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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1999)
Smoke Signals 6 Cultural IRenaraB Protection) swtaife clan mm to ancient metorite By June Olson On September 15, Ryan and Adrienne Heavy Head, repatriation consultants to the Grand Ronde Tribe, submitted a claim to the American Museum of Natural His tory asking for the return of a mete orite taken from Oregon. Up until the early 1900's, the me teorite was situated in the vicinity of present-day West Linn. The Clack amas Tribe called the meteorite "tomanowos." The stone belonged to the Native doctors of the Clackamas Tribe who told the people how it came from the moon. Native children, ap proaching adolescence, were often sent by their families to visit the tomanowos in the dark of night. Young warriors bathed their faces in the water which collected in caverns carved into the surface of the stone. The water had special healing prop erties and was used by Native doc tors to cure friends and relatives. After the 1855 treaties, most Na tive families living in the Willamette Valley came to live in Grand Ronde, including the Clackamas Tribe. By the 1870's, with a tight government ban on traditional Native American religious practices, the Clackamas people went no more to the site of tomanowos. Kalapuya Elder William Hartless once told about the many strong spirit power sources which were available to Native people living in . a 2pq ' -i- ? . rr i IX;.- J Native hunters used to dip their arrowheads into the water that col lected in the meteorite's crevices. Photo by Lindy Trolan the Pacific Northwest. According to William Hartless, these strong spirit beings fled to the ocean after the ar rival of the Europeans and by the time of his interview, they came no more to the people at Grand Ronde. It would seem, in the case of the Oregon meteorite, the Clackamas tomanowos did not flee. It was taken from Oregon after it was sold by Or egon Iron and Steele for $20,600 to a wealthy woman from New York. Later, she donated it to the Ameri can Museum of Natural History where it still remains. Empowered under the language of the Native American Graves and Re patriation Act (NAGPRA), the Con federated Tribes of Grand Ronde sub mitted a claim to the American Mu seum of Natural History a few weeks ago calling for the release of the meteorite and the return of the tomanowos to the Grand Ronde com munity. However, much of the legal argu ment pertinent to this claim must still be addressed. In that respect, the Grand Ronde Cultural Resource staff will be interviewing Elders and other knowledgeable persons in an attempt to accumulate any and all informa tion which might be useful toward helping the museum understand why tribal people need the meteorite to return to its home. To expedite the issue, the Ameri can Museum has requested that this information gathering process be completed no later than November 30. As many Native people from Or egon and Southern Washington came to the Willamette Valley, on oc casion, for trade and healing pur poses, the staff at Grand Ronde is calling for assistance from anyone who may have information pertain ing to the Clackamas tomanowos. Telephone or in-person interviews can be scheduled with Ryan and Adrienne Heavy Head, NAGPRA representatives for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. They can be reached by phone at (503) 393-7255, or by e-mail at hvyheadcyberis.net. Current Natural Resources management practices The new Natural Resources plan will redefine practices for the next decade. HISTORY; The Grand Ronde Reservation contains 10,052 acres of contiguous forest land. A small portion of the original reservation, which contained 69,000 acres, was restored to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon on September 9, 1988 by congressional act. TIMBER HARVEST: Annual timber production decreased from 6 MMBF (an estimate from the 1983 BLM plan) to 5.70MMBF. This reduction of 300,000 board feet was necessary to provide better protection and improve habitat for many wildlife species and better protect streams on the Reservation. The harvesting program includes regenera tion, salvage and commercial thinning practices. Regeneration harvests are permitted when the average stand age is at least 70 years, except in the special emphasis area where the minimum average stand age is 90 years. The current plan requires at least four green trees and two snags per acre left in regeneration harvest areas. Commercial thinning is implemented in stands between 30 and 60 years of age. ROADS: The Reservation contains 74.1 miles of forest roads. Funds for road main tenance comes from the forest management deductions fund and the road mainte nance account. The roads are maintained through a service agreement with a local contractor. Permanent roads on the Reservation are carefully designed using forest road engineering standards. Most temporary roads are rehabilitated and replanted. REFORESTATION: Seed Source. Presently, 85 of the seedlings are grown from seed gathered from trees on the Reservation that are selected for their superior form and vigor. The remaining seedlings are grown from "superior" tree seed from a Weyerhaeuser seed orchard. The Weyerhaeuser seed has demonstrated above aver age growth rates, and will broaden the genetic pool on the Reservation. SITE PREPARATION AND PLANTING. Most of the regeneration harvests are broad cast burned. However, other techniques such as scarification are used to prepare the ground for planting where appropriate. The units are planted with 11 seedlings of Douglas-fir and plug1 seedlings of Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce and Western Red Cedar. Planting densities depend on management objectives, but the usual density is 436 treesacre. TIMBER STAND IMPROVEMENT: Overstocked stands of Douglas-fir will be pre-commercially thinned between 12 and 15 years of age, and trees in some of the stands will be pruned to a height of 17 feet between 15 and 30 years of age. Commer cially thinned stands may be fertilized. These practices will increase the size and quality of the timber in the future. RESOURCE PROTECTION: Fire and wind damage have been a minor concern on the Reservation. These events are rare, but historically they have caused catastrophic dam age. Insect and disease damage, primarily from laminated root rot and Douglas-fir bark beetle, occurs in isolated pockets. Swiss Needle Cast is a disease of recent concern that is being studied by Oregon State University. FISH AND WILDLIFE: The Fish and Wildlife program works on a wide variety of projects. The department has managed culvert replacement projects that have im proved fish access to over 18 miles of stream. Other habitat enhancement projects range from improvements for deer and elk to the Nelson's checker-mallow (a plant). The program also monitors a wide range of habitats and species to assess current con ditions and to assist future planning. The breadth of species surveyed includes deer and elk, on down to aquatic insects and threatened and endangered species. The extent of enhancement and monitoring projects undertaken will continue to expand. B RIPARIAN AREAS: Riparian areas are some of the most heavily used areas for wildlife. Protecting riparian acres with buffered leave zones has been a high priority under the current Management Plan. The width of the buffer depends on the classifi cation of each stream as well as the vegetation and topography. Our buffers range from 50 to 250 feet depending on the classification. B RECREATION: The Reservation provides a variety of recreational opportunities. Hik ing trails have been developed along Yoncalla, Burton, and Coast Creeks. An educational day-use park along Agency Creek continues to evolve since its construction in 1996. The trails and day-use park are open to the public. Fishing is being enhanced by improv ing the habitat for native trout and steelhead. Big game such as deer and elk may be hunted by the public during the regular hunting season. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION- The Environmental Resources program assists tribal programs with environmental compliance. This program identifies existing or potential problems on tribal lands and explores solutions that will enhance and protect tribal natu ral resources. Environmental Resources often writes environmental assessments (EA's) before major tribal projects are started. These EA's consider the potential effects of an action on the environment. The department is also responsible for the Tribe's water quality, wetlands and recycling programs. Stream surveys accessing water quality are currently being conducted. B CULTURAL; A preliminary cultural resource review of the Reservation was conducted in 1992. There were some sites and items of interest disclosed by the review. The location of these sites and items will be researched during this planning period. Some of the native plants that are culturally Important to the Tribe include willows, rushes, cedar, yew and alder. Culturally important plants will be studied and managed during this planning period.
