Smoke Signals
April 1991
page 3
Community News
Chairman's Report(cont)
Court's "Duro Decision". This Supreme Court decision
means that Indian Tribal Courts can no longer prose
cute non-enrolled Indians visiting a reservation. What
this decision boils down to, is that if an enrolled Grand
Ronde Tribal member were to commit a major crime on
another reservation anywhere else in the nation, he
would only be subject to prosecution by the federal
government.
Another concern voiced by Tribal leaders were budget
cuts currently proposed by the Indian Health Service.
Housing budget cuts concerns were also voiced. The
Alaskan Natives voiced concerns about problems they
are now having maintaining their salmon fishing rights.
Concerns about the current reorganization of the BIA
were but a small sampling heard by Senator Inouye and
Congressman Miller.
As the forum was winding down about 5:00 pm,
Senator Inouye gave his thoughts about problems facing
Indians. He urged Indians nation wide, to get politically
involved in all branches of governments, (school boards,
city, county, state governments also). The Senator noted
in the Dakota States, Oklahoma, and Arizona, substan
tial numbers of Indian reside there. However, he noted
the number of registered Indian voters was dismally low.
If every Indian person in these states were registered,
Indians would hold a great deal of political clout.
Mr. Inouye further noted that until Tribes nationwide
begin active participation in the political system, the
overwhelming number of problems facing Indians will
prevail. He further noted that regardless of the number
of these forums held, just talking about these problems
will solve nothing. It is up to the elected Tribal leader
ship to actively provide guidance and data to Congress
to assist Tribes in obtaining a solution for our problems.
We can't wait for the federal government to step in, and
solve them for us.
I wish to share my thoughts with you regarding Senator
Inouye. Currently, he is one of the most senior mem
bers of Congress, serving in the Senate since 1963.
Besides serving on the Committee on Indian Affairs, he
serves on the Committee on Appropriations. This Ap
propriations Committee controls the purse strings for
the federal government to operate on.
He serves as Chair of the Appropriations Sub Commit-
9
Tribal Council member Larry Brandon
tee on Defense. This Sub Committee alone, is respon
sible for the allocation to the defense Department, a
total $280 billion. He also noted that his message to
defense contracting companies, their key to his door that
they are willing to work with Indian Tribes.
Not many other members of Congress are as commit
ted to helping Indians as he is. Fortunately, we have a
supportive Senator from the State of Oregon, however,
we will have him for just 6 more years. Since the
existence of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, no
other Committee Chair has travelled extensively to
Indian country to actually meet with Tribes, to get a feel
for problems facing Indians. (Not an insignificant
achievement, for someone who said he hates travelling.)
Most of us are aware of the violent demonstrations that
have taken place in Wisconsin, where Anti-Indian
groups gather annually, to protest Tribal Treaty fishing
rights there. Members of Congress from the State of
Wisconsin consistently introduce legislation to deal with
this problem. Unfortunately, most bills introduced by
these Congressional folks don't favor Indians. We must
remember that not all Tribes have Congressional
support like our Tribe enjoys. In early April, Mr. Inouye
will travel to Wisconsin, to meet with Tribes, State
officials and members of the Wisconsin Congressional
Delegation, to see if a solution to this volatile situation
may be reached.
The Senator's message to Tribes - "Speak with one
voice, you will be heard".
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Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii recently met with Grand Ronde Tribal chairman Mark Mercier and Tribal
Council member Larry Brandon as well as other Tribal leaders at a conference in Seattle, Washington.
Tribal Timbering
become law on September 9th, 1988 there were eight
Bureau of Land Management sales pending on the
reservation. "When the reservation became law those
sales went to the Tribal organization," explained Adams.
"One of those sales was actually being logged at the
time so the Tribe only received part of the money from
that sale."
The process set up by the Tribal Council prior
to the establishment of the reservation called for timber
revenues to be used in a way that would lead the Tribe
in the direction of self-sufficiency. Ten percent of every
dollar generated from the timber base is used for
administrative fees like forest management deductions.
It is required by the federal government that this money
is put back into the forest for regeneration purposes.
The Tribe has stipulated that 30 of timber dollars be
placed into an economic development fund. This fund
was created to pump badly needed dollars into develop
ment of the local community. This uncommon commit
ment to the local economy was established as a viable
economic resource for 20 years from the date of enact
ment of the legislation.
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Cliff Adams
In addition to current governmental and
operational program costs the Tribal Council has
established four Tribal trust funds according to Willis.
The funds include a Health Trust, a Housing Trust, and
Education Trust and a Tribal Government Operations
Trust fund. The Tribal Government Trust Fund
includes all essential government services. This fund is
aimed at enabling the Tribal government in Grand
Ronde to implement their plan for self-sufficiency. This
plan would allow the Tribal government to continue
providing essential services to Tribal members even in
the event of federal budget cuts and reductions. "With
this fund in place, the Tribe will not have to depend
solely on the government for services," explained Willis.
Currently, the Tribes' plan is to have the governmental
operations trust prepared to handle funding of services
within five years. The health, housing and education
trusts are targeted to be self-supporting within ten years.
These trusts are permanent funds in that once they
reach their limit no more will have to be put in.
Since the Tribe has taken over the management of
the timber on the reservation there have been three
sales. The volume of the "Western Skies" sale was 4.8
million board feet. The "No Boots" sale was 2.8 MBF
and the "East of Eden" sale was 3.8 MBF for a total of
11.5 MBF. The Tribes annual allowable cut is 6.2 MBF.
NEXT MONTH: What are the Current issues
facing the Tribe and what activities is the program
currently involved in.