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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2000)
2 Smoke Signals ji r. if? u noe inioinniracea ror Green Heron Award Tualatin Riverkeepers nominates Grand Ronde Tribe for community their involvement. The Tualatin River keepers, at their second annual Green Heron Awards ceremony and dinner, honored the Grand Ronde Tribe on Saturday, April 29. The Tribe was honored in the community group category for providing the blessing and offerings at a naming ceremony for Ki-A-Kuts Falls. The nam ing ceremony took place on June 21, 1999. The falls were named after 19th century Kal apuya leader Chief Ki-a-kuts. Chief Ki-a-kuts signed the 1853 treaty ceding large tracts of land, including the area of the nearly 100-foot falls, to the federal government before moving with his people to the Grand Ronde Reservation. The Tribe was honored for "outstanding efforts of those working for a healthy Tualatin River watershed." 1 The winners of each category were selected by a group of citizens who reside in the Tualatin River Basin. The categories were community group, business, school group, pub lic official and individual. The awards event was held at the luaiatin Uountry Ulub and hosted by news anchor Kathy Smith of Portland's KPTV channel 12. m I " , fit Y Xf ('f In June of last year, the Grand Ronde Tribe partnered with the Tualatin Riverkeepers in the nam ing of Ki-A-Kuts Falls. Pictured here at the naming ceremony is a Riverkeepers representative (up per left) along with Grand Ronde representatives Tony Johnson, Lindy Trolan. and Leon Tom. By Brent Merrill The dream of many area Veterans has long been to have a memorial to honor their fallen friends and family members. A new Veteran's Ad Hoc Memorial Committee has been established and getting the project completed is their main goal. The committee is looking for more participation from Tribal member Veterans and com munity member Veterans. The memorial will be home to the names of both Tribal member Veter ans and community member (Grand Ronde, Willamina and Sheridan) Veterans. The new committee was established at a meeting on April 25. "We need leadership to get this thing going," said Tribal member and Veteran Mike Larsen. Community member and Veteran Gene Hancock volunteered his ser vices to help the committee. Hancock explained the need for subcommit tees and detailed a plan for the committee's organizational needs. Hancock said the committee members would need to be willing to con tribute time and money to making the memorial happen. He said com mittee members would have to be willing to raise funds for the project to succeed. "If you want to get something done then you need some structure and some commitment," said Hancock. "The key here is we have a lot of talent in this group. We each have different talents we can draw from. The more people we can get to commit to this, the easier it will be to get this done." - Tribal member and Veteran Lewis Younger was voted in as chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee after he moved to open nominations. Tribal members and Veterans Steve Bobb, Norris Merrill, Russ Leno and Herman Hudson, Jr. and Tribal member and non-Veteran Brent Merrill were all unanimously voted onto the committee. The next Veterans Ad Hoc Memorial Committee meeting will be on Tuesday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Tribal Community Center. 9 a.m. Grand Ronde Cemetery 10 a.m Willamina Cemetery 11 a.m . Buck Hollow Cemetery 12 p.m Sheridan Cemetery Tribal member is first in the Nation By Justin Phillips Tribal member Lynn Robertson will become the first Native Ameri can in the nation to join the elite Interagency Hotshot Firefighting Crew (IHC). Robertson, son of Tribal members Ida Patterson and Jess Robertson, is the first individual from a recog nized Tribal organization to be se lected to the IHC. Robertson left April 30 for Redmond, Oregon, where he will be stationed until the end of September. Robertson works in the Tribe's Natural Resources Department where he is a technician in the sil viculture and protection program. He has worked five years for the Tribe fighting fires, training crews for fighting fires and doing physi cal training. He is an engine boss for Grand Ronde and squad quali fied. He also is a class "C log cut ter, which enables him to cut any size tree. "This experience will teach me the tools I need to become a crew boss, how to size up fires and fore cast weather conditions," said Robertson. He will spend an average of 100 rx mk V -v. y "i k ; J - ' i c Lynn Robertson days working on fires alone. He will work all over the United States and into Canada. When called upon, his group will be flown to the desired destination to vehicles equipped for use right away. Although excited to attend, Robertson quoted, "The hardest part of leaving will be because of my children Brandon, Bradley, and Shyla." ' jl Olson appointed to Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission June Olson, cultural resource manager for the Grand Ronde Tribe, was recently appointed to the new Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission. The commission recruited Olson for her knowledge of Native American burial places. For the past four years, Olson and the Cultural Resources department has been responsible for documenting, recording, preservine. and protect ing all significant Tribal places including burial . Rlt.es TVlOV aro nirrontlv Cl 1- JUnC OlSOn . ",7 ".iv- vuiiny in ulc piuuess ui imple menting a GPSGIS system to make the work easier. However, preserving and protecting historic graves is an enormous task. It will take many dedi cated people and organizations to accomplish this goal for future generations. The Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission shall: Maintain a listing of all pioneer cemeteries in Oregon. D Assist in coordination of restoration, renovation and maintenance of Oregon's pioneer cemeteries. O Make recommendations to the state parks and recreation director for . projects and funding to help maintain and improve Oregon's pioneer cem eteries.1" " ': ' n Obtain grant funding and seek legislative appropriations for individual pioneer cemeteries and groups of pioneer cemeteries. O Make recommendations to the Legislative Assembly for changes in law that will help protect pioneer cemeteries as part of Oregon's heritage. D Assist the director in locating and listing pioneer cemeteries. n Assist cemeteries listed as pioneer cemeteries with the commission to re habilitate and maintain those cemeteries and to promote public education . relating to pioneer and historic cemeteries. D Establish a process to obtain advice from authorities on the subject of the care of old grave markers and graveyards as part of any restoration process.
