4 AUGUST 15, 2007
Smoke Signals
PurocDainniattioiro C-domoErs Tribe's SewaGrdslhop
PROCLAMATION continued
from front page
the atrium of the Tribal Governance
building, before Kulongoski, mem
bers of the state's Fish and Wildlife
Commission, the Tribal Council and
about 50 Tribal members seated in
the downstairs hearing room opened
to the atrium for the occasion.
"Hunting and fishing have been
an integral part of the lives of our
Tribal members for decades," Mer
rier continued, and the ceremony
took the latest step in returning
the management of this cultural
practice to the Grand Rondes.
"I can't commend the governor
enough for helping us make this
happen," Mercier said later about
the Proclamation. "I really feel he
put forth a very sincere effort. If
this isn't a perfect example of why
it's important and beneficial to
have a healthy relationship with
the sitting governor of our state,
then I don't know what is."
The purpose of the Proclamation
is twofold, Tribal Council member
Reyn Leno said.
First, it recognizes the Tribe's
right to take game for its ceremonies
from April to August. (The Tribe
already has special hunting tags
for other hunting seasons.) Just as
important, Leno said, "it is a recog
nition of our (professional quality)
stewardship of our reservation."
Specifically, the Proclamation
commits the state and Tribe to
work together to fill in the details
of "a conceptual plan by which the
Tribe's need for additional game
animals for ceremonial purposes
and additional stewardship respon
sibilities could be satisfied."
As part of that effort, Tribal
Natural Resources Manager Mike
Wilson, Tribal Fish and Wildlife
Coordinator Kelly Dirksen and
Tribal Forester Mike Karnosh led
the group on a tour of reservation
forest lands for a show and tell
about Tribal stewardship after the
Proclamation signing ceremony.
"The value of the reservation for
Tribal members can never be put into
words," Dirksen told the group. "We're
very passionate about these lands."
With charts and maps erected by
Natural Resources Summer Youth
Crew members for the occasion at
selected sites within reservation
lands, Dirksen described the Tribe's
10,000 acres as "one of the most pro
ductive forests in Oregon." He cited
the Tribe's 10-year plan starting in
2003 that guides the stewardship.
Karnosh described "the stages
of forest succession" for the group
in front of charts at the West Fork
Unit, which was logged in 2005 and
has since been replanted.
"We want to maintain all stages
on the reservation," he said, and
pointing to a small number of ma
ture trees left to continue growing,
he said, "and be particularly con
tiguous with the late stages."
While many foresters use herbi
cides to eliminate undergrowth and
maximize tree growth, the Tribe
allows undergrowth to provide con
tinuing habitat for forest animals.
"We want this to be as repre
sentative of the original forest as
possible," Karnosh said.
"It's a philosophical difference,"
Dirksen said. "Keeping the forest
for the seventh generation. If we
can get more people to embrace
that philosophy, state forests
would be in better shape.
"Everyone is so insanely proud
of what we've accomplished out
here that it's just good to be able
to share it."
The group also toured the Tribe's fish
weir, built last year on Agency Creek
to count the number of steelhead and
coho coming up the waterway.
"A lot of what we've got going
today started with Cliff Adams as
our (Natural Resources) manager
back in the 1990s," Leno said.
Leno, along with Tribal Council
Secretary Jack Giffen Jr. and other
Tribal leaders, has been traveling
to Washington, D.C., for half a doz
en years to make this day a reality,
though in truth, it still only brings
the Tribe part of the way home.
"This is an interim agreement,"
Leno said. "We hope to open up
the (Consent) Decree and take over
total management of reservation
Nation Study
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LSI
8
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Tribal Fish and Wildlife Coordinator Kelly Dirksen, left, describes the Tribe's
forestry efforts to Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
forests like other Tribes."
To achieve Restoration, the Tribe
had to agree to abide by state
regulations for hunting, fishing
and gathering, and forgo some tra
ditional cultural practices.
"I was thinking the issue went
back a few years," said Leno, "but
when I talked to (Tribal Council
member) Cheryle (Kennedy), she
said it goes all the way back to
Termination, and she's right."
Starting with Termination in 1954,
the Confederated Tribes' 69,000-acre
land "base was all but eliminated,
leaving just the seven-acre cemetery
over which the Grand Rondes still
exercised management control.
Following Restoration in 1983,
almost 10,000 acres were restored to
the Tribe, but in most respects the
Grand Rondes remained subservi
ent to the state Fish and Wildlife
agency when it came to hunting and
fishing rights, as well as manage
ment of the reservation.
"A lot of Tribal members felt that
the Restoration agreement required
the Tribe to give up its aboriginal
hunting and fishing rights or not
get recognized," Leno said.
Even for ceremonies, long a cher
ished cultural practice that in
volved Tribal members hunting and
fishing for fresh food, the Grand
Rondes have been denied the prac
tice outside of state-regulated sea
sons. The Tribe has bowed to state
rules governing when and where
hunting and fishing are allowed,
and generally resorted to frozen
wildlife, caught during state-sanctioned
seasons, for ceremonies.
Fish and Wildlife Commission
Chair Maria Rae heralded "the
strong partnership" between state
and Tribe.
Fish and Wildlife Commissioner
Skip Klarquist of Portland said that
the group came "to support what
we're doing here."
"We're going to be great partners
in preserving this landscape," Ku
longoski said.
"Whether a Tribal member is a
hunter or fisherman or going to
cut wood in the forest, I think all
Tribal members need to recognize
this as a piece of sovereignty re
gained," Leno said.
"And that's not done in Indian
Country too often." D
Ceremony Features
Traditional Gifts, Honors
The signing of the Proclama
tion brought with it a flurry of
traditional gifts and honors,
songs and speeches, and Grand
Ronde's Public Affairs director
had high hopes.
"We're on government time," said
Siobhan Taylor. "In fact, we're on
two governments' times, and I think
the best we can hope for is that this
be brief and beautiful."
An Honor song by Warner and
Debarah Austin of Keizer, the
participation of the Grand Ronde
Color Guard, the speeches by
Tribal Council Chair Chris Mer
cier, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Com
mission Chair Maria Rae boiled
down to the words of former Tribal
Elder Ila Doud: lush san ukuk. "It is
a good day."
Mercier presented Kulongoski with
a medicine bag to help with his recent
neck operation. Tribal Elder Linda
Olson made beaded necklaces for all
guests, with five special beads rep
resenting the five major Tribes from
which the Grand Rondes emerged.
And Public Affairs Office personnel
made peanut butter and jelly sand
wiches for Kulongoski, who is known
to be partial to them.
Spirit Mountain Casino's Execu
tive Chef Richard Burr and Food and
Beverage Manager Toby TenEyck had
been weeks in preparing a picnic in
the woods for the group. Among the
offerings were "house-smoked salmon
and chicken Caesar wraps both gar-
vr is
: e
i
S
Tribal Elder Linda Olson gave out
beaded necklaces for guests at the
proclamation ceremony.
nished with a brunois of plum toma
toes and fresh sliced avocado, finished
with cream cheese and a savory blend
of spices," in Burr's words.
On the side were potato sal
ads and fruit cocktail with tiny
Gewurztraminer champagne
grapes and apple pie, all so entic
ing that you could only feel sorry
for Kulongoski with his PB&Js.
Tribal Elder and basket weaver
Sam Henny, who made a basket
for Kulongoski on his last visit
but was unable to attend, had a
chance to meet with the governor
and enjoy a photo opportunity.
Tribal Elder and Veteran June
Sell-Sherer announced that the
veterans were honoring the gover
nor by having his name inscribed
on the West Valley Veterans'
Memorial.
And on a day when everything
seemed possible, Taylor said at
the end of the opening ceremony
that "this could have been the
fastest government-to-government
meeting in history, and
also one of the most moving and
most helpful." B