
replace aging infrastructure and ex-
pand access to clean drinking wa-
ter.
The BIA participated in three
department-wide consultations
with tribes in the development of
the submitted spend plan, and to
inform further program implemen-
tation.
“The funding in the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law is essential to
advancing the all-of-government
approach to supporting and em-
powering tribal communities as
they simultaneously face environ-
mental impacts to physical, cul-
tural, and subsistence-based infra-
structure and relocate to higher
ground,” said Assistant Secretary
for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland.
“I look forward to seeing this
historic piece of legislation begin
yielding meaningful results for
tribal communities.”
The law provides a total of
$466 million to the Bureau of In-
dian Affairs, including $216 mil-
lion for climate resilience programs
and $250 million to support water
and health infrastructure. Funding
is provided as emergency appro-
priations and is available for obli-
gation until expended.
The bill language directs that
$130 million is provided for com-
munity relocation, $86 million is
provided for tribal climate resil-
ience and adaptation projects,
and $43.2 million will be available
to spend annually for five years.
As the effects of climate
change continue to intensify, In-
digenous communities are facing
unique climate-related challenges.
Flooding, erosion, permafrost sub-
sidence, sea level rise and storm
surges are presenting existential
threats to communities’ econo-
mies, infrastructure, livelihoods
and health.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law also includes $250 million to
CRITFC seeking to fill positions
The Columbia River Inter-
Tribal Fish Commission is ad-
vertising for the following po-
sitions:
Public information spe-
cialist. This position works to
forward the culture, goals and
aspirations of the commission
and its member tribes to the
broader public through media
and outreach activities. The po-
sition will write press releases,
news stories, website and social
media posts, and other creative
writing to share the work, pri-
orities, and views of CRITFC
and its member tribes. Salary
$65,137–71,651. Portland.
Closes February 22.
Treaty fisheries community
outreach liaison. This position
will be support outreach, contract
tracing and wrap around support
services for tribal communities
along the Columbia River gorge.
$37,540–39,520. Portland.
SCHISM Modeler/Ocean-
ographer. This position will work
collaboratively with fish scientists
and managers to integrate numeri-
cal hydrodynamic modeling into
conservation and management
programs for critical fish species
and stocks in the Columbia River,
focusing on Upper Columbia
summer and fall chinook and
Snake River fall chinook, but in-
cluding other salmonid species,
support construction, repair, im-
provement and maintenance of ir-
rigation and power systems, safety
of dams and public health and
safety compliance issues at water
sanitation systems. This includes $50
million to address deferred mainte-
nance needs at 17 congressionally
authorized irrigation projects lo-
cated on Indian reservations across
the Rocky Mountain, Northwest,
Southwest, Navajo and Western
Regions. The initial spend plan in-
cludes $50 million as stipulated in
the Infrastructure Law for irrigation
and power projects allocated in
equal $10 million amounts per year
for FY 2022-2026, all of which is
available until expended.
The initial spend plan includes
$200 million for Safety of Dams
and Water Sanitation to be allocated
in $50 million increments over FY
2022-2026. In FY 2022, $10.65
million will be allocated for Water
Sanitation purposes to address En-
vironment Protection Agency notice
of violations, identify contamination
issues, reduce system failure risk,
reduce exposure to contaminants
for Indian Affairs and tribal staff
and address critical gaps in water
delivery.
lamprey, and sturgeon.
$75,799-$80,854.
Fishing site mainte-
nance worker (2 positions).
These positions will provide the
maintenance of the 31 Tribal
In-Lieu and Treaty Fishing Ac-
cess Sites located along 150
miles of the Columbia River.
$34,496-$36,796. The Dalles.
CRITPD-Police officer.
Based in Hood River. $51,516-
$56,261.
Dispatcher. Hood River.
$39,937-$43,661.
HR generalist. $57,560-
63,315.
The complete job descrip-
tion, minimum skills, applica-
tion requirements, deadlines,
and pay information are avail-
able at critfc.or
Gray wolves may return to Endangered Species List
After a 15-month break, the
gray wolf is back on the endan-
gered species list. That might sound
like bad news, but it’s actually seen
as a victory for the iconic species,
which is revered by Indigenous
tribes and a powerful symbol of
wildlife conservation.
Several wolves reside on the
Warm Springs Reservation.
The gray wolf gained the pro-
tections of “endangered” status in
1974 but lost them in 2020 when
federal officials removed the ani-
mal from the list.
The current administration de-
fended the removal in court, but
a federal judge overturned it last
week, and restored protections for
the species across much of the US.
The Department of the Inte-
rior now has a few weeks to de-
cide whether or not to appeal.
But what is an endangered spe-
cies? The answer is surprisingly
complicated, said John Vucetich,
a renowned wolf expert and pro-
fessor at Michigan Technological
University.
Vucetich led one of the long-
est-running research projects of
any animal, in Isle Royale National
Park, a set of islands in Lake Su-
perior. He said that wolves deserve
to be protected—but they’ve got-
ten caught up in the culture wars,
which gave them the reputation as
one of the nation’s most contro-
versial species.
A 2022 tribal winter fishery
has been extended for the John
Day Pool only through 6 p.m.
on Saturday, February 26. All
gear is gillnets with no mesh size
restriction.
Allowable sales are sturgeon
from 43 to 54 inches fork
length, salmon (any species),
steelhead, walleye, bass, carp,
catfish, shad, and yellow perch
may be sold or kept for subsis-
tence purposes only.
River mouth and dam
closed areas applicable to
gillnet gear are in effect. The
zone 6 platform and hook and
line fishery remains un-
changed at this time.
If you have any fishing en-
forcement problems or need
assistance or information, day
or night, contact the Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fisheries
Enforcement Office, 541-386-
6363.
Show pride in your tribe’s
treaty rights by carrying your
tribal ID. Please consult the
Natural Resources Fisheries
Department for additional de-
tails on tribal regulations.
Chinook forecast best in 3 years
Spring chinook futures are look-
ing up, even if only modestly, for
the first time in about three years.
A collection of tribal, state and
federal fisheries managers is fore-
casting 122,900 spring chinook
bound for tributaries above
Bonneville Dam will make it at least
as far as the mouth of the Colum-
bia River this year.
That number includes about
73,400 chinook that will be bound
for the Snake River and its tribu-
taries, an increase of about 20,000
compared to last year.
The forecast for Snake River-
bound springers includes 60,200
hatchery-origin fish and about
13,200 wild fish.
If the forecast proves accurate,
it would be the first time the total
return of upriver spring chinook—
those bound for areas upstream of
Bonneville Dam—has exceeded
100,000 fish since 2018, when the
return to the mouth of the Colum-
bia was estimated at 115,081.
It also would be the highest re-
turn of Snake River-bound fish
since the estimated return of
111,072 in 2016. The estimated
return of 13,200 wild chinook
bound for the Snake River would
be the second-highest return in the
previous five years but still only 63
percent of the 10-year average.
Howlak Tichum
The leader of the Wanapum
band has died. Rex Buck Jr., 66,
died Febebruary 11 at his an-
cestral village of P’na at Priest
Rapids on the Columbia River
in Grant County, Washington.
The Wanapum band lived at
what is now the Hanford
nuclear reservation site until the
land was seized during World
War II and the Wanapum were
forced to resettle at their win-
ter campsite in Priest Rapids.
Buck was given the respon-
sibility of leading the Wanapum
people while still in his 20s.
He had an easy-going way
about him, but was relentless in
his support of Wanapum cul-
ture. He spent decades devel-
oping and maintaining relation-
ships with agency leads and land
managers of the Wanapum tra-
ditional territory, which the
Wanapum use to support their
traditional lifestyle.
Rex viewed the current land-
owners as stewards of the land-
scape for now, understanding
Rex Buck Jr. ~ 1956-2022
that land-use decisions today will
make a difference in its health
and long-term viability to sup-
port future generations of
Wanapum people.
Buck led the cultural proto-
col as the Burke Museum be-
came the court-appointed reposi-
tory for Kennewick Man, known
by Native Americans as The
Ancient One, in 1998.
Buck ensured proper care
for The Ancient One for 19
years, until the bones were re-
buried by Native Americans.
He also helped repatriate
hundreds of ancestors and tens
of thousands of objects for
multiple Columbia River tribal
nations, as part of the Burke
Museum’s commitments under
the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act.
“I was praying all the time to
understand what my elders told
me: Bring the people home. I
tried to stick with their word,”
Buck said when he was honored
by the Burke museum.