6 FEBRUARY 1 5, 201 1
Smoke Signals
German intern learns forestry in Tribal department
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signal itaff writer
Julian Filipp, the second ex
change student for the Tribe from
the University of Applied Forest
Sciences in Rottenburg, Germany,
is getting rave reviews from the
Natural Resources Department.
"Julian's been a major help for
us," said Senior Forester Jason
Bernards. "He's gotten us ahead
on our stream mapping by a couple
months, and that's something we
have to do before any timber sale or
project, so we can apply our stream
buffers."
The University of Applied Forest
Sciences is also the alma mater of
the Tribe's GIS (geographic infor
mation system) coordinator, Volker
Mell, host to each of two students
from the school who have worked
an internship in Grand Ronde.
"He's not getting paid for any of
this work," said Bernards, "but he
works like he's getting top dollar."
Of three possible graduate paths
in the field of forestry classical
forestry, the business of forestry or
GIS Filipp will return to Rotten
burg to focus on GIS studies, the field
work that he has performed in Grand
Ronde for the last six months.
Specifically, he has been mapping
the streams, rivers and creeks on
the Reservation, categorizing them
as either with fish, perennial or
intermittent.
'There are several things I look
at," said Filipp, "including the
vegetation on the banks." If salm
onberry is growing, he knows he's
got an intermittent stream because
salmonberry doesn't grow in water.
He knows he has a defined channel
if the water seeks its own way.
"I have a GPS (global position
ing system) unit," he said. "I take
GPS points and then I mark them
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Julian Filipp, an exchange studtnt for the Tribe from the University of
Applied Forest Sciences in Rottenburg, Germany, has been working on
mapping the streams, rivers and creeks on the Reservation for the Tribal
Natural Resources Department.
at the point where they turn from
intermittent to perennial.
"The main reason why we do
this is when foresters cut an area,
perennial streams need a buffer (of
remaining trees and vegetation).
The main reason is to protect the
biology of the area."
Along with saving the Natural
Resources Department "a few
months worth" of work by noting
GPS points on the Reservation,
Filipp also helped develop a grid
system for the Tribal Cemetery.
"He mapped all the graves with
the names for Tribal members
visiting the cemetery to help them
find relatives there," said Mell. The
Tribe now has a grid map with the
locations of all the graves.
In addition, many unmarked
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gravesites have been located, some
with ground penetrating radar em
ployed by the Cultural Resources
Department, said Mell.
The next step, Mell said, is to post
a map of the unmarked graves at
the Elders' Activity Center to see if
anyone can identify the unmarked
sites.
"Julian marked close to 1,000
points," said Mell.
Filipp also worked with longtime
Cultural Resources Department
contractor Dr. Henry Zenk to re
draw a language map of the area.
"Julian's name will be listed
among contributors on the map
when it is completed," said Mell.
"It was a very great experience,"
said 24-year-old Filipp, who will
return to Germany at the end of
February. "I found the work very
interesting, (and worked on) very
different things. I worked with LI
DAR (Light Detection and Ranging)
images," optical remote sensing
technology that the Tribe uses to
map the ground and tree canopy
elevation changes of Reservation
lands. In addition, it helps give
exact locations of the rivers and
streams.
"I was out with foresters a couple
times," he said, "so I can see how
they log here; and with (Tribal)
biologists. One day, I was out at
the weir to help measure salmon.
I got to know the forest trees here
and the biology. It's very interest
ing to see how things work on the
Reservation, how they manage the
community; how they work with the
BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs)."
"He's incredibly intelligent," said
Bernards. "You work with him for
a couple hours and you realize he's
really intelligent and has a really
good work ethic."
In addition, though Filipp worked
some weekends to meet deadlines,
he also got around to experience
Oregon and beyond.
"I've been to a powwow (The
Gathering of Oregon's First Na
tions) last Saturday in Salem, to
get to know more about the Natives,
to see the ocean, the nature here,
and the landscape in general was
very interesting," he said. "I've been
to Mt. Hood, to California on the
coast in the redwoods area, and to
Portland a couple of times.
"It was all new to me. We have
forests in Europe, but here the
trees are bigger, higher. I was
impressed with the area here, the
landscape."
Mell remembers taking Filipp to
visit relatives, where Filipp found
two soccer channels on television
and actually found his favorite
team playing. He was glued to the
set, Mell said, until he realized that
they were broadcasting a game that
had already been played.
"My team is going to lose," Filipp
predicted sadly.
Filipp is from Oberlingen, Ger
many, in the very south of the
country, close to the border with
Switzerland. It has the biggest
lake in Germany, Lake Constance,
he said, making it a major tourist
region. B
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