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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2002)
Smoke Signals 11 DECEMBER 1, 2002 Classy John Hawks Learned Art From His Grandfather When He Was Young Amazing works created by local artist take him from France to Hollywood and home again in Oregon. -sa5? A , v 7, s Proud Local artist John Hawks shows off his creations at this year's annual Grand Ronde Pow-wow. Hawks had trouble keeping his booth at the pow-wow stocked because he kept selling his wares. Hawks gives credit to his wife for helping through the creative process. By Peta Tinda Native artist John Hawks has achieved inter national fame for his art. It has been display in the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and in the Louvre in Paris. His hand made regalia has been seen on movies like Dances with Wolves. He has been commissioned to work for Hollywood stars like Steve McQueen, Gary Cooper, and Henry Fonda and stayed in John Wayne's home while worked on a wedding gift for Wayne. Hawks is a Chiricahua Apache from Arizona. He learned the silversmithing trade from his grandfather. His grandfather was a master smith and started teaching John when he was only eight years old. It was his grandmother who urged him to pur sue sculpting. He is the fourth generation of carvers in his family. He said he feels that main taining traditional ways, like pow-wow, is essen tial. Hawks also has been coming to the Grand Ronde Pow-wow for years. The well-known sculptor and craftsman, who lives with his wife Gail in Lincoln City, said he feels most at home at the Grand Ronde Pow wow. "I never miss it," Hawks said. "I've been com ing since the early days. I love being here. It's fantastic to be at the pow-wow," he said. "I love the heritage. I love the regalia and I love to see the kids here and getting involved," he said. Hawks booth was busy during the Annual Contest Pow-wow this year. His finely crafted beadwork, necklaces and sculptures sell out quickly each celebration. "I was completely cleaned out by the second day of the celebration," he said. He is quick to give credit to his wife. He said that without her there would be no art. "My wife is a major part of my work. She does all the beadwork and quillwork. Without her I wouldn't be working," said Hawks. "I also think the pow-wow is important to the community. For a long time our heritage kind of had gone by the wayside. I think there's fi nally a turnaround coming," he said. "I always feels welcome when I come here. In my heart, it feels like they're (the Grand Ronde Tribe) my family," said Hawks. "My fondest hope is to be made a member of this Tribe. I'm also very proud of the progress the progress this Tribe has made. My chest swells with pride when I come up here." Flathead Indian Tribe Has Respected Fire Management Program Tribal Fire Manager Tony Harwood shares information with Grand Ronde. By Peta Tinda The oldest word in the Salish language is fire. It is fitting then, that one of the oldest and most respected fire management programs in the nation is the Confederated Tribes of the Salish and Kootenai's, located on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. "There is a word in Salish that's a thousand years old that means 'person who starts the fire,' so even then they had a controlled burn man ager," said Tony Harwood, Fire Management Officer for the Tribe at this year's Natural Re sources department Annual meeting at Seven Feathers Casino. Harwood was an invited to speak at the Tribe's conference by Natural Resources Director Pete Wakeland to give a presentation to the Natural Resources staff and the members of the Tribe's Fish and Wildlife Committee and Timber Com mittee. Harwood is a third generation wild land fire fighter who has spent his share of nights camped out on the fire line. "It's real fire country over there (in Montana)," said Harwood. "We have an extensive history of frequent and large fires. Economically, fire man agement is very important to our Tribe. We have Ponderosa Pines and timber worth $4 to $5 mil lion dollars annually. But it's also very fire de pendant. The forest is adapted to have fires once in a while. So there's a big need for prescribed burns," said Harwood. A prescribed burn is when series of small, con trollable fires are deliberately set to clear out haz ardous fuels. Such fires used to occur naturally, but in the past 100 years, the policy was that all forest fires be put out immediately. This inter ruption of the natural fire cycles results in a build up of dead trees and underbrush. This fuels what would otherwise be small fires into raging infernos. Such fires devour thousands of acres of valuable forest before they can be checked. Only in the past few decades have the ben efits of prescribed burns been realized. "Fire exclusion has had adverse affects," said Harwood. "After the 2000 fire season when everything burned up, congress instituted the Nation Fire Plan. They set aside one billion dollars for fire management. So there's money available, espe cially for fuels reduction." The way to get at some of those federal dol lars, Harwood said, is to first do an assessment to determine fire occurrence and history, iden tify what the manpower needs of the Tribe are and then submit the findings to the appropriate government agencies. Under the National Fire Plan, the hazardous fuels program has expanded significantly with a greater focus on treatments intended to protect communities in the urban wild land interface. "Most Tribes could have a full time person just doing fire prevention and education," said Harwood. - But the best thing that Tribes can do, Harwood said, is to provide depth in their fire fighting de partments. "You need qualified manpower," said Harwood. s r ft I J .'V Tony Harwood "It's important to develop and hold on to exper tise. The loss of even a few qualified people is big loss. Experienced people are very hard to replace." Harwood stressed the importance of prescribed burns, not only because they keep the forest healthy, but also because they provide good train ing for fire crews. Other issues Harwood spoke about were safety, urban forest interfaces and the education of people about the need for pre scribed burns. "There have been some big changes in fire management. But also big opportunities," said Harwood. "The billion dollars the National Fire Plan sets aside is just a drop in the bucket. There's a lot of work to do out there." B
