Kah-Nee-Ta:
(from page 1)
Skibowl soon took off, with ma-
jor improvements and expanding in
many innovative ways. “I’ve had a
great team around me,” Kirk says.
More recently, his resort interests
have come to Central Oregon, as
he owns and operates nearby Lake
Simtustus Resort & Marina.
Kirk and Derek have made an
effort for years to help celebrate
and share with guests the connec-
tion of the Confederated Tribes to
the area of Skibowl, part of the
tribes’ ceded lands.
Regarding Kah-Nee-Ta, since
they were young and growing up,
the Hannas visited the resort when
it was among the most successful
attractions in the region. And like
many people in recent years, they
don’t like seeing Kah-Nee-Ta in dis-
use and disrepair.
For these reasons, joining the
tribes and WSED on the Kah-Nee-
Ta renovation was natural.
In 2022 with the original reno-
vation plan, Tribal Council agreed
to provide $4.5 million for the im-
provements to the whole Village
area; and $1.5 million for the infra-
structure of the lagoons that serve
the Village and community.
Tribal Utilities has now com-
pleted the lagoon upgrade, as reno-
vation work on the Village will con-
tinue into the first part of next year.
An issue that the Kah-Nee-Ta team
and Tribal Council have addressed
recently is the addition of new
funding to finish the job in order
to reopen.
As Kirk Hanna mentioned
above, renovating a 60-plus year
old property will bring unforeseen
challenges. As it turned out, a big
problem at Kah-Nee-Ta was the
underground infrastructure of
water lines, especially for the large
area of the pools. The original wa-
ter lines from the early 1960s had
2024 summer opening
to be wholly replaced; and the
pump
house
was
also
unsalvageable, Mr. Souers said.
These were among the unforeseen
expenses amounting to close to $3
million.
Moving forward now, the team
could have taken out a bank loan,
and they had a potential agreement
though the terms were expensive,
as often happens with on-reserva-
tion outside lending. They talked
again with Tribal Council, who in-
stead agreed to loan the project
$2.9 million.
“I am so thankful that our lead-
ership made the decision support
us so we can finish the resort as a
first class destination,” Souers said.
The tribes will now receive the loan
interest payments, instead of the
outside bank; and the renovation
project saves because the repay-
ment terms are better.
Hiring 100 employees
The best projection at this time
is that the Kah-Nee-Ta Hot
Springs Resort will open in the
summer of 2024. Looking toward
this, Derek Hanna says the team
will be looking to hire 100 employ-
ees.
Kah-Nee-Ta is committed to hir-
ing locally among the tribal com-
munity. “Our main reason for re-
ally getting into this was to help the
Warm Springs people, and the big-
gest way to do that is to help the
youth and others who need employ-
ment,” Derek said.
“We’re going to do what we need
to do to hire locally. Obviously we
need to train, and we need to edu-
cate, and that’s what Skibowl brings
to the table—Kirk Hanna Owned
Companies with its 500 employees,
with over 100 department manag-
ers, with seven restaurants, with our
mountain managers, with everything
we have. They’re all part of our
team and they’re all going to help
in making Kah-Nee-Ta successful.”
The new Village
A brief overview of some of
the features at the renovated Kah-
Nee-Ta Hot Springs Resort:
· The Natural Hot Springs wa-
ter, a star feature of the Village,
will for the first time feed three large
soaking pools of varying tempera-
tures from 92 to 102 degrees f°;
and one clover shaped youth soak-
ing pool.
The four soaking pools will in-
clude the largest in Oregon; and
importantly, the pools include
handicap accessible accommoda-
tions. The largest pool will have an
accessibility ramp for waterproof
wheelchairs.
· The recreational pools will in-
clude a lazy river-like pool with a
flowing current surrounding an in-
ner pool. There will also be a
children’s zero depth entrance play
pool.
Some other new features will
include twenty semi-private Natu-
ral Hot Springs four- to six-person
soaking tubs overlooking the Warm
Springs River. Also, in the pool area
there will 15 shade cabanas each
with a mini-refrigerator, sofa and
personal device power source. The
greatly expanded lounging area
around the pools is also new and
will include 30 smaller two-person
shade cabanas.
The tribal member only bath
house will be updated and expanded
by replacing the one indoor soak-
ing tub with two four- to six-per-
son Natural Hot Springs soaking
tubs, and adding two more of those
tubs in a semi-private outdoor area.
· The resort entrance area is
being expanded to include a court
yard that will feature a large shade
tent, with space for 200 people,
also available to host special events.
Nearby is the performance stage,
permanent salmon bake area and
recreational activities such as min-
iature golf, play area, and the bas-
ketball and pickle ball court.
For further accommodation
there is the 30-room motel, 20 tee-
pees and 50 RV sites, including an
RV Recreation Center, new restau-
rant and pool side snack bars. The
RV clubhouse and recreational cen-
ter has restrooms, showers, and
self-service laundry facility.
A new activity at the Village will
be the Warm Springs River 3-mile
tube river float with shuttle pick
up.
The motel is being fully reno-
vated, and is now in the final stages
of completion. The rooms range
from three bedroom suites that can
accommodate up to 12 guests; or
individual rooms that can accom-
modate four guests.
At the Teepee Village, there will
be 20 new authentic teepees, with
two designed specifically for dis-
ability access and parking. The tee-
pees are 30 feet tall and 27 feet in
diameter.
These are to just some of the resort’s
many features, as discussed further in the
next Spilyay Tymoo.
Dave McMechan