Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 2002)
APRIL 15, 2002 APRIL 15, 2002 Smoke Signals Smoke Signals Native Students Now Have A Home In The Dig City Thanks To The Spirit Mountain Community Fund Continued from front page has been extremely rewarding for Portland State University to work with the Native American Tribes in making this project a reality." Navajo Architect David Sloan designed the Learning Center and fused traditional art into the building's design. He used carved cedar pan els, petroglyph insets and artistic glass struc tures. The 11,000 square foot, $2.4 million center will -4 Architectural rendering of the new PSU Native American Stu dent and Community Center. include a gathering space for 300 people, space for class rooms, a library and conference room, an art gallery, a rooftop garden, an outdoor salmon bake area and a court yard where gradu ates will inscribe their names. The center will be the only one of its kind in the Portland metropolitan area, home to 15,000 American Indian and Alaskan Native people. It will serve as a cultural home for Native students, supporting their enrollment at PSU and enhanc ing their academic studies. It will also provide a resource room equipped with comput J) J I p" pMi-4 mmm I .... - ,i " I I ers for students, classrooms, meeting and con ference spaces, and it gives an opportunity for those who visit the center to learn about Native traditions and historical and contemporary is sues of importance to indigenous people. "The Native American Student and Commu nity Center will stand as a symbol of Portland State's commitment to goodwill, diversity and community pride," said Don Sampson, who served as master of ceremonies and is the cam paign chair for the Native American Student NativeAmericanVeteranTedSkinner,of Bor ing, Oregon, is a member of the Color Guard for Northwest Indian Veterans Association. A Drummers and dancers of all ages turned out for the groundbreaking event at PSU. Photos by Peta Tinda wwer n v mmm&m I irk '4 I i 1 lit MV ' Ml ii I ; I r .I X rNM.t m i .v . - ji . " -n v and Community Center. "The Center will serve as a foundation for other programs and enrich Portland State, the city and the state of Oregon." A council of Native American artists has been created to help select art work for the building. The council includes Inupiaq sculptor Lawrence R. Ahkvana, Nez Perce, Chippewa and Assiniboine sculptor Doug Hyde, Warm Springs' mixed-media sculptor Lillian Pitt and Tlingit glass artist and sculptor Preston Singletary. The Center will be available to all community members and is expected to open in September 2003, in time for the new school year. Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison represented the Grand Ronde Tribe at the dedication ceremony. '(W'Jf-1 V 4 .ir -0 A A J L,T?f!k' 0 1 2l : not n Lid 4 Eaglebeak members Richard "Bubba" Sohappy (left), Dustin Harmon (back ground) and Bobby Mercier (right) share a light moment with Kevin Simmons (cen ter) of the Tribal Education department. KIF(Su7QS6 TOkQS (tefflQ gaQF IT PifGSGIfQ "ullDQ ?a86 OS UUBQ QmDteQ ClFtoQQDfi Continued from front page teach you about scientific, cultural and traditional things," said Van Pelt. "They also teach Tribal mem bers about who they were, and how to protect these places, like they had traditionally." The classes sought to educate a new generation to help find and preserve cultural artifacts. To make the experience as hands-on as possible, the specialists built four practice archeological sites on the side of a small hill near the Tribal Governance Center. The sites fea tured stone tools, arrowhead points, fire hearths, and in one simulated burial site, realistic-looking plastic bones. The students then set out to find and map the sites, filling out site forms, taking photographs and re cording the overall condition of the sites. The students were taught how to spot artifacts in the field, as well as how to identify artifacts 1 by looking for the tell tale signs of the human hand. "We need people who are certified, who know what the laws are. Tribal people, instead of using whoever the developers choose," said Grand Ronde Tribal member Perri McDaniel, a Cultural Protection Specialist for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. "Because we were terminated, a lot of knowl edge has been forgotten; that in formation lost. We need to get our own people out there, surveying. That's why I was so exited to see young people interested in the class. I think it gives them hope that yes, we can find our sacred places. It gives them a direct connection to the land." The Natural Historic Preservation Act of 1966 states that anywhere the ground is to be disturbed (roads, cell towers, con struction) must I ; 1 V,: .. . vw. I i be surveyed by an archeologist before any work takes place. If a site has been found to be histori cally significant, then the federal and state governments have laws in place to protect it. The cultural protection special ists want to make sure that the ar cheologist who surveys the site rep resents the Tribe, who traditionally cared for and had great respect for such sites. "We are stewards of the land, of the things in the ground, and we want to make sure these sites are protected," said Grand Ronde Tribal member Connie Shultz, Cul tural Protection Specialist for the Tribe. "Construction does a lot of damage. And these sites are irre placeable." "It is vital to protect these sites, and to give them the respect they deserve," said Lloyd Barkley, a Cultural Resource Technician from Umatilla. "The temptation is to pick up things from these sites and take them home. But our educa tion is in the ground, not in boxes in the closet. It is worth more out here, so you , c a n bring your kids and show them how their ances tors lived. They would learn a lot more about themselves and who they are if they brought their kids out S fTT jp"l p2tT1 "Sbrra effljggggga p'i""j f" , 4 S0uxg0t I V n v w-) r J - -" js' i - m r ' " e ft' Culture class members pose for a photo in front of the Tribal Governance center after completing a forty-hour course in cultural resource protection. to one of these sites, instead of just showing them a box from the closet." Because the Tribal and federal governments must work so closely on such projects, it gives the Tribe a chance to express its sovereignty. "Even on a reservation, state laws apply that mandate consultation with the Tribe," said Van Pelt. "There are ways the Tribe can de velop policies to interact with state and federal agencies that can be beneficial to the Tribe. We're basi cally using the tool of archeology to take care of properties that are rightfully ours." What should you do if you find a cultural artifact? "There are different rules for public and private land," said Schultz. "You just can't go digging up your back yard. If you find something on private land, contact either us at the cultural depart ment, or your land manager. If it's public land, then contact the State Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management." The general rule is, if you find an artifact on the surface it's okay to pick it up, (and hopefully take it to the cultural resources depart ment) but if you dig or break ground, then it becomes looting, especially if it's a burial site. It is a felony to dig in or otherwise dis turb a burial site. The Umatillas have had problems in the past with looters, but have managed to catch and prosecute several. But they have also had notable success with raising pub lic awareness and have gotten the community's help to watch the sites. "Unfortunately, we've been looted extensively on the Colum bia and Umatilla Rivers," said Barkley. "And looters are hard to prosecute, be cause you've got to catch them in the act. But usually they try to sneak in at night and have things like shovels and screens for sifting the earth. We caught one guy who tried to say he was just fishing, but it was obvious what he was doing there. Now we always have to watch for looters." "Looters desecrate sites without any respect," added Anthropologist Julie Longenecker, one of the spe cialists from Umatilla. "It's more than a loss of knowledge, it's the loss of thousands of years of his tory. Looting is like tearing the pages out of a book and putting the book back on the shelf." What should you do if you see someone looting? Experts say the best thing to do is to call the authorities, like the Bureau of Land Management if it is on federal land, or the local sheriffs department. Fines and jail sentences for looting have be come more stringent in recent years to combat the rise of such incidents. After the class was over, the stu dents gathered at the Tribal Gov ernance Center to discuss what they had learned. "I found out that going out and finding things is a lot harder than it seemed in the classroom," said Amber Schulz, a student who came down from Portland to attend the class. "This experience has defi nitely made me more culturally V , V' - - ? Jr V J " ' n Jeff Van Pelt, Program Manager for the Cultural Resources Pro tection Program of the Confeder ated Tribes of Umatilla sensitive." "We must respect these sites. It's really important for the Tribes," said McDaniel. "I'm glad to see this happen, and glad to be a part."
