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VOTE
SEPTEMBER 15,2012
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A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
www.grandronde.org
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ISOIiAIiliA
ROGUE RIVER
KALAPUYA a CHASTA
IVIonumental,
land transfer
brings acres back
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
JUNCTION CITY Bonnev
ille Power Administration, the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife, Nature Conservancy
and staff members from the offices
of Oregon Senators Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley joined the Grand
Ronde Tribe in Junction City on
Friday, Sept. 7, to mark the dona
tion of almost 100 acres of prairie
habitat and oak savannah at Rat
tlesnake Butte to the Tribe.
The 47-acre Bonneville Power
donation came from two private
land purchases, the last of which
had been completed earlier that
week. The Nature Conservancy
owned and donated 50 acres, said
Lawrence Schwabe, the Tribe's
Hydrosystem Compliance special
ist, who worked to determine the
land's restoration value and cost of
maintaining it.
Tribal costs will include property
taxes with a more detailed restora
tion plan still in the works, said
Michael Wilson, manager of the
Tribe's Natural Resources Depart
ment. "This is a great piece of prop
erty to protect for the long term,"
Schwabe said. "The Kalapuyans
maintained this area with fire and
created open areas, but a lot has
been lost."
From the top of the property,
1,000 feet high, one can see the val
ley for miles, Schwabe said.
The land purchase helps fulfill
See LAND
continued on page 7
' If1':, 1 1 ff
. i ..iiiiiiiimuininmiJijm mint
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Newly re-elected Tribal Council member Toby McClary, left, and newly elected Tribal Council member Jon
A. George congratulate each other during the General Council meeting at the Tribal Community Center on
Sunday, Sept. 9. Results from the election were posted on Saturday, Sept. 8. McClary received 467 votes,
coming in second, and George received 397, placing third.
TrDlbafl CooamiCDD wlhxoDe agaomi
George joins incumbents Kennedy, McClary in winning election
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
And now there are nine.
With the vacation of a
Tribal Council seat ear
lier this year, Tribal members
knew they would have at least
one new Tribal leader after re
sults were tallied on Saturday,
Sept. 8.
And that new Tribal Council
member is Jon A. George, 51,
who has worked for the Tribe
for 18 years, most recently as
a vocational rehabilitation
specialist in the Portland area
office. He also has been serv
ing on the Tribe's Education
Committee.
George, who finished third in
the voting with 397 votes (11.7
percent of the vote), won in his
first attempt at Tribal Council.
'The Tribe has spoken, and I
See ELECTION
continued on page 8
Tribe ce Deb ratios MOU wfah encsimpmeM
Photo by Michelle Alaii
Greg Archuleta talks with Emily Grimes about
acorns and their traditional Tribal uses during the
Tribal Encampment in Eagle Point on Saturday,
Sept. 8.
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
MEDFORD An informal encampment
brought a small but happy bunch of
Tribal Elders, Tribal Council members,
Tribal members and staff members to the Rogue
River, which is a stone's throw from Table Rocks,
on the weekend of Sept. 7-9.
Then-Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A.
Kennedy, then-Secretary Jack Giffen Jr. and
Tribal Council members Steve Bobb Sr. and June
Sherer, along with Public Works Department
Manager John Mercier, Tribal Attorney Rob
Greene, Ceded Lands Coordinator Mike Kar
nosh and Elders Nancy Renfrow and Bernadine
Shriver helped celebrate the occasion.
The campout marked the first anniversary of a
Memorandum of Understanding the Tribe signed
in 2011 with the Bureau of Land Management
and The Nature Conservancy that gives the
Tribe a say in maintaining almost 5,000 acres
of pristine land around the Tribally significant
landmark.
Grand Ronde Tribal ancestors were held at
Table Rocks before being marched northward to
Grand Ronde in the Trail of Tears of February
and March 1856.
The story was a little different 156 years later
as Tribal children played at a stunning bend in
the Rogue River, took powerboat rides with slid
ing stops right out of a James Bond movie, held
See ENCAMPMENT
continued on page 9