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PERMIT NO. 178
Father, son produce elk call app — pg. 5
march 1, 2014
Tribe buys island in Clackamas River
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
T
ribal Council voted to purchase a 17.5-acre
island in the Clackamas River for $75,000
at its Feb. 19 meeting.
Apsug Itcalxum, which means “the area of
Eagle Creek” in the Clackamas Chinook lan-
guage, is located west of Eagle Creek and near
Bonnie Lure State Park, which is within the
Tribe’s ceded lands.
The island is comprised of two tax lots in
Clackamas County and is of cultural signifi cance
to the Grand Ronde Tribe.
“The history of this area is very important to
the Tribe,” said Tribal Land and Culture Man-
ager Jan Looking Wolf Reibach. “In addition to
being a summer fi shing place for the Clackamas
Chinook people, this was near the birthplace
of John Wacheno, son of Chief Wacheno, who
signed the Willamette Valley Treaty for the
Tribe.”
The Willamette Valley Treaty, signed in 1855,
ceded most of the northern Willamette Val-
ley between the Cascade and Coast mountain
ranges to the federal government in exchange
for a reservation and benefi ts, such as health
care and education.
Reibach said he is expecting to close on the
land purchase in early March.
See MEETING
continued on page 6
Lone star bears
Photo courtesy of Kelly Dirksen
From left, Jamie Jackman, Joey Sheffi eld and Trevor Jackman, a falling crew from subcontractor Cross and Crown Inc., hold bear cubs that they accidentally
came upon on Tuesday, Feb. 18, in a bear den in a hollowed-out log during a logging operation. They helped save the cubs on Thursday, Feb. 20.
Cubs saved from starvation by loggers and Tribal, state offi cials headed to Austin, Texas, zoo
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
T
hree black bear cubs soon will be on
their way to a Texas zoo after being
saved from almost certain starvation
by loggers and state and Grand Ronde Tribal
employees.
Grand Ronde Fish and Wildlife Program
Manager Kelly Dirksen said he was con-
tacted by Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife wildlife biologist Don Vandebergh,
who is based out of Portland, about a Stim-
son Logging Co. logging operation occurring
immediately south of Tribal lands in western
Yamhill County.
The falling crew from subcontractor Cross
and Crown Inc. accidentally came upon a bear
den in a hollowed-out log on Tuesday, Feb. 18,
that was occupied by a sow and her cubs.
“They had no indication earlier that a den
was in the area,” Dirksen said. “They looked
See BEARS
continued on page 11