Smoke Signals 5
JANUARY 1,2011
By Ron Karten
Smokt Signalt ttaff writer
Kathleen Feehan George brings
her wild side to work.
"I've always loved spending time
in wild places," says the 39-year-old
Grand Ronde Tribal member who
now lives Pendleton. "I remember
how much I loved family camping
trips as a kid, the opportunity to be
in the forest for days."
She adds that her love of forests
and rivers was maybe recognition
that "where I grew up in the Wil
lamette Valley (Milwaukie), wild
places were shrinking as all sorts
of development expanded."
Feehan George brought that love
of the wild to Grand Ronde as the
Tribe's Environmental Coordinator
for six years from 1996 to 2002,
when she developed the Tribe's first
environmental program.
She moved to Pendleton and the
Confederated Tribes of the Uma
tilla Indian Reservation where she
honed her skills as a Water Quality
Policy analyst and later as Senior
Policy analyst.
Her focus on environmental is
sues, but maybe even more so on
the people who make things hap
pen here in the Northwest, have
translated into valuable contacts
at Tribal, national, state and local
levels.
"She understands what it is to
work within the whole regulatory
and political context," says Mike
Karnosh, Ceded Lands Program
manager for the Grand Ronde
Tribe, "but she doesn't get lost in
the bureaucracy and red tape. She's
a people person and that makes it
very easy to work with her."
Karnosh met Feehan George
when he accepted the Ceded Lands
Coordinator position.
"She made sure I was updated
on the project and that I had the
contacts I needed," he says. "She
was really, really, ultra commit
ted to the fish (safe) consumption
rate and getting that raised, and
so far that effort has really been
successful."
Si -T
V
Jmkr Mm
4 if-T.-
- I
Photo courtesy of Kathleen Feehan George
Tribal mtmbtr Kathleen Feehan Gaorga and har son, Saan, fish on tha Granda Ronda
River In northeastern Oregon in the Grande Ronde Valley recently. George and her
family spends a lot of time on the river.
This summer, Feehan George left
the Umatillas to open a natural
resources consulting firm.
"I started Cedar Consulting," she
says, "to provide more flexibility
in my schedule so I could spend
more time with my two young
sons, (Noah, 7, and Sean, 3, are
also members of the Tribe), and
to enable me to continue working
with Tribes and government agen
cies on natural resource policy and
problem solving."
Feehan George and husband,
Rick George, have been raising
their sons with an appreciation for
the state's natural resources.
Feehan George is particularly
tickled to have a photo of her
self and son, Sean, fishing on the
Grande Ronde River, which, of
course, is in the Grande Ronde ,
Valley all the way across the state
from the Tribe.
The Columbia River Intertribal
Fish Commission recently selected
Feehan George to assist in the
update of its strategic plan, Wa-kan-ish-pum
Wa-kish-Wit, Spirit
of the Salmon. The goal, she says,
t'j ' '
is to adapt the plan to the current
challenges and opportunities fac
ing the Fish Commission's member
Tribes Umatilla, Nez Perce,
Yakama and Warm Springs in
their efforts to restore and protect
Columbia Basin salmon.
"Extremely professional, very
proficient" is how Aja DeCoteau
(Yakama), Watershed Department
manager for the Fish Commission,
describes Feehan George. DeCote
au is working with Feehan George
on the project.
Feehan George also recently
joined the Board of Directors for
Columbia Riverkeepers, anxious to
jump in and lend a hand wherever
the care and feeding of rivers is
concerned.
In her work, she keeps the whole
ecosystem in mind.
"Tribes have a unique role in
speaking up for resources that are
not generally valued by non-Tribal
people, but Tribal people know to be
important species," she says.
One example is the work that Or
egon Tribes, particularly the Grand
Ronde, are leading on the eel-like
Pacific lamprey.
She sees the dwindling numbers
of Pacific lamprey as an example of
a larger problem.
"Pacific lamprey have been a
component of the Columbia aquatic
ecosystem for thousands of years,"
she says. "This ancient species
evolved to thrive in the same clean,
cold, complex, river system that sup
ported salmon populations. Also like
the. salmon, lamprey have suffered
from the drastic physical and chemi
cal changes that have been made to
the Columbia River system.
"From my experience working on
natural resource policy in Oregon, I
know that only Tribes can speak for
the critical importance of regulators
keeping in mind their responsibility
to acknowledge and protect Tribal
resources, because certainly no one
else will.
"Local, state and the
federal governments are
under tremendous pres
sure to do their work ex
pediently and at the least
cost. While we all want
efficient government, we
can clearly see the damage
done to Tribal interests
when the Tribes do not
have a seat at the table.
"I've been very pleased
to see our Tribe speak
ing up for the protection
of the natural resources
that support Tribal cul
ture both on and off the
reservation. After 13 years
of working in this field, I
know that the Tribes are
often the best and stron
gest voices for protect
ing and restoring healthy
natural systems.
"I have seen the ability
of Tribes to change Oregon public
policy by bringing the best science
to the table and working with all
parties. I know that when the
Tribes engage with the state on
these issues they do make a differ
ence and I believe that the recovery
of Oregon fisheries depends on it.
"While lamprey population reduc
tion is reported from around the
state, to date not much is being
done at the state or federal level
to protect and restore this cultural
resource. If public policy is going
to change to stop and reverse the
precipitous decline of lamprey in
Oregon, it will be the Tribes who
demand it and make it happen."
In November, Feehan George pre
sented a talk about Tribal treaties
to the Environmental Law Educa
tion Center's Conference on Con
taminated Water and Sediment.
"When the Tribes signed the
treaties, they did not envision that
the U.S. would allow the use of the
rivers and fish resource in a way
that would ultimately diminish fish
availability, viability and quality,"
she said.
In Feehan George's world, it
comes down to a simple question:
"Are Oregonians serious or not
about having fishable, swimmable
rivers?"
"We spend a lot of time up on
the Grande Ronde River," Feehan
George says of her family. "My boys
are really enjoying learning to fish
this year. Noah was very excited to
catch his first native fish this sum
mer, a bull trout from the Grande
Ronde, but he was pretty disap
pointed when we explained to him
that this was a special endangered
fish that we needed to carefully re
turn to the river ... and he couldn't
keep it."
"If we can't articulate protective
goals," she told the conference, "we
can't possibly hope to accomplish
them." H
Ad created by George Valdez
Chinuk Family Night sot for Jan. 25
There will be a Chinuk Family Night from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan.
25, in the Tribal Community Center.
For more information, contact Kathy Cole at 503-879-2249. D