Smoke Signals 1 1
DECEMBER 1, 2012
Cultural Trust Board
seeking grant applicants
The Tribe's Cultural Trust Board received $6,359 for the 2013
grant year and is now accepting grant applications through Dec.
15.
The board will finalize grant awards by Jan. 10 and applicants
will receive notification of their grant application status by Jan.
15.
This is the earliest the board has ever opened the grant cycle to
allow more time for grantees to complete their cultural projects
since final reporting is due to the Oregon State Cultural Trust
each year by Aug. 31.
Since 2009, when the Grand Ronde Cultural Trust Board started
giving cultural grants, it has funded individuals' participation in
Tribal Canoe Journey, sewing classes, moccasin making classes, an
ethno botany project, a Chinuk Wawa project, research for a book
about Tribal member families, camas digging, huckleberry picking,
regalia making, wood carving and other cultural projects.
Grand Ronde Cultural Trust Board members include McDaniel,
Contreras, Vice Chair Betty Bly, Secretary Stephanie Wood and
board member Claudia Leno. D
Education offers Chinuk Wawa classes
The Tribe's Cultural Education Department offers adult Chinuk
Wawa language classes from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday
in Room 207 of the Tribal Education Building.
Language classes can be taken for college credit or fun.
For more information, call 503-879-2249 or 503-437-4599. Q
$ust a tTKeroory cway
I'm no longer by your side,
but there's no needo weep;
I've left sweet recollections
. I'm nopingyou will keep.
. Eternal joy arid memories
stay in our hearts forever. ,
Strengthening our special bond
that parting cannot sever.
Now it's time to journey on,
so let your faith be strong,
For i am in a better place,...
I'm home where I belong.
And if times of loneliness
bring sorrow and dismay,
Don't despair, for I am there...
jfust a cAtemory cftway .
Family and friends Nora Kimsey went home Sept. 7, 201 1 . She was
1 02 years old. Nora was a quiet lady, never asking for anything. She
cared about her family and friends. Nora planned her own funeral
not wanting to burden us or by any memorial or hardship on anyone.
Nora wanted us just to remember her life with us.
Margaret Provost
WDDDiamrDS co-fooomidledl SaDmnxooD Coops
CHUCK continued
from page 10
cil Andrus sought out Williams' pri
orities for national parks. Twelve
of his 13 "wish list" items received
National Parks System protection
as a result.
Giving protection to these wish
list items also cleared out the back
log of National Parks legislation,
Williams says, "so that protection
for other proposed parks, including
the Columbia Gorge, could finally
be considered."
It was also during this time that
he determined to finish his college
degree. In 1973, a month before he
turned 30, he received a bachelor
of arts degree in Expressive Arts
from Sonoma State University in
California.
While working on the Gorge
book in the late 1970s, Williams
co-founded the Columbia Gorge
Coalition, the grass-roots group
that began the campaign to save
the Columbia Gorge National Sce
nic Area. After years of fighting,
his idealism hit the hard edge of a
longtime Oregon reality.
Protection for the Gorge ran head
first into a Portland society class
that from the beginning of the
century had controlled virtually
all environmental efforts, Williams
says.
"They favored timber interests,
utilities and moneyed interests,"
he says.
A3 a result, still today Oregon
has fallen well behind neighboring
states in protecting the flora and
fauna.
"While 4.4 percent of Washington
state and 5 percent of California
are in the National Park System,
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Photo courtesy of Chuck Williams
Asian-American drumming ensemble Portland Taiko performs at the
Obonfest at the Oregon Buddhist Temple in Portland.
only 0.3 percent of Oregon is," Wil-
!
iiams says.
It wasn't long before development
began in the Columbia Gorge Na
tional Scenic Area.
"Instead of a real park," he says,
"we got a zoning bill based on
Oregon's land-use planning. So the
wealthy are still able to move to
the Gorge and build their McMan
sions." In 1986, in debt after fighting
the Gorge battle, Williams went to
work for the Columbia River Inter
Tribal Fish Commission, where he
first began to photograph people
and celebrations. He notes, rue
fully, that back in the day when he
first started shooting, he had oppor
tunities to photograph The Grate
ful Dead and Janis Joplin, among
many cultural icons, but was still a
nature photographer-purist.
In addition to his work protect
ing and restoring salmon runs at
the fish commission, Williams co
founded Salmon Corps, an Ameri
Corps program for Native American
youth.
"Unfortunately, Salmon Corps
no longer exists, but hundreds of
Indian kids got to go to college be
cause of it and I'm probably more
proud of setting it up than anything
else I've done."
His political efforts in environ
mental issues have brought him
into conflict with many of the best
known names in the environmental
movement today.
"He is a determined and relentless
activist for native rights, for envi
ronmental health and for the legacy
of the Grand Ronde Tribe in the
Columbia Gorge," says Lewis. "He
has a wealth of experiences in all of
these areas and has sacrificed his
own economic well-being in defense
of these ideals. Some of his books are
self-financed and all of the proceeds
have gone toward defending the
lands of his people, the Cascades.
Without his selfless activism, I don't
know if we would have a scenic Co
lumbia Gorge today." D