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.
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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.
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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