News
Smoke Signals
Water Quality top environmental priority
By Tracy Dugan
Kathleen Feehan, the Tribe's Environmental Pro
tection Specialist, is in the process of working on a
Water Quality project that would provide funding
for the Tribe to manage and monitor the water on
the reservation and in parts of the Grand Ronde
Community.
"Right now we have no real baseline informa
tion about the water quality in the area," said
Feehan. "We have hired a Water Quality Special
ist, Sean Darcy, who is preparing to conduct dif
ferent types of assessments of the water."
Feehan said there are many types of forces that
can affect the quality of water. Logging, construc
tion, and the weather are all factors. "We need to
look at the chemical characteristics of the water,"
she said. "The temperature of the water is very
important for the life of the salmon, steelhead, and
other fish, in the rivers. Flow regimes can also
affect the water's biological communities. Our goal
is to get in place six permanent monitoring sites."
Feehan works closely with Kelly Doerkson, the
Tribe's Fish and Wildlife Coordinator, in creating
some of these projects. Currently, they are both
working on a project to identify wetlands in the
community in order to learn about the areas the
Tribe is interested in building on.
"Kelly just received approval to begin work on
a fish habitat enhancement project," said Feehan.
"We will be replacing two old undersized culverts
with larger bottomless culverts to allow for the natu
ral passage of fish. It will mean an extra seven
miles of migratory habitat for our fish. We are all
very excited about this."
New conservation program for private landowners
PORTLAND, OR - Private landowners in Or
egon will be able to take advantage of a voluntary
USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)
cost-share program called the Environmental Qual
ity Incentives Program (EQIP) that will provide
$4.2 million this year for implementing conserva
tion practices. This is an increase in Oregon from
$3.9 million last year.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program
is a flexible, voluntary conservation program for
farmers and ranchers who face serious threats to
soil, water, and related natural resource concerns.
Under the provisions of this program producers
will work with a local USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) representative to de
velop a conservation farm or ranch plan that ad
dresses all natural resource concerns over a 5 to
10-year period. Under the EQIP, USDA Farm Ser
vices Agency can provide cost-share assistance up
to 75 percent of the costs of certain conservation
protection practices, such as grassed waterways,
filter strips, animal waste management facilities,
capping abandon wells, and wildlife habitat en
hancement. USDA may also provide incentive
payments to encourage producers to apply such
land management practices as nutrient, manure,
irrigation water, wildlife and integrated pest man
agement. EQIP will be delivered primarily to iden
tified priority areas. Under EQIP, priority areas
are watersheds, or geographic regions with spe
cial environmental sensitivity or significant soil,
water or related natural resource concerns. In ad
dition to priority areas, Oregon has several state
wide issues which landowners may also receive
funding. They, include salmon habitat, watershed
health and the Mid-Columbia Plateau.
The sign up period closes soon. To find out if
you are eligible for EQIP funding, contact USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service at (503)
414-3236; or the Polk Conservation District at
(503) 623-5534; or the Farm Service Agency at
(503) 623-2396.
Yes, the Casino really paid
out $900 million in 1997
The February 1 issue of Smoke Signals ran an
article about a recent dispute between Spirit Moun
tain Casino and a patron over a slot machine jack
pot. The article stated that Spirit Mountain's cus
tomers had won more than $900 million in jack
pots last year. That was not a misprint, but it sure
did surprise a lot of folks.
Here's why the number is so big: the Casino
makes a little money from each of a whole lot of
people. In other words, it's a low margin, high
volume business. Most of the money the Casino
patrons put into a slot machine is paid out to that
patron and other patrons in jackpots some small
and some large. Most customers put the money
back into the machine so they can play longer. For
example, a player may start out with $20. During
a few hours of gaming, he both wins and loses.
He may win a total of $200 during the evening and
lose a similar amount. He goes home with $20
(more or less) and the Casino would have paid him
$200 in jackpots that evening. Some patrons go
home with more than what they brought, and a
few more go home with less. That's how the Ca
sino makes a profit.
With nearly three million visitors in 1997 (mak
ing Spirit Mountain the most popular tourist attrac
tion the state), the total for jackpots is very large.
Let's hope it'll be even larger in 1998.
It might be tempting to think that we could in
crease our profits, (and therefore the amount that
goes into badly needed tribal programs and ben
efits) by reducing the percentage we pay out with
our slot machines. However, if the Casino "tight
ens" the slots, our customers will perceive this as
unfair and they will go elsewhere. We would soon
be out of business.
The truth is, the machines were set to a fair pay
out when Spirit Mountain opened (about the same
as Las Vegas or Reno) and they have been left that
way ever since. That is the winning formula for
both the Casino and its customers.
Administration Building, continued from front page
ing, Policy and Planning
will be situated in the cen
ter of the building. Policy
and Planning includes
Grants Development and
Community Planning. To
the west is the Human Re
sources Department. To
the east will be the Public
Relations Department
with Smoke Signals news
paper, and the Tribe's Cultural Resources Depart
ment. Supplementary areas on the second floor
include more conference rooms, a reception area,
a break room, an exercise room, mechanical and
storage rooms, and a classroom.
Although the Tribe strives to create facilities that
are intended to provide improved services for our
clients, the Tribe is growing at a remarkable rate
and this growth does not happen without growing
pains. We are continually challenged with how our
growth in facilities impacts our tribal lands, local
community, and infrastructure.
The Administration Building is situated close to
the Pow-wow grounds. The building site takes
away some area that, in past years, was designated
for Pow-wow parking. This situation will require
major work on the Pow-wow grounds. This work
not only involves where to put the Pow-wow park-
rri - - . ." Til;.;.
ing, but involves new strat
egies for access, vendors,
camping, and coordination
of Pow-wow events. As we
see our community grow
building by building, we
must stop and think about
the immeasurable amounts
of work that go into these
buildings. The Tribe com
mits valuable resources into
a building. The most valuable resource is people.
For every building we see going up, we cannot
count the amount of people associated with the de
velopment of that building. The people involved
range from the Tribal Council, Tribal Staff, Grand
Ronde Community members, Grand Ronde Water
Association, Grand Ronde Sewer District, profes
sional consultants, contractors, the electric com
pany, the telephone company, county workers, and
many other people. The building we see as a final
product represents the hard work and teamwork
of these valuable and often unknown people. As
we continue to develop, we will endeavor to cre
ate facilities that show beauty, functionality, dura
bility, and a continued pursuit of tribal goals and
visions. Most of all we hope that we can create a
tribal community that instills a sense of pride for
our tribal membership.
ATNI meets at Chinook Winds
Gaming and Convention Center
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
(ATNI) met at Chinook Winds Gaming and Con
vention Center on February 16-19 to discuss cur
rent tribal and political issues. Representatives from
tribes in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho were
there, including Grand Ronde Tribal Council and
some staff members.
ATNI typically consists of one day of open dis
cussion on national issues affecting tribes and tribal
sovereignty, followed by a day of committee re
ports and meetings, and presentations of policy
resolutions. On February 18 a special luncheon
was hosted by the Siletz Tribe to honor Congress
woman Elizabeth Furse for her support of tribal
issues and restoration during her political and pro
fessional careers.
Rep. Furse will not be seeking another term in
Congress, and the luncheon was a special forum
for Northwest tribes to publicly thank her for her
diligence and hard work in support of tribes.
Other topics at ATNI included election strategies
for 1998, discussion of a 1999 action plan for the
105th Congress, and planning for 1999 National
Congress of American Indians (NCAI) convention.
Most of the tribal delegates will attend NCAI and
report to the national Native leaders about the top
ics discussed and issues affecting tribes through
out the northwestern United States.