APRIL 15, 2002
Smoke Signals 5
Heritage Tree Dedicated At The Oregon Garden In Siiverton
Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison helped to unveil the dedication plaque.
By Peta Tinda
The Grand Ronde Tribe and the
Oregon Heritage Tree program re
cently joined together to plant a new
Heritage Tree at the Oregon Gar
den in Siiverton. The Oregon white
oak sapling was planted near the
rest of the trees in the Oak Grove.
Kathryn Harrison, Tribal Elder
and former Chairperson of the
Grand Ronde Tribe accepted thanks
from the gathered dignitaries.
"I think the trees have spirits and
every living thing has a soul," said
Harrison. "It's part of our duty to
protect these places."
She told the crowd about how im
portant it is to preserve such places
and the importance of trees to Na
tives, both traditionally and today.
"We Indians always looked after the
trees. Now, the planting of this
young tree guarantees that this
Oak Grove will be there for our kids,
so they can enjoy them."
Harrison then told a traditional
coyote story to the grade school stu
dents who were there for the tree
planting.
The ceremony took place at the
Oregon Garden's White Oak Grove,
a west-facing slope that runs the
length of the garden. With the help
of a $235,000 grant from the Spirit
Mountain Community fund, the
Oak Grove is being restored to con
dition that existed prior to European
settlement. Invasive species such
as blackberry and scotch broom are
being removed, which allows the
native species to flourish.
The Oak Grove is approximately
25 acres with trees that average
150 to 200 years old. The largest
and oldest tree, called the Signa
ture Oak, is thought to be almost
400 years old. It is 100 feet tall and
almost 23 feet in circumference,
making it one of the largest white
oaks in the Willamette Valley. It
has been designated a heritage tree
by Marion County.
The Heritage Tree Program is the
first state sponsored program of its
kind in the country. It was begun
in 1995 under the auspices of the
Travel Information Council. The
program was established to in
crease public awareness of the im
portant contribution of trees to
Oregon's history and the signifi
cant role they play in the quality
of our daily life.
Heritage Trees are those trees
and groups of trees that have been
designated as significant on the
basis of their importance in na
tional, state, or regional history.
They are often acknowledged due
to their involvement or inclusion of
landscape architecture, forestry,
city planning, and culture. For a
tree to be included in the program,
it must meet certain criteria, like
being associated with historical
events, or associated with a person
or group of people of historic sig
nificance, or has age or size that
sets it apart from other trees.
After the ceremony, Harrison and
Cheryl Gribskov, Executive Direc
tor for the Oregon Travel Informa
tion Council, unveiled a plaque
dedicating the Signature Oak as an
official Oregon Heritage Tree.
"It's an honor to be a part of this,"
said Harrison. "These trees can
teach you things, if you just listen
to them."
Music Review Indian Trudell May Have Found A Hit With "Bone Days" Release
By Peta Tinda
Once called "extremely eloquent"
by the Federal Bureau of In
vestigation, long time Native activ
ist and musician John Trudell has
a new album released on April 5.
Titled "Bone Days" Trudell's lat
est musical endeavor will be released
on the Deamon Records label. The
album is a powerful fusion of tradi
tional Native chants and wisdom set
against a gritty blues background,
with crazy slide guitars. Trudell
speaks his compelling, cadenced lyr
ics while his band "Bad Dog" cranks
out a groovy, thoroughly modern
sounding rhythm.
Trudell, a Vietnam Veteran,
served in the U.S. Navy from 1963
1967, afterwards, he attended col
lege for a while, but dropped out.
In 1969, he participated in the oc
cupation of the
Alcatraz prison
by the Indians
of All Tribes and
became their
spokesman.
When the occu
pation ended in
1971, Trudell
worked with the
American In
dian Movement,
and became chairman of AIM in
1973.
In 1982 Trudell recorded "Tribal
Voice" a mix of poetry and Native
music, with the help of musician
Jackson Browne.
In 1986 Trudell released his al
bum "AKA Graffiti Man." It was
highly successful and was dubbed
- si
"the best album" of
that year by none
other than Bob
Dylan.
In the 1990's,
Trudell toured with
the Australian
band Midnight Oil
and acted in the
feature films
Thunderheart and
Smoke Signals, as
well as the documentary film Inci
dent at Ogallala.
Trudell's latest album has songs
that are alternately haunting and
humorous, sometimes lighthearted
and sometimes deadly serious.
There are songs about love, war
and the casualties of each.
Trudell's lyrics and poems contain
heartfelt emotion and unmistak
able passion. There are deeply felt
reflections in the songs, like one
titled "Undercurrent." The album
draws heavily on traditional Native
wisdom for inspiration, like in the
song called "Crazy Horse."
Trudell certainly doesn't shirk
away from addressing long -contentious
Native issues, but rather
confronts them head on. In other
words, Trudell is for real. His
plainspoken style and Bad Dog's
bluesy musical accompaniment
make for an album that's as enjoy
able as it is intense. I would put it
high on the list for any Native
music enthusiast's collection. If you
choose to spin this disk, however,
be warned: you might be a John
Trudell fan before it's done.
Beck is New Medical Services Manager at the Health & Wellness Center
By Chris Mercier
Don't look up "evolution" in
the dictionary anymore.
Instead, review the history
of health care in Grand Ronde, and
the definition of progress, quite of
ten through trial and error, more
often through patient feedback, is
evident. All the more reason to
have new Medical Services Man
ager Linda Beck on board.
Beck was recently appointed as
Medical Services Manager, a posi
tion founded entirely on the idea
that there will always be room for
improvement. And she brings with
her the experience and know-how,
not to mention the drive, to very well
make a difference in what has be
come a concerted effort to improve
all aspects of medical services to the
community.
"Tribal Council wanted members
to have their say," explained Beck.
"We're trying to make the clinic
more open and understood. People
should understand how the clinic
is run. And we want to know what
it would take to get Tribal members
back."
Hence Beck whose position she
calls in the most basic terms pos
sible a "networking coordinator." In
other words, she works with every
entity within the clinic, with phar
macists, radiologists, optometry,
physical medicine and most impor
tantly patients. It is her ears that
complaints and suggestions fall
upon and her communication skills
that relay an awareness of quality
control throughout the clinic. She
is charged with keeping everybody
else on the ball.
"Our goal is to improve access to
the clinic, to raise standards. . .to be
come accredited," she said. "I want
to maintain a high level of health
care."
Beck is trusted in those kinds of
duties, evidently. In Klamath Falls
she ran a consulting firm called "In
terim Management" that special
ized in much the same thing she
does now. Only hospitals and medi
cal centers came to her, and not vice
versa.
The medical field has long been
her vocation, she graduating from
Central Missouri State University
in 1980 as a registered nurse and
having background in same-day
surgery, hospice and home health.
Beck is a native Oregonian, born
and raised in Klamath Falls. Her
husband Steven Beck served in the
Air Force for 24 years, meaning that
she has lived in all parts of the coun
try, and other continents. Their
moves include Bitburg and Sembach
in Germany, as well as Washington,
California, North Dakota, Louisi
ana, Florida and Missouri.
J
, J
Linda Beck
She is able to boast three children
Kristin, Katie, and Jeb and
from them seven grandchildren.
Her oldest daughter Kristin lives
in Italy as an Army nurse, a loca
tion that thus far has worked to
Beck's advantage.
Beck came to the area in July of
2001. She has since bought a
house in Sheridan, a town she la
bels "very pleasant."