6 JUNE 15,2008
Smoke Signals
Straub environmental lectures are a real deal
Spirit Mountain Community Fund sponsors free presentations in Salem
Editor's note: This is the sixth in a monthly series of stories in
2008 by Smoke Signals that will showcase the real-life effects of
Spirit Mountain Community Fund donations. Since its inception
in 1997, the Community Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Con
federated Tribes of Grand Ronde, has donated more than $40 mil
lion to groups in 1 1 western Oregon counties. These stories focus
on the good work those generous Tribal dollars do within nearby
communities and the effect they have on people and programs.
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Since 2005, Spirit Mountain Com
munity Fund has underwritten en
vironmental presentations produced
by the Salem-based Friends of the
Straub Environmental Learning
Center.
The presentations, featuring es
teemed speakers, are usually held
at the Salem Public Library, though
the group partners with Willamette
University so that larger audiences
can be seated at its facilities.
Among presenters in 2008 are
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist,
author and professor William Di
etrich, who used the word "deter
mination," rather than "hope," to
describe what's needed for the future
of today's forests.
Dietrich's talk balanced the cur
rent prognosis if business continues
as usual with a future in which "giv
en a wake-up call, people respond."
"Cheap oil has held us back," Diet
rich said. With oil prices rising as fast
as they have, "Discoveries (for better
use of oil and for creating energy al
ternatives) now will explode."
The hallmark of the Learning
Center lectures is their nonpartisan,
strictly scientific nature.
While pollution is a giant issue
in today's discussion, Dietrich re
minded the audience that the peak
of pollution in America was 50 years
ago and that the U.S. population is
leveling off. He sees a future where
the average age of Americans will be
44 in 2100, while it was 26 in 2000.
With population centers growing
larger and older, and cities growing
old, too, "We'll be more like Europe,"
he said.
The lectures work well together
because the subjects often inter
relate. Last year, Pennsylvania State
University professor Dr. Michael
Mann provided statistical backup
for climate change conclusions be
ing drawn today. Mann is director of
Penn State's Earth System Science
Center.
"We need an understanding of
the past to understand the climate
future," he said.
The earth's current carbon dioxide
level, for example, a cause of global
warming as its concentration rises,
"is well outside the range of vari
ability" for the last 700,000 years,
he said.
"You have to go back 10 million
years to find this concentration of
C02 and other markers of global
warming," Mann said.
Mann described how these mea
surements are made. Ice cores, lake
sediments and historical documents
all provide clues, but these discover
ies still only represent "circumstan
tial evidence" because they can't tie
human behavior to the changes.
However, in 1996, a United Na
tions panel on climate change saw
"discernable human influence on
global climate." In 2001, that same
panel found "stronger evidence that
new warming over the last 50 years
is due to human activity." And in
2007, that same panel found that
"most observable increases in global
warming since the mid-20th cen
tury are very likely due to increased
greenhouse gas concentrations."
"The warming," Mann said, "is
very consistent with rising sea
levels."
To date, global warming has meant
a one degree rise in global temper
atures, Mann said.
If we continue with
business as usual,
the temperature will
rise five degrees by
2100, "with still more
warming in the pipe
line." Some believe that
western U.S. sum
mer droughts herald
the start of global
warming, he said.
Higher temperatures
increase evaporation
leading to drier sum
mers. Mann's statistical
barrage shown with
slides helped visual
ize the problem.
In 2005, Dr. Jane
Lubchenco, a marine
ecologist at Oregon
State University, talk
ed about the impacts
of what we know and
don't know, our op
tions to reduce these
impacts, and the role
of science in the discussion.
The series began in 2004, when Dr.
Morris Johnson, retired professor
emeritus, Western Oregon Universi
ty, discussed ethnobotany, the study
of how the indigenous people of our
region made use of plants for food,
shelter, medicine, clothing, hunting
and religious ceremonies.
Also that year, Oregon naturalist
Jerry Igo discussed wildflowers and
other native plants that Lewis and
Clark studied and described on their
expedition. The pair discovered some
200 plants new to them, though long
known by Native Americans.
The presentations are underwrit
ten by Friends of Straub often in
partnership with other local envi
ronmental groups, including the
Pringle Creek Watershed Council,
the National Plant Society of Oregon
and many others.
Gov. Bob and Pat Straub were the
inspirations for the Friends of the
Straub Environmental Learning
Center, a nonprofit organization
XT-
Photo courtesy of Greg Rico
Pennsylvania State University
professor Dr. Michael Mann
dedicated to environmental educa
tion. The Straubs are still known
for their love of Oregon and efforts
to preserve its natural beauty.
'The Friends seeks to promote that
spirit by fostering public awareness
of the beauty and cultural history of
the Willamette Valley," according to
the center's Web site.
Spirit Mountain Community Fund
provided the group with $9,000 in
2005 and $2,500 in 2007. As a result of
sponsorships, all lectures are free.
For future lectures, or to sign up
for the free Forest Discovery Sum
mer Day Camp serving fifth- through
eighth-graders, visit the nonprofit's
Web site, www.fselc.org. For those
interested, act quickly because camp
is almost filled for this summer.
The group's mailing list of 1,700
has almost doubled in the last two
years, said Cassandra Cooper, an
AmeriCorps volunteer and the
group's coordinator.
Selected lectures are now avail
able at the Tribal Library.
Community Fund starts new grant program to aid Oregon Tribes
By Dean Rhodes Confederated Tribes of the Grand Projects that are either meaningful Tribal Grant Program func
Smoke Siftnttl editor
Spirit Mountain Community
Fund, the philanthropic arm of
the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde, has started a new funding
program to help the nine federally
recognized Tribes in Oregon.
The Oregon Tribal Grant Pro
gram has n budget of $.100,000
and can grant up to $75,000 per
grant to Tribes in Oregon.
The program is designed to sup
port innovative programs or pro
gram enhancement within Oregon
Tribes, which include the Burns
Paiute, Confederated Tribes of
Coos, Lower Umpquit and Sius
law, Coquille, Cow Creek Band of
Umpqua, Klamath, Confederated
Tribes of Siletz, Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs, Con
federated Tribes of Umatilla and
Ronde Community of Oregon.
Eligible projects include program
support or capital improvements. If
the grant request is for a construc
tion project, all pre-planning and
permitting must be accomplished
and a firm construction estimate
established.
In addition, if the grant request
is for a construction project and
the applying Tribe has not secured
all of the necessary funding, Spirit
Mountain Community Fund may
designate the grant as a challenge
grant, giving the applicant Tribe 12
months to raise at least 90 percent
of the project budget before the Com
munity Fund will release funding.
The Oregon Tribal Grant Program
is seeking to fund:
New initiatives on reservations or
serving a Tribe' members;
one-ti me efforts or new sustainable
projects that the Tribe has some
ability to fund in the future;
Projects that will, during the grant
cycle or immediately thereafter,
leverage additional funding to
provide ongoing services;
Enhance or change an existing
program that can be financially
supported by the Tribe;
And projects that can be replicated
on other Oregon Tribal reserva
tions. Funding decisions will give prefer
ence to Oregon Tribes that have less
discretionary funds.
Grant projects must start after Aug.
31, 2008, and Spirit Mountain Com
munity Fund grants will be for a 12
month period; the Community Fund
will not make multi-year grants.
The deadline to apply for Oregon
Tribal Grant Program funds is
5 p.m. Friday, June 27, with
grant notification scheduled
for Aug. 28, 2008. Application
materials can be found at www.
"Grand Ronde has invested
over $40 million to our neighbors
and friends in the Willamette
Valley," said Grand Ronde Tribal
Chairwoman Cheryle A. Ken
nedy. "It is an honor to extend
our funding support to the nine
federally recognized Oregon
Tribes to ensure that they have
the programs and services to
meet the ongoing needs of their
Tribal membership."
For more information, contact
Louis King at 603-879-1400 or
send an e-mail to louis.king
grandronde.org. B