DECEMBER 15, 2001
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BATTLE of the BIA
Tribe's Natural l&en!iirce FSire Cirews
jumimair-:on) the Front lines
September 11 attacks meant loss of air support for fire fighting crew.
Spend
By Justin Phillips
I ummertime: it is usually the
time to kick back and catch
I some rays from the few
sunny days we receive
around here in Oregon.
The Tribe's Natural Resources de
partment just may have the most
physically conditioned employees in
our organization. And, kicking back
wasn't part of their summer agenda.
This year, the Natural Resources
department sent a crew to battle sev
eral blazes in what has turned out
to be one of the driest years on the
west coast.
There were three crews altogether
that consisted of three members in
each. -
Grand Ronde Tribal member Lynn
"Bear" Robertson's group consisted
of Jeremiah Spenser and Bill Bork.
Robertson was the group foreman.
Tribal member Pete Wakeland,
also a foreman, had his group of
Chuck Shapin and Tribal member
Shonn Leno.
The third trio consisted of Tribal
member Mike Wilson foreman,
Wind River Shoshone Tribal mem
ber Shane Harmon and Forest Ser
vice employee Skip Bailey.
" I)
Fire Fighters The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde's Natural Resources
Department sent a crew to fight fires around the Northwest again this year. The
photos on top by Lynn Robertson show the fire raging on the front lines and the
photo directly above shows the three person crews on assignment at Flathead
National Forest in Montana.
Also firefighting this year in the
Lakeview area was Warm Springs
Tribal member Orvie Danzuka,
squad boss, Heidi Rogers and Grand
Ronde Tribal member Lincoln Elliot.
For the five weeks the gang spent
in the field, the Natural Resources
department was also making money
to invest back into their program.
Robertson said they billed out the
"engine work" of 770 hours for the
use of their equipment used in the
firefighting efforts to produce
$33,000. This money will be used
for upgrades on existing equipment,
new purchases of fire-fighting equip
ment or invested into the Natural
Resources program.
Together they set foot on the
Colville Reservation in Washington,
Lakeview, the Warm Springs Reser
vation and Oakridge, all in Oregon.
They also traveled to Montana at Gla
cier Park, which turned out to be
more trouble than expected.
The crews fought fires for nearly
two months.
, The crew was fighting fire when
the September 11 attacks took place
on the east coast. The Federal Avia
tion Administration (FAA) an
nounced the grounding of all aircraft
across the country as a safety mea
sure after the attacks.
This meant that the air support
for their crews was gone. With
safety being a number one concern,
they retreated back to "base" camp
then watched the fire devour more
acres by the minute.
In the end, the fire consumed more
than 68,000 acres of timber.
In an issue closer to home, a small
fire broke out that consumed a quar
ter of an acre that was started on
the Grand Ronde Reservation this
summer. Jeff Nepstad, The Tribe's
SivicultureProtection Coordinator
and his crew responded to this and
quickly dispersed the flames before
any more damage was done. The
state and rural fire department also
responded to the fire.
He said it was higher fire danger
everywhere in the Northwest.
Robertson explained the whole fire
season in just a word "crazy." B
' ft)
Smoke Free Tribal member Tracy Biery (below) participated in this
year's Health and Wellness program's Great American Smoke Out on Thurs
day, November 15 at the Tribal Community Center. Staff members served a
light breakfast, handed out tobacco education materials, gave away door
prizes and shared information with people on ways to eliminate smoking
from thpir livps.
niuai iiiciiiuci
Perri McDaniel
(left, center) is
joined by her
daughter Delia
Sanchez at the
Great American
Smoke Out while
Kalene Contreras
looks on.
Photos by
Justin Phillips
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