Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
Community
update
The incidence of Covid-19
among the tribal community has
been increasing in recent weeks,
though fortunately the tribes have
not seen a significant increase in hos-
pitalizations and serious illness from
the recent spike in cases. Still, the
potential for spread of the virus
remains a risk, said Caroline Cruz,
general manager of Health and Hu-
man Services.
There are various means of
tracking the incidence of covid in a
community. Positive cases, for in-
stance, are reported to the clinic.
Additionally, a health organization—
the OSU Covid-19 Wastewater Sur-
veillance Team—provides covid
spread estimates based on samples
taken from community wastewater.
A recent report from the team,
provided to Warm Springs IHS,
Community Health and the tribes’
Response Team, showed covid con-
centrations in wastewater samples
of the Sunnyside and Warm Springs
Agency lagoons as “some of the
highest numbers we have had in a
Warm Springs sampling since this
form of testing began last summer.”
The sample levels are rated as
Low, Moderate, Strong and Very
Strong. The samples from late July
into August were in the Very Strong
category. This requires the tribes to
continue the precautions of mask-
ing in public tribal buildings, social
distancing, sanitation of work
places, testing, vaccine boosters, etc.
There were 30 known active
cases among the tribal community
as of mid last week, according to
the recent report from the tribes’
Covid-19 Response Team, IHS and
Health and Human Services. This
number brought the total confirmed
cases in the community to 2,355
since the pandemic began in early
spring 2020. Fortunately, no com-
munity member was hospitalized
with covid, as of last week. Total
hospitalizations since the pandemic
began is at 130; and deaths, 36. See
page 5 for more details.
Statement of the tribes
The following remains the policy
of the Confederated Tribes within
the reservation jurisdiction:
Everyone is encouraged to con-
tinue to take precautions to reduce
the possible spread of covid.
Continue to avoid crowded
spaces especially indoors, and con-
sider wearing a facemask around
large groups. Facemasks are re-
quired in tribal buildings. Use a
home test kit for testing; and if
it’s positive, call Health and
Wellness, 541-553-1196. There are
treatments that can help, if admin-
istered shortly after contracting
the virus.
Every home is eligible to order a
free at-home covid test kits.
You can order online at
covid.gov/tests
Or call 1-800-232-0233. Locally,
you can pick up a home covid test
kit at Emergency Management lo-
cated at the former elementary
school. And during evenings and
on weekends, test kits are available
at the Warm Springs Fire and Safety
station on campus.
August 10, 2022 - Vol. 47, No. 17
August – Shatm – Summer - Shatm
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Tribes welcome new S-T, committees
Tribal Council has named
Robert ‘Bobby’ Brunoe as Sec-
retary-Treasurer of the Con-
federated Tribes. His first day
on the job will be next Mon-
day.
Mr. Brunoe has been the
general manager of the
Branch of Natural Resources
since 1998. In all, he has
worked for the tribal organi-
zation for 31 years.
“I want to help the tribes,
and was asked to consider the
position,” Bobby says of his in-
terest in taking on the responsi-
bilities of S-T/CEO.
At Natural Resources the
general manager, for now as in-
terim, will be Austin Smith Jr.,
Wildlife biologist and Range and
Agriculture manager.
Mr. Brunoe is taking over
the tribes’ S-T/CEO respon-
sibilities from Glendon Smith,
who has served in the role
since July of last year.
D.McMechan/Spilyay
Culture and Heritage Committee members take the oath of office.
Robert Brunoe, new S-T/CEO.
Committee appointments
The tribes also welcomed new
committee and board members dur-
ing a swearing in ceremony last
week at the Agency Longhouse.
Many members, including Tribal
Council were on hand for the
swearing-in occassion.
Council Chairman Jonathan
Smith opened the meeting, welcom-
ing the new committee members.
Councilmen Alvis Smith III, Jim
Manion and Lincoln Jay Suppah
also gave words of encouragement:
“I want to thank you for stepping
up,” Councilman Suppah said to the
new committee and board mem-
bers.
The Twenty-Ninth Tribal Coun-
cil weighed the applications of many
great candidates for the eight com-
mittees plus the Gaming and Credit
boards, Councilman Manion said.
Whitewater
journey for
tribal youth
In the sport of whitewater
kayaking ‘first descents’ are ma-
jor milestones: The term ‘first
descent’ refers to being the first
person or team to successfully
kayak down a wild river—clearly
a rare milestone for any kayaker.
Two young kayakers of the Con-
federated Tribes—Julia Wolfe
and Kiahna Allen—are training
to make their unique first de-
scents.
Julia and Kiahna are part of
the Paddle Tribal Waters team,
preparing to lead the first de-
scent—perhaps in this case
‘rescent’—of the Klamath River.
The girls are members of the
12-person indigenous youth team
now taking intensive whitewater
kayak training, in anticipation of
Kiahna Allen kayaking whitewater during recent training.
the removal of dams that are block-
ing the Klamath River.
Four dams on the river are set
for removal by 2024. In the mean-
time, Kiahna, Julia and the others
with the Paddle Tribal Waters team
are honing their skills for the first
descent of the undammed river.
Kiahna and Julia and Paddle
Tribal Waters traveled recently to
the Klamath basin in Northern Cali-
fornia for kayak training. With the
Warm Springs girls were tribal mem-
Courtesy
bers form the Yurok, Karuk, Hoopa
Valley and Quartz Valley tribes, all
of Northern California; as well as
youth of the Klamath Tribes. To join
the team all of them had to show
good grades, letters of reference
and well-written essays.
The groups Maqlaqs Paddle and
Ríos to Rivers organized the two-
and-a-half-week training.
First, the team was greeted by the
Yurok Tribal Council, who pre-
sented them with gifts courtesy of
Bureau of Indian Affairs Agency
superintendent Brenda Bremner
then administered the oath of of-
fice to the new members. The eight
tribal committees are Culture and
Heritage, Education, On-Reserva-
tion Fish and Wildlife, Off-Reser-
vation Fish and Wildlife, Health
and Welfare, Land Use Planning,
Range, Irrigation and Agriculture,
and the Timber Committee.
COMMITTEES continues on 5
Yurok Economic Development.
For the training sessions them-
selves, Paddle Tribal Waters pro-
vided the team members with
the diversity of skills required to
safely run the river in a kayak.
The acclaimed World Class
Kayak Academy and local Otter
Bar Lodge Kayak School taught
the teens every aspect of swift-
water boating. This included how
to identify risks and maneuver
through large rapids.
The group also learned self-
rescue techniques, how to read
the water and much more. Dur-
ing the skill-building exercise, the
youth worked on developing
river advocacy skills too.
Paul Wilson, Ríos to Rivers Sto-
ryteller, is co-founder of Maqlaqs
Paddle, and a Klamath Tribes
member. “Paddling has given me
a way of experiencing rivers,” Mr.
Wilson said, “outside of just show-
ing up to fight for rivers’ health or
for our traditional foods.”
KAYAKERS continues on 5
New federal bill includes $5 million for water
Federal funding to help ad-
dress the Confederated Tribes
water infrastructure is included
in a new bill before the U.S. Sen-
ate. The Fiscal Year 2023 Sen-
ate Interior, Environment and
Related Agencies Appropria-
tions bill includes $5 million for
the Confederated Tribes drink-
ing water infrastructure. This is
in addition to funding that was
already allocated in the federal
Bi-Partisan Infrastructure law
of November 2021.
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff
Merkley and Ron Wyden an-
nounced the latest $5 million
addition earlier this month. Both
Senators for the past number of
years have been advocating for
a solution to the tribes’ water
infrastructure problems. This ef-
fort took on added emphasis in
2020, during the first year of the
pandemic, when the tribes were
contending with covid, along with
a protracted water outage and boil
water notice. A similar crisis hap-
pened again last summer.
Hearing of the proposed new
federal legislation, Tribal Coun-
cil Chair man Jonathan Smith
commented, “Once again, Sena-
tors Merkley and Wyden have
stepped up to help the Warm
Springs tribes address our ongo-
ing water crisis.
“This legislation would allow the
tribes to dramatically improve re-
liable access to clean, running wa-
ter to thousands of people living
on the Warm Springs Reserva-
tion.”
The bill also includes funding
to strengthen forest health, protect
public lands and the environment,
tackle climate change. As the chair
of the U.S. Senate Interior Appro-
priations Subcommittee, Sen.
Merkley drafted the bill, helping
ensure the priorities for communi-
ties across all of Oregon.
The Interior bill also includes
funding to support wildfire manage-
ment, as well as funding to support
efforts to address the water crisis
in the Klamath Basin. Some other
points of interest in the proposed
legislation:
The Columbia River Indian
Treaty Fishing Access Sites: The
bill provides $4.5 million for Co-
lumbia River In-Lieu Treaty Sites,
including $1.3 million for fishing
sites construction, to implement
Senator Merkley’s Columbia River
In-Lieu and Treaty Fishing Access
Sites Improvement Act.
Tribal Programs and Ser-
vices: The bill includes $11.4 bil-
lion in critical funding for tribal com-
munities across the country; and for
the first time, $8 million to estab-
lish the Indian Reservation Drink-
ing Water Program.
This program will address other
tribal water infrastructure challenges
like those facing Warm Springs.
The proposed law also provides
an advance appropriation for fiscal
year 2024 for the Indian Health
Service to protect health care ser-
vices funded by IHS to over 2.5
million Native Americans from fu-
ture lapses in funding due to gov-
ernment shutdowns and unpredict-
able budget years.
The bill would provide $8 mil-
lion to expand tribal law enforce-
ment programs to tribes that have
historically been excluded from the
programs.