Smoke Signals 5
JUNE 15, 2013
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
The 1.8-acre Tyee Nature Re
serve, initially planned as a home
for "threatened" Nelson's checker
mallow plants, was dedicated from
the edge of the reserve, behind the
Grand Ronde Tribal Housing Au
thority building, on Friday, May
31.
"It all started with one plant,"
said Tribal Fish and Wildlife Co
ordinator Kelly Dirksen.
The Tribe began developing the
area in the 1990s. In 2008, the
Tribe partnered with the Corvallis
based Institute for Applied Ecology
to create a multi-species reserve.
"The first step," said Applied
Ecology Program Director Melanie
Gisler, "was to collect seed from lo
cal Nelson's checkermallow plants
and start a farm production field to
increase the amount of seed avail
able for restoration."
The land for the reserve is called
"prairie" for the many different
native plants it is home to and be
cause it fosters grasses, herbs and
shrubs, rather than trees, as the
main vegetation.
"Prairies used to dominate the
landscape of the Willamette Val
ley," said Tribal Cultural Protection
Specialist David Harrelson. Most
are gone today. "We're lucky this
site was recoverable."
In fact, Grand Ronde is today a
productive checkermallow reserve
in a world without many of them.
The plant grows throughout Grand
Ronde. "A hotspot for the plants,"
Gisler said, "but it's very rare other
wise," showing up in the Willamette
Valley, the Oregon Coast Range,
Puget Trough and no other place
in the world.
Institute Executive Director Tom
Kaye said it was "a special day in a
special place."
The institute has planted the
checkermallow at 13 other sites in
Benton, Yamhill and Polk counties,
with the idea of planting enough
that the plant can be taken off of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's
"threatened" species list.
Federal guidelines require
100,000 thriving checkermallow
plants across its range before the
species comes off the list, and Gisler
says that institute projects have
almost reached that number.
The institute initially came to
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Photos by Michelle Alaimo
David Harrelson, Tribal Cultural Protection specialist, shows a camas bulb that he dug up from the Tyee Nature
Reserve during the dedication for the reserve on Friday, May 3 1 . The camas bulbs were planted In the reserve in
November 2011.
VisittheTnihefs.
page to see more photos
the Tribe with grant funding from
the Oregon Watershed Enhance
ment Board and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to make an
ecological home for the threatened
checkermallow.
A lot of hard work from staff and
volunteers from both entities al
lowed the Tribe to open the reserve
to the public last year, unveiling
a prairie with much more than
checkermallows.
Dirksen called the work with the
institute "a great partnership" in
which institute staff and volunteers
provided "tons of technical assis
tance. They donated hundreds of
hours of labor," and planted thou
sands of bulbs and seedlings.
Along the way, developers of the
site brought in many native plants
that thrive in conditions also ideal
for the checkermallow, some al-
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Drummers sing a blessing song during the Tyee Nature Reserve dedication
on Friday, May 3 1 .
ready on site, and as a result the
public can walk on gravel paths
through the reserve and find camas
and iris plants among 42 native
species. Twenty-four of those have
been planted by Applied Ecology
people since 2010 and 18 were al
ready there.
This project of the Tribal Fish and
Wildlife Program was coordinated
with the Land and Culture and
Maintenance departments. Staff
provided help with working the
land to benefit traditional species
while limiting weeds and other
intrusive plants.
"I'm really excited," said Kaye.
"There were 55 checkermallow
plants when we started. There are
594 plants now."
Until the new plants establish
themselves, the Tribe has ruled
out harvesting any, but once the
plants are established, the Tribe
will move forward in sustainably
collecting traditional native plants
from the reserve.
"Managing for abundance" is how
Harrelson described it.
The ultimate aim is to have a
reserve where Native people collect
traditional native plants.
"We're keenly interested in devel
oping traditional plant materials
for food and baskets, traditional
crafts," said Gisler. The next steps
are to develop those on a larger
scale. And planting in a way that
makes sense for how the plants
would be harvested by the Tribe.
Harrelson led Tribal Council
member Cheryle A. Kennedy a little
way into the reserve to dig camas
roots and to describe the process
to some 50 staff, volunteers, drum
mers and Lilu pre-school language
immersion class students, who sang
"We're going to do better tomorrow"
in Chinuk Wawa for the group.
"The children are here to cel
ebrate our future," said Kennedy,
who blessed the gathering.
"Camas was a food for Kalapuya
Native people and for Natives
across the Northwest," Harrelson
said. A Native staple, "Camas has
the same footing as salmon as a
traditional food for our people."
Also among the plants is juncus,
traditionally used for basket mak
ing, as well as tarweed and biscuit
root, both collected for food.
"The aim is to restore the land
to the way it was 200 years ago,"
Kennedy said. "This prairie is land
to live in, care for and be a part of.
We're land people."
Also on the program were two
stops along the path. In one, insti
tute and Tribal staff manned an Ap
plied Ecology display of area birds.
Visitors got an up-close look at local
birds preserved for education and
learned some of the ways that re
searchers evaluate a habitat.
At the second stop, Tribal Elder
Connie Graves displayed tradi
tional baskets and showed how
some were made.
Tribal drummers and singers also
helped celebrate the dedication.
The event was organized by Trib
al Public Affairs Director Siobhan
Taylor and her acting assistant,
Chelsea Clark, and included lunch
after the dedication.
"It's been going very well, very
successfully," said Gisler. "Our
production field has yielded a lot
of seed. Grand Ronde has been
helpful in providing seed and cre
ating high-quality habitat for the
plants."
Although the institute's grant
funding runs out at the end of this
year, the nonprofit would like to
continue working here, she said.
Dirksen said that the project had
gone so well that it "sets the tem
plate" for future collaborations.