April 16
Spilyay Tymoo
Page 2
Thornburgh resort again denied approval
Water supply in the region
has been key issue for the
Confederated Tribes
The developers of a controver-
sial resort proposed for Central
Oregon again were again handed
a setback in the attempt to tap the
Deschutes River Basin.
Most recently, the Deschutes
County Circuit Court dismissed
Thornburgh Resort’s attempt to
overturn an earlier denial of a pre-
vious limited water use license ap-
plication.
The proposed 2,000-acre
Thornburgh Resort is located
about 20 miles north of Bend. The
development would include 950
single-family homes, private lakes,
a luxury hotel and two golf courses.
In its latest decision, the court
upheld the Oregon Water Re-
sources Department ruling that the
Deschutes River Basin, drier than
it has been in the past three de-
cades, is too low to accommodate
the requested siphoning.
Thornburgh’s developers have
been trying to finance and permit
the development since the early
2000s. Thornburgh has water
rights and approved transfers
that provide water for its phase
A development plans, according
to the developers.
In 2023, the Oregon Water
Resources Department denied the
developers’ request to build wells.
The region has been dealing
with water shortages, and the need
for deeper and deeper wells, for
years. Drilling deeper wells requires
permitting and money that many
people don’t have.
According to a 2017 study
from the U.S. Geological Survey,
groundwater in the central part
of the Upper Deschutes Ba-
sin—from Sisters to Powell
Butte—dipped as much as 14
feet between 1997 and 2008.
Leaders of the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs have for
years voiced concerns about how
Thornburgh would affect treaty
rights, and the tribes’ most senior
water right.
The tribes last year won an
Oregon Court of Appeals ruling
that found the state Land Use
Board Appeals had made a mis-
take by earlier dismissing tribal
opposition to a Deschutes County
approval.
Then most recently, on March
31, Deschutes County Circuit
Court ruled that the Oregon Wa-
ter Resources Department was “ra-
tional, fair and principled” in its
denial of a limited water-use li-
cense application by Thornburgh.
BLM effort to repatriate human remains
In the early 1960s, human re-
mains were discovered near what
is now Lake Billy Chinook, and are
believed to be of Native Ameri-
can descent.
The Bureau of Land Manage-
ment in Prineville is now seeking
to return these remains to the Con-
federated Tribes of Warm Springs.
The remains are currently held
at the University of Oregon’s Mu-
seum of Natural and Cultural His-
tory.
In 1962, Portland General Elec-
tric contracted with the University
of Oregon to survey what is now
Lake Billy Chinook, because the
area would be covered in water af-
ter the Pelton Dam was created.
During that process, human
remains were found in the area
and have been stored at the Uni-
versity of Oregon.
“We feel that the remains that
were found in 1962 do belong to
one of the Native American tribes
that moved in or lived in Central
Oregon back in the day,” said Lisa
Clark, BLM-Prineville field man-
ager.
“We’re doing our best to try to
figure out who these human re-
mains should be returned to.”
As part of the Native Ameri-
can Graves Protection and Repa-
triation Act, NAGPRA, there’s
been an evaluation of remains
across the country.
The NAGPRA process is a Fed-
eral law passed in 1990, proving
processes for museums and fed-
eral agencies to return certain Na-
tive American cultural items to In-
dian tribes.
NAGPRA authorizes Federal
grants to Indian tribes and muse-
ums to assist with documenting and
repatriating Native American cul-
tural items.
NAGPRA establishes a commit-
tee to monitor the process and fa-
“
...once we found (the
collection), it’s abso-
lutely our honor and
responsibility to get
the ancestor re-
turned to who it
belongs to. ”
Lisa Clark, BLM Prineville
cilitate the resolution of disputes
that may arise concerning repa-
triation. Violations of NAGPRA
are addressed through criminal and
civil enforcement.
BLM has recently been work-
ing to have the remains returned.
The land was BLM at the time
the remains were collected, but is
now Ochoco National Forest.
“Due to some land changes
over the years, we weren’t aware
we had that collection,” Ms. Clark.
“But once we found it, it’s ab-
solutely our honor and responsi-
bility to get this ancestor returned
to who it belongs to.”
She says they believe the hu-
man remains belong to a local Cen-
tral Oregon tribe.
“Given the time of collection,
given the age, perhaps, of the hu-
man remains that were located, it
gives kind of an indication of that
something more ancient or if it’s
something recent and that kind of
gives you a clue of the path that
you want to take,” she said.
Based on Lake Billy Chinook’s
location, it makes sense that the
Warm Springs Reservation might
have the lineal descendants of the
human remains. Clark said BLM
has had initial conversations with
the tribe and they support the ac-
tion BLM is taking.
“However, we do know that
tribes move through areas, and so
part of the process is to do a fed-
eral Register notice, which acts for
anybody who feels they might have
a claim on these remains to step
forward and provide that informa-
tion,” Clark said.
The published Federal Regis-
ter Notice is the outreach to en-
sure all tribes have an opportu-
nity to determine if they have a
claim on the human remains.
A note from WEDD...
Any person wanting to
work through Workforce
Education and Develpoment
Department, WEDD, Work
Experience program, and
who have attended a pre-em-
ployment workshop, or those
who applied:
Please contact WEDD at
541-553-3324 for an update
on the status of your apply-
ing.
Applicants needing assis-
tance with their resume and
cover letter are welcome to
use the Computer Lab up-
stairs at the Education build-
ing, and assistance will be pro-
vided to write a resume or
cover letter.