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Community News
Smoke Signals
Community Fund awards two grants: West Salem Clinic & Young Audiences
West Salem Clinic (staff members, pictured at right with Adam Henny and
Chuck Galford) has received a $15,292 grant from Spirit Mountain Commu
nity Fund to purchase a new microscope. The grant will also be used to
support West Salem Clinic's primary medical care services for low income
and homeless families. The existing microscope has been used since it was
donated to the clinic in 1978, and has deteriorated to the point where samples
must be sent to an outside lab. This delays test results, thereby compromising
treatment and creating a financial burden for the clinic and low income pa
tients, who are often billed by the outside labs.
Sydney Brewster, Director of Development for Northwest Human Services
said, "As a community-based health center, our clients are some of the needi
est and most vulnerable in the Marion and Polk counties. The Spirit Moun
tain Community Fund contribution significantly enhances
our ability to provide diagnostic services to a special group
of people. Simply put, this is great for the community!"
According to Chuck Galford, Marketing Director for Spirit
Mountain Casino and a member of the Fund's Board of Trust
ees, "The West Salem Clinic serves many people who oth
erwise would have no primary medical care. We wanted to
make sure the clinic could continue this good work."
Northwest Human Services submitted a grant request for
$5,292 for the purchase of a microscope, and to everyone'
surprise, the Tribal Council and the Board of Trustees added
an additional $10,000 to that amount for a total of $15,292.
Young Audiences helps kids appreciate art
Mara Stahl, (right) a storyteller with Young Audiences of
Oregon and S.W. Washington, performed plays with par
ticipation from the students at Grand Ronde Elementary
School on May 6. Mara designs and creates all of the elabo
rate paper mache puppets she uses in her traveling show.
This assembly was made possible because Spirit Mountain
Community Fund awarded Young Audiences a $25,000 grant
and they in turn wanted to do something for the Grand Ronde
community.
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Wetlands could produce camas, tarweed for Tribal use, continued from frontpage
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TOP: Lindy Trolan (left), and
June Olson, Cultural Resource
Specialists for the Tribe stand
in a meadow outside Corvallis
where tribal people once
gathered to harvest camas, a
mainstay food source.
RIGHT: Don Day (center),
Tribal Archeological Site
Monitor stands on the bank
of Mary's River with City of
Corvallis and NRCS staff
discussing preserving area
the future generations.
natural values, including fish and wildlife habitat, water quality improvement,
food water retention, and environmental education. At one point, camas covered
these fields, but some agricultural practices and development have destroyed the
once plentiful plant."
Allen said NRCS is interested in helping the Tribe reestablish the camas and
other traditional plants native to the area. Reestablishing the area will require
letting the plants grow and gain abundance over the next several years. While the
Tribe could look forward to using, the area for gathering, cultural teachings re
garding the plant, its traditional value, methods of harvest and preparation could
begin right away.
June Olson, who heads the Tribe's Cultural Resource Protection Program, said
that before the area was farmed by early settlers, it was occupied by a band of
Kalapuya people who are commonly referred to the Mary's River or Marysville
band. Our ancestor, William Hartless had relatives in this band of people. June
said, "Camas was an important food source for tribal people and an important
trade commodity for the
Kalapuya."
Don Day, site monitor for
the Tribe, said, "The resto
ration of this wetland area
by all of the departments in
volved is a tremendous
joint project and will be
very educational to all, es
pecially our youth."
Lindy Trolan, Cultural
Resource Specialist for the
Tribe said, "It is exciting to
see so many groups inter
ested in the common goal
of restoring native habitat,
which in turn educates the
public and makes them
aware of the original his
tory of the area."
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