FEBRUARY 15, 2000
3
As forest
patrol
officer,
Marce Norwest's
duties are many.
Story and photos by Brent Merrill
Tribal Elder and forest patrol officer Marce
Norwest knows the Grand Ronde reservation and
the surrounding area like the back of his hand.
Having grown up in the area and spending most of
his life outdoors, Norwest is a perfect fit for the job.
"I look forward to going to work everyday," said
Norwest. "It is a respon
sible job and I honor that.
I'm entrusted with a lot.
I enjoy being out there
helping people."
Norwest, who has expe
rience as a game warden,
fire warden and a mili
tary policeman, patrols
the reservation looking
for a myriad of violations
that occur on tribal prop
erty. Norwest also gained
experience while attend
ing Tillamook Community
College's environmental
law enforcement course.
He guards against tim
ber theft, provides security
for the equipment used in
tribal logging operations,
checks firewood permits,
keeps illegal greenery op
erations from using tribal
land, reports poachers to state and county law offi
cials and educates campers, hikers, hunters and
fishermen about the area and its regulations.
Norwest also works with the Natural Resources
department's fire crews and maintains and replaces
damaged and stolen signs on the reservation.
While performing his tasks, Norwest rides
around in his Jeep Cherokee that serves as a mo
bile communications unit. He has the capability
to communicate with the Yamhill County Sheriffs
Department, Polk County Sheriff's Department,
State Police, emergency service's EMTs and am
bulances, Lifeflight and local loggers.
Norwest helps guide officers to crime scenes they
are unable to locate and has guided helicopters in
to remote logging accidents.
It is sometimes hard to believe a man with his
schedule is an Elder. Norwest also finds time to
travel from pow-wow to pow-wow representing the
Tribe as the chairman of the Grand Ronde Veter
ans' Committee Color Guard.
"Marce has an important job," said Natural Re
sources Director Cliff Adams. "His presence is out
there especially on the weekends. It makes us
feel better knowing that people aren't going to be
cutting down trees and stealing wood and creat
ing other kinds of problems. We have people van
dalize logging machinery. We have theft of wood
off of the log decks. People have been going in
and cutting logs up for firewood. People dump
trash and steal (jars and take them up on the res
ervation and just junk them part them out.
"We want to make sure people aren't illegally
taking greenery such as sal-al and different ferns
and things like that. He checks permits. During
the season he checks on campers with open fires.
Then there are the road signs that he takes care
of as well. We are always replacing those. People
shoot them up or steal them. Marce checks on the
buildings here and the vehicles and makes sure
they are locked up," said Adams.
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entrusted with a lot.
I enjoy being out
there helping
people."
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Norwest spends time with local law enforcement
while on the job. His local knowledge has assisted
them many times and played a key role in several
cases.
"He (Norwest) assists the local sheriffs office from
time to time," said Adams. "He really is the eyes
and ears out there and just his presence really
helps. We all (the Tribe and local law enforce
ment) just like knowing there is someone out there
patrolling the land. When word like that gets
around, like it has, then it makes it a lot easier in
terms of people trying to dump garbage, cut down
trees, steal firewood and vandalize.
"He has done a good job up there and I think he
enjoys his job," said Adams. "We really rely on him
to travel all the roads and see what is going on out
there. His judgment is a needed part of the job."
"I give people directions and help people when
they are broken down or lost," said Norwest. "I do
public relations by talking to the hunters at their
campsites, fishermen and their families and the
general public. I enjoy being out there. I was
raised up on a big ranch so I enjoy being out in
the open. I lived in town one time, I couldn't hardly
handle it."
Norwest often picks a spot on the reservation
with a view and has his lunch. While he eats, he
listens.
"I go up to the landings," said Norwest. "I've
been doing this (working in the woods) a long time
and I know where the acoustics are good for hear
ing. I can hear chain saws or even hear people
talking from a long ways away. People might be
moss pickers or illegally gathering forest products
and they tend to talk a lot when they are out in
the open. I can hear them. I hear chain saws. I
observe and listen and eat my lunch."
One of Norwest's favorite parts of the job is his
interaction with the environment and its wildlife.
"I love animals and I have a camcorder and quite
a few pictures I've taken," said Norwest. "I see
quite a few bear, cougars, coyotes and eagles. I
see spotted owls, deer and elk. I'm there just about
every day."
The interaction he has with tribal members and
other community members and visitors on the res
ervation keeps him busy. Although he is a quiet
man, Norwest enjoys talking to people. He ap
proaches people with respect and gets respect in
return.
"Tribal members know me and they respect me
as I respect them," said Norwest. "A lot of them
are gone for many years and they come back.
When they left there were just a few roads and
now there is a spider web of roads and its pretty
easy to get lost when you want to go up and look
the rez over. We get a lot of tourists.
"I'm highly entrusted and I know that and I
honor that," said Norwest of the pride he has in
his job. "I cherish that being trusted as I am.
It makes me feels proud."
Norwest, the son of Leo and Mary Norwest, has
reached an age when most people slow down and
start to take life a bit easier. He has not slowed
down and he still remembers the w ay things used
to be. He remembers the original reservation and
he remembers when it was taken away. He said
he is glad the Tribe has been restored and that
the people are once again coming together.
"I've been here all my life and we used to have a
reservation and when they took it away from us it
seemed everybody drifted," said Norwest. "But, I
came around here and I seemed to know the roads.
I helped put the markers up on the reservation.
It was part of my job to know the roads so I pro
grammed it in my mind."
Norwest has a simple message for tribal mem
bers. "I am working for them," said Norwest. "If there
is any question they need to ask me, I will at any
time answer their questions. I'm working for them.
That's my job."