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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.
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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
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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." '
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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 .
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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.