Smoke Signals 7
SEPTEMBER 1,2011
GhemeEieta opening new McMinnviDle campus
Facility will aid Tribal
members living in
Yamhill County earn
transfer degrees
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Chemeketa Community
College's new Yamhill Val
ley campus will almost triple
in size this fall as it opens
a three-story building on
Three Mile Lane in McMinnville
across from Willamette Valley
Medical Center.
With state-of-the-art science labs,
smart classrooms, computer cen
ters, a cafeteria and parking, the
new facility replaces the college's
former McMinnville campus on
Northwest Hill Street.
Last year, about 60 Tribal stu
dents attended Chemeketa, said
April Campbell, a Tribal member
and manager of the Tribal Educa
tion Department.
"I think the biggest advantage
is that the new facility allows the
McMinnville Chemeketa campus to
offer more classes," said Campbell.
'That will really help our students
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Map created by George Valdez
who are living in McMinnville and
seeking a transfer to a four-year
institution.
"Prior to the new facility, stu
dents working toward transfer de
grees traveled to the main campus
in Salem for some coursework. The
new facility and course offerings
will give students the ability to earn
a transfer degree without leaving
McMinnville."
Classes scheduled for Fall 2011
in the new building cover many
disciplines, including "Understand
ing Art," "Human Evolution," "In
troduction to Business," "General
Biology," "Introduction to Fiction,"
"Cycling (at all levels)," "History of
World Civilization" and 'The Psy-
Photo by Michelle Alalmo
The new Chemeketa Community Collage Yamhill Valley campus In
McMinnville will opan In tlma for Fall 201 1 classas.
chology of Human Relations."
The new building holds 550,
allowing Chemeketa to accommo
date as many as 1,600 full- and
part-time students in McMinnville
every year, the college reported on
its Web site.
Fall classes begin Monday, Sept.
26.
Students interested in studying
at the Yamhill Valley campus can
preview the courses for the coming
semester at www.chemeketa.edu or
call 503-472-9482. Classes are fill
ing up quickly, the college advised
in August.
Chemeketa also has facilities in
Salem, Brooks, Dallas, Eola and
Woodburn, and offers training for
public safety, business and viticul
ture professionals.
The Grand Ronde Tribe also offers
classes at the Tribal campus through
Chemeketa Community College. D
Table Rocks AlOU sngDHDimg sett floor Sep4. 10
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
The Bureau of Land Management,
Nature Conservancy and Confeder
ated Tribes of Grand Ronde will sign
a Memorandum of Understanding
on Saturday, Sept. 10, agreeing to
cooperate in an emerging manage
ment plan for Table Rocks.
Sept. 10 also is the 158th anniver
sary of the Tribe's Table Rock Treaty,
the first treaty negotiated and the
second ratified in western Oregon of
seven that the Grand Ronde Tribe's
forebears ultimately signed with the
federal government.
"This is a landmark event for the
Tribe," said Tribal Public Affairs
Director Siobhan Taylor. "On Sept.
10, 1853, the ancestors of the Grand
Ronde people signed a treaty with
the government. That treaty ceded
the Tribe's traditional lands in ex
change for being force-marched to a
land reserve in Grand Ronde.
"Everyone knows those Tribal
leaders had no other choice in order
to save their families. This Sept.
10, 2011, the Tribe comes to Table
Rocks as a sovereign government.
This Sept. 10 we are signing a
Memorandum of Understanding.
The federal government, the Bureau
of Land Management, is seeking the
Tribe's involvement in improved
environmental and cultural stew
ardship of the land.
'This Sept. 10, we are at the table
as equals, as a sovereign nation
bringing our knowledge, history and
culture back to our ceded lands at
Table Rocks."
"It reinvigorates our stake in
southern Oregon," said Tribal mem
ber and Cultural Resources Depart
ment Manager David Lewis.
The Grand Ronde Tribe has "a long
history of involvement in the area,"
said Mark Stern, director of Klamath
Conservation Area, Soutwest Oregon
and Klamath Basin for The Nature
. Conservancy. 'The Tribe has ancient
knowledge, a connection with the
land and an interest in protecting
the site. We're looking forward to
working with our partners."
Tribal Elder Jolanda Catabay will
sing the national anthem at the
event. Her relations in the area in
clude her great-great-grandmother,
Indian Mary, and Indian Mary's fa
ther, Umpqua Jo, chief of the Grave
Creek Band of Umpquas, who were
members of the Takelma Tribe in
those days.
Umpqua Jo signed the two Rogue
River treaties for what became the
Grand Ronde Tribe. He also signed
the 1854 amendment to the 1853
Treaty as Aps-so-ka-hah, horse
rider, or Jo.
Takelmas inhabited the Table
Rocks area for thousands of years
before Europeans arrived. In the
1850s, the group was given land
in the area that Catabay says was,
for a time, "the smallest reserva
tion in the nation." The Takelmas
ultimately merged with other Rogue
River Indians under the treaty.
"It's important to reacquaint our
selves with the area," said Tribal
member John Mercier, who also
is Tribal Director of Program Op
erations and Tribal lead for the
management plan, "and be able to
participate in the management of
that area.
"My hopes personally, and I think
it's a reflection of what the Tribe
hopes, is to be able to visit the area
regularly, keep the Table Rocks
area healthy and see it prosper as
a natural landscape."
This culturally significant place,
north of Medford, is also where the
Tribe's Trail of Tears began. Many
of today's Tribal Elders and mem
bers have direct ancestors who made
that forced march from Table Rocks
to Grand Ronde in early 1856.
Today, the federal bureau, with
responsibility for 1,280 acres of
the Upper and Lower Table Rocks
area, is working with The Nature
Conservancy, which has acquired
2,789 acres in the area since 1978
and has a conservation easement on
another 795 acres.
Together, as a result of the Memo
randum of Understanding, the bu
reau, Nature Conservancy and Grand
Ronde Tribe will "consider a variety
of habitat enhancement activities,
protect sensitive resources and pro
vide a suite of diverse recreational
and environmental education uses,"
according to a BLM Web page.
Based on a federal commitment
to consult with Tribes on issues of
mutual importance and because the
Upper and Lower Table Rocks are
located in the Grand Ronde Tribe's
ceded lands, the federal bureau and
Nature Conservancy will agree in
the memorandum to work with the
Tribe on the management plan.
The memorandum addresses a
number of issues:
Establish a Table Rocks manage
ment committee;
Develop the management plan
that integrates protection, man
agement and restoration of unique
plants and animals; as well as
honoring geologic, cultural and
scenic values for recreation and
education;
Pursue land acquisition of lands
adjacent to the nearly 5,000 acres
owned or managed by BLM and
the Nature Conservancy;
Explore opportunities for ceremo
nial hunting for the Grand Ronde
people on the BLM-administered
lands;
Develop educational and interpre
tive signage that describes a his
torical and spiritual connection;
And encourage Tribal fire man
agement in the area with Grand
Ronde wildland firefighters taking
the lead in using fire as it tradi
tionally was used to maintain the
land.
Participants are also supportive of
Tribal plant gathering and propaga
tion, according to Trish Lindaman,
Recreation planner and project lead
for the Bureau of Land Manage
ment. In fact, says Lewis, the Cultural
Site Protection program has begun
work to help develop the former
Fort Lane site, across the river from
Lower Table Rock, as a state park.
The management plan is now
being developed and will go out for
public comment in the September
October time period, Lindaman
said.
The memorandum specifies a five
year time period, when the parties
can take "a second look," before
renewing it.
BLM-administered lands on both
Table Rocks were designated an
Area of Critical Concern in 1986,
said Lindaman, but a management
plan was never completed.
Attending the signing, set to take
place at Lower Table Rock Trail
Head, is by invitation from the three
partners and open to the media.
The Tribe created a task force
to represent the Tribe for develop
ment of the memo. Members are
John Mercier, Tribal Attorney
Rob Greene, Staff Attorney Lisa
Bluelake, who drafted the memo
randum, Public Affairs Director
Siobhan Taylor, Publications pho
tographer Michelle Alaimo, Tribal
member and Public Affairs Admin
istrative Assistant Kristin Ravia,
David Lewis, Tribal member and
Cultural Collections Coordinator
Khani Schultz and Tribal member
and Realty Specialist Ann Lewis,
who lived in the area. D