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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2005)
r 8 OCTOBER 1, 2005 Smoke Signals Part 1 Tribal Hunting & Fishing Mights HUNTING & FISHING continued from front page lever that limited the Tribe's bar gaining power for its hunting and fishing rights. Even within the Consent Decree, the parties agreed to disagree on the point. "There is disagreement about the Tribe's hunting and fish ing rights," it said. "The Tribe con- to our head," because it was felt that without agreement that lim ited hunting and fishing rights to far less than the Confederated Tribes' ceded lands, the effort to secure the land base could have unraveled. In a letter to the membership in a 1986 issue of Smoke Signals, then Chairman Mark Mercier wrote, "The Council sought to "The state of Oregon was adamant tliat there would be no hunt ing and fishing rights. We had several meetings in our cham bers, very emotional meetings. It was a very tearful time for the women. They basically told us that there was no way we could (fight for the hunting and fishing). " Cheryle Kennedy Tribal Chairwoman tends that it possesses Tribal hunt ing, fishing, trapping, and animal gathering rights. The State, on the other hand, disagrees and presently enforces state law whenever the Tribe or its members hunt, fish, trap, or gather animals, contrary to any provision of the law." Some Tribal members look back at the bargain as one made with "a gun leave this issue out of the Reserva tion Plan until a bill (for the land base) was passed. The Council felt that a land resource base was the key. Hunting and fishing was an issue that could have been taken up at a later date. "In order to establish a strong le gal case for hunting and fishing a great deal of legal research must be done. There was too little time and money to carry out this research be fore the plan was to be submitted." But the state wanted hunting and fishing included and the Tribe was under time pressure to settle the question of a land base. The Tribe essentially let go of the hunting and fishing issue to take on the question of a land base. "The state of Oregon was adamant that there would be no hunting and fishing rights," said Tribal Chair woman Cheryle Kennedy, who even then sat on Tribal Council. "There was another clock ticking," said Kennedy. "In our Restoration bill, we had two years to come for ward with a land bill or we wouldn't get any land. "And we needed to get support. The state was looking at all of the affected parties, so we had to deal with the Steelheaders and the tim ber companies. We would go into these (community) meetings, the nine of us, into a hostile crowd of hundreds. I remember a meeting with the BLM in South Salem. Their auditorium was full and they were all there. "No way they were even going to listen to us. A very boisterous group. It felt like we were not mak ing any headway there. "We had several meetings in our chambers, very emotional meet ings," said Kennedy. "It was a very tearful time for the women. They basically told us that there was no way we could (fight for the hunting and fishing)." ' .-. ' ' c p o Today Tribal Elder Gary LaChance fishes on the Nehalem River in Novem ber of 2003. "We looked at the land base issue and weighed it with the hunting and fishing, and we had to wonder, without any land, what would hunting and fishing rights mean? We sat in that meeting with tears streaming down our faces. "The hardest part for me was that (the hunting and fishing consent decree) was forever. Even on our own land." And Tribal need at the time could be seen in almost every demo graphic measure. Overall Tribal household income was about 83 of overall Oregon household in- N I 1 I Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Hunting and Fishing Area rwr 1 0reQ J Tribal Hunting and Fishing Area fli ' I V4T9'CV ' Forest Grove j Portland-Metro Area - p' '',''i ' "" v , - J - " Xl f J IL A----- rfT , 1 I I I ' ' 4 ' 1 V ' ' S 'inllniA , f ' "' ' ' J?L-Srteridan The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community Q cu Rv.tion '' cJ of Oregon is located in Grand Ronde, Oregon. The PSSiS: GraVid Ronde ) CTGR has a forested Reservation of 1 0.052 acres " cnnm I f north of the town of Grand Ronde. The Reservation C" ll county un. Lincoln Citv S is 'ocated wrtnin tne Tnbal hunting area known as the eHyrm L X Trask unit. cpn 3 P ' r" z . Salem 0 10 20 40 Miles ! o J I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 "- jf I Conawa Trw oianna ond, mtrt HtwooOMtcn.Apnl 1, 2009 tirmtvnirHMni4titiiMi g i 1 I u ... , J &
