January 1, 1999
Culture and Heritage
moves forward
The Tribe's Culture and Heritage program is moving forward with
several important goals and activities in the coming months, all of
which are important to creating a strong foundation for the mu
seumcultural center.
The immediate goals are:
BTo create a solid governing foun
dation in which roles and relation
ships are clarified and strengthened.
DTo develop professionally sound
policies and procedures governing all
collections and functions.
DTo complete the architectural and
interpretive master plans and two
feasibility studies.
DTo implement a fund-raising plan
as needed.
To have a professionally trained
program staff. .
To accomplish these goals, the
following activities will take
place, each of which is identified
by area:
Governance
DDevelop charter and by-laws, val
ues and codes of conduct which in
clude confidentiality statements;
Determine and, if necessary, file for
501c3 nonprofit status and articles
of incorporation.
Create a new board of directors.
Refine mission statement.
BClarify-roles and strengthen rela
tionship between Cultural Resources
Protection.
Address proprietary and copyright
issues.
Stewardship
Create and implement collections
policies for artifacts, photographs,
oral histories, linguistic research and
historical documents. '
Inventory existing collections.
Acquire additional storage space
for current collection needs.
Work closely with General Services
on electronic archiving system for
cultural center needs.
Collaborate with Cultural Re
sources Protection to develop a
shared electronic database.
Plan and implement a community
wide collections acquisition campaign.
Planning for the cultural center
Develop an architectural master
plan.
Develop an interpretive master
plan.
Plan and implement a community
focused consultation process.
Evaluate potential sites.
Select the site. '
Begin design phase for the build
ing and exhibits.
Conduct a fund-raising feasibility
study. Develop fund-raising plan and be
gin implementation as needed.
Financial planning
Conduct a marketing and finan
cial viability study.
Research revenue generating op
tions. Staff Development
Hire a curator.
Hire a cultural education special
ist. Identify and implement training
work plans for professional staff.
Identify services and programs we
can realistically provide now for
tribal community dependant upon
adequate staffing and available
funding. -Begin
implementing cultural edu
cation programs wherever possible.
Determine how best to use volun
teer work teams.
Establish policies and procedures
for work teams.
Professional staff lays out their ac
tivities for calendar year 2000.
Artifacts due for return
x -
to Grand Ronde Tribe
SALEM, Ore. (AP) In a glass
case full of bowls and arrowheads
at Champoeg State Park, a simple
digging handle made of elk antler
caught Ryan Heavy Head's eye.
It had belonged to a woman of the
Grand Ronde Tribe. It would have
been a gift from her mother. It
would have been with her, when
she married. It should have been
buried with her.
'That kind of thing is sitting out
there on a display, and it doesn't
even have a label to say what it
is," said Heavy Head.
"People will look at it and say,
That's a piece of antler with a hole
in it."' .:
Digging handles are among the
thousands of artifacts that are ex
pected to come back to the Grand
Ronde in the next two years from
museums and universities across
the country. The Native American
Grave Protection and Repatriation
Act of 1990 allows tribes to take
back sacred artifacts and human
remains. Under the act, museums
receiving federal funding must re
turn artifacts upon request to the
descendants of the owner or the
owner's tribe. It can take two years
to get an item back because of a
complex federal process. But the
Tribe expects that 70 percent of the
artifacts they want back will be at"
the reservation within two years.
The Tribe plans to build its own
museum. Some objects were taken
in the late 1800s and early 1900s,
when the looting and desecration
of Indian burial sites was com
mon." In 1868, Army officers
shipped Indian skeletons to the
surgeon general for studies that
purported to prove white superi
ority based on cranial size.
Heavy Head and his wife,
Adrienne, have entered 2,000 ob
jects in a database for the Grand
Ronde, and more inventories are
coming in every week.
Tribal members looking for a
particular ceremonial item will be
able to find out which museum
has it and what it was used for.
The Heavy Heads are Blackfoot,
hired by the. Grand Ronde to help
them claim objects from museums,
universities and public agencies.
The Grand Ronde Tribe sent
4,000 letters to museums around
the United States, asking for lists
of tribal artifacts.
Willamette University and the
Museum of Natural History at the
University of Oregon are among
institutions working with the
Grand Ronde.
, Many artifacts are considered so
sacred that outsiders aren't al
lowed to photograph or display
them. At the U of O museum,
thousands of obsidian blades,
stone objects and human remains
are locked away because of sensi
tivity to the feelings of American
Indians.
Some museums with such sa
cred objects still offend Native
peoples by storing them poorly.
Heavy Head finds Grand Ronde
artifacts stashed in paper bags, or
crammed in back rooms. At one
university collection, rodents ap
parently had gnawed through the
boxes and nested among the arti
factsT! Just as the university is being
required to return these relics,
DNA testing and chemistry have
advanced to the point where the
artifacts would be of immense
value, said Professor Mel Aikens,
director of the museum. ;
i Such tests could determine how
Native people lived, what they ate
or what afflicted them, he said.
Once the remains are returned
and reburied, that chance will be
lost. Aikens would like to keep the
remains long enough to test them
or to be able to borrow them
back for testing.
Reservation roads get new signs
Have you ever, taken a trip up to the reser
vation and wondered, if you were really on
tribal land or not? Well, have no fear! Reser
vation road signs are here! Yes, that's right,
the Timber and Roads Department of the Natu
ral Resources Division (NRD) has put up "En
tering" and "Leaving" reservation signs. These
signs are place along roads wherever a road
crosses the reservation boundary. The "Enter
ing" signs are white with red lettering and a
black Tribal logo. The "Leaving" signs are white
with green lettering and a black tribal logo.
Jeff Kuust, Timber and Roads Coordinator,
informs us that "these signs will help gatherers, hunters, fisherman, and
other recreationists know when they are on tribal land and when they are
not. It should really help avoid confusion. For instance, many people like
to know when they are on tribal land rather than Hampton Tree Farms
land, because Hampton does not allow camping or firewood gathering."
Thanks to this latest effort of the Timber and Roads Department of the
NRD, tribal members can get to know their reservation a little better now!
I entering
t , ft it
TRIBAL LAND 1