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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1999)
Smoke Signals Community Fund keeps on giving The Spirit Mountain Community Fund has granted $15,150 to A Child's Place Un Lugar Para Ninos for a "school readiness" project. This project is intended to provide the low income and Hispanic children attending the center with the skills they need to be prepared to enter the public school system. . A Child's Place is a non-profit, childcare, family advocacy, bilingual agency set-up to address the needs of low-income working parents, single parents and Hispanic families in the HillsboroCornelius area. Traditionally, the program has been a daycare to assist families, by providing a place for children to be safe, well fed and cared for in a loving manner. A Child's Place Un Lugar Para Ninos has won many accolades for its efforts and recently was named "Agency of the Year" for the PortlandVancouver area by the United Way of Columbia Willamette. RIGHT: The Tribe hosted a recent gathering for Community Fund recipients at the Portland Art Museum, which included speakers from OMSI and the fund's Board of Directors. Photo by Dale Peterson "" Managing Forest land Continued from page 1 and maintained over the next de cade. " This stewardship agreement will allow the Tribe to cooperatively man age Forest Service land in the same watershed basin as the reservation, thereby maintaining and promoting a healthy ecosystem throughout the Siuslaw National Forest. This agreement benefits everyone involved," said Michael Wilson, the Tribe's lands coordinator. "It will al low the Tribe to look at the entire watershed to find ways of manag ing the land more efficiently and ef fectively while building partnerships with other government agencies." The Tribe's 10,052 acre reservation lies within the watershed of the South Yamhill River and its princi pal northern tributaries. The head waters of these streams are mostly on federal lands, with the reserva tion in the center of the watershed. "Since these federal lands wrap around the reservation, it makes sense that management be coordi nated," said Mike Wilson. Don Gonzales, a Forest Ranger for the Hebo District of the Siuslaw National Forest, has worked hard to consummate this agreement with the Tribe. "It is about working to gether to ensure efficient packaging of the forest and its waters," Gonzales said. At the signing, a Bureau of Land Management official, Warren Tausch, was also present. He said that a similar agreement with the Tribe will be forthcoming to coopera tively manage 4,200 acres of BLM land. This land also is in the same watershed as the Tribe's Reservation and Forest Service lands. Wilson said that the Natural Re sources department will go to work right away collecting information on the Forest Service land. "We will in ventory the timber stands, look at snags, woody debris and monitor streams. Kelly Doerksen will work to get an overall picture of the habi tat by looking for threatened or en dangered wildlife such as the north ern spotted owl and marbled murrelet. Basically, we are going to collect some baseline information about the land, so we can develop a stand-alone management plan that will coordinate with our own ten year plan for the reservation," said Wilson. "We hope to learn new ways of managing the forest more effi ciently, and lower the costs involved for everyone." Tribal Chair Kathryn Harrison, who signed the agreement, said that it was a cooperative effort by all par ties involved that led to such a pro ductive working relationship. "We always had a good working relation ship with the Forest Service," she said. "Even before the Tribe was re stored. I know our Natural Re sources staff did not ever dream of this. Cliff Adams has been here from the beginning. He has put to gether an excellent staff, and treats this land like it was his own. That is what led us here today." Although other federally recog nized tribes have signed agreements with the Forest Service, National Park Service, and other governmen tal entities allowing involvement in management and restoration efforts, this is the first agreement that will allow an Indian tribe to coopera tively manage the Forest Service land near its reservation. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: Collaborative Stewardship Agreement Continued from page 1 The Tribe will develop a ten-year management plan for the 6,600 acres. This plan will be created with the goal of accomplishing the objectives of the Northwest Forest Plan and the Adaptive Management Area. The Forest Service will participate in the develop ment of the plan and upon completion will determine if the plan meets their manage ment needs. Will there be public review and comment on the Stewardship Plan that will be developed? Yes. All current applicable laws and policies will be followed. The plan that is devel oped will go through the NEPA process which includes a public review and comment process. Copies of the Environmental Assessment that will be developed will be publicly advertised and available upon request to any interested member of the public. Does the Stewardship Agreement change any of the regulations, manage ment objectives or authorities over the U.S. Forest Service land? No. The Forest Service and Tribe have discussed and will work together to assure compliance with all applicable regulations and policies. The Hebo Ranger District has provided the appropriate documents including the Northwest Forest Plan, the amended Siuslaw Forest Plan, the Adaptive Management Guide, the LSR Assessment and the Yamhill Watershed Analysis. The Tribe is accustomed to working with a variety of federal agencies and adapting to the regulations and policies of each. ; Will the Stewardship Agreement change existing policies for the harvesting of timber on U.S. Forest Service land? No. The agreement will not change existing harvest levels or authorities. No existing permits or timber sales will be affected. Will the Stewardship Agreement impact water resources on U.S. Forest Ser vice land or in the area? No. The agreement requires conducting a forest inventory and wildlife research on Forest Service lands. These activities will not affect the quality or supply of water coming off federal land. The only water resource related change that will occur because of this agreement is that the Forest Service will have better information about its streams. What does the Tribe hope to gain from the Agreement? Efficiency. The Tribe manages the reservation intensively, providing social, economic and biological benefits. This type of management requires a staff that has a variety of knowledge and skills. By operating over a larger area a staffing economy of scale is reached. Jobs. Staffing limitations and a heavy workload prevent the Forest Service from plan ning projects for this area. This agreement will help to create jobs in a variety fields such as: habitat restoration, recreation, silviculture and road stabilization. Improve conditions in the South Yamhill Basin. Through coordinated long-term management the tribe seeks to improve current conditions of aquatic, riparian, and upland resources in the South Yamhill Basin, while considering the social and economic needs of local communities. Cultural. All of the lands included in this agreement are within the ceded lands of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The Tribe has a concern for identifying, preserv ing, and interpreting archeological and historic resources. Some examples are trail and wagon routes; village, hunting camp, cabin, town, and homestead locations; and sites with religious significance. Is the Tribe qualified to perform this agreement? Yes. The Tribe's Natural Resources department has a staff of ten professional resource specialists and six technicians, plus two administrative support specialists and a variety of seasonal workers. Specialties represented include forestry, logging and road engi neering, silviculture, wildlife biology,. fisheries, water quality, environmental protection, and realty. This staff has the qualifications, experience, and facilities to provide high quality forest management services to a considerably larger area than the 10,052 acres contained in the Grand Ronde reservation. For more information about the Stewardship Agreement call Mike Wilson, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde at (503) 879-2380 or Don Gonzales, Hebo Ranger District at (503) 392-3161.
