S moke S ignals
march 15, 2014
bernando teaches Wawa in Portland office
Tribal member Eric Bernando teaches Chinuk Wawa language classes from
5:30 to 8:20 p.m. Wednesday at the Portland office, 4445 S.W. Barbur Blvd.,
Suite 101. For more information, contact Bernando at ChinukWawa@gmail.
com or 503-709-3017. n
indian Fair set for May 10
“Sharing Our Culture, Educating Our Community” is the theme
for an Indian Fair set to occur from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, May
10, at the National Guard Armory, 541 S.W. Coast Highway, in
Newport.
The Indian Fair is sponsored by the Siletz Tribal Arts and
Heritage Society in cooperation with the Siletz Tribal Culture
Department.
Displays of regalia, baskets and other art forms will be available
for viewing. A wide array of items created by Native artists and
crafts people will be for sale and Indian tacos will be available
to purchase. For more information about the Indian Fair, call
541-351-8663.n
11
EMPLOYMENT ACTION REVIEW ORDINANCE
OPEN FOR COMMENT
The Tribal Council is considering adoption of amendments to
the Employment Action Review Ordinance. The proposed amend-
ments were given a First Reading at the March 5, 2014, Tribal
Council meeting.
The primary purposes of the proposed amendments is to (1)
eliminate “on the record” reviews of employment decisions; (2) pro-
vide a method for conducting employment hearings in the Tribal
Court; (3) include provisions for mediating employment claims;
and (4) provide additional remedies for employees. The proposed
amendments may also include minor technical (i.e., typographical,
housekeeping) modifications.
Tribal Council invites comments on the proposed amendments
to the Employment Action Review Ordinance. For a copy of the
proposed amendments, please contact the Tribal Attorney’s Of-
fice at 503-879-4664. Please send your comments to the Tribal
Attorney’s Office, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, Oregon
97347, or by e-mail to legal@grandronde.org.
Comments must be received by April 15, 2014. n
Chachalu effort started years ago
CHACHALU continued
from front page
increased operations, including
extended and expanded operating
hours for public visits and tours,
development of permanent mu-
seum-like exhibits and demonstra-
tions, additional culture classes,
workshops and events for Tribal
members and a volunteer program
for Tribal Elders and members.
It also will qualify for additional
grants, increased intake of public
and private artifact collections,
and evaluation of potential cultural
tourism opportunities.
To date, the capital campaign has
raised 8 percent to 9 percent of the
expected Phase II costs. Work will
begin once the necessary funding
is raised.
As of March 10, $31,859.92 in
donations had been received, which
includes income from raffles, a si-
lent auction at the 30th Restoration
Celebration, a direct mail effort,
online donations, and direct dona-
tions from Tribal members, their
families and the community.
The capital campaign for Phase
II also has been awarded $28,484
in grant funding specifically ear-
marked for the project.
Applications have been made to
Tribal foundations and more main-
stream foundations, including the
Meyer Memorial Trust and Ford
Family and Hearst foundations.
The Chachalu Museum and Cul-
tural Center is a long-sought and
widely cherished project that has
been part of Tribal thinking from
as long ago as 1983’s Restoration.
The dream was formalized in the
Tribe’s 2010 Strategic Plan, and
now is being implemented by the
Land and Culture Department,
“I think as a cultural center, we will
be able to concentrate all of our efforts
in the research and development of
language, in crafts like weaving and
carving, and we’ll be able to concen-
trate on the research and history of the
Tribe to a greater degree.”
~ Tribal Historian David Lewis
headed by Manager Jan Looking
Wolf Reibach.
“The effort started years ago with
many people who worked hard to
make this happen,” Reibach said.
“The Tribe was looking for the
right location and opportunity to
develop the center in a way that
would be sustainable for genera-
tions to come.”
The project fits into the Land
and Culture Department’s Mission
Statement that reads in part “to
identify, protect, preserve, restore,
procure and manage the Tribe’s
ancestral lands, cultural places,
cultural places, cultural collec-
tions and practices throughout the
Tribe’s ceded lands and areas of
interest.”
“This is a historic time for the
Tribe,” Reibach said. “The first time
that we have ever had an adequate,
committed place to process and
store Tribal artifacts; the first time
for permanent museum exhibit
space, cultural center and a place
for Land and Culture programs to
work together.”
Phase I, started in 2013, involved
partial construction and renovation
of the building, relocation of Land
and Culture Department staff, and
the building and opening of the
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project’s first exhibit space. It is
slated for completion in March.
Construction and renovation in
the first phase established an ar-
chive room, collections processing
center, storage areas for the Tribe’s
collections, an archeology lab and
office space.
The Tribe contributed about $2.6
million to that phase, including,
in 2011, almost $685,000 for the
purchase of the Willamina Middle
School building that also included
more than eight acres.
Tribal Historian David Lewis
called the project’s progress “awe-
some.”
“I came into the Tribe (in 2006)
being told that we were building the
museum,” Lewis said. “I’ve been a
part of this and working toward it
since. Now we are doing it.
“A museum and cultural center
is the height of development for
any community and culture, and in
Grand Ronde it allows us to see and
express our highest aspirations for
the community.
“We will be able to show people
in and beyond the community that
we have an amazing history here
and a very unique culture here. It
is important to all of Oregon to have
this development.
“I think as a cultural center, we
will be able to concentrate all of our
efforts in the research and devel-
opment of language, in crafts like
weaving and carving, and we’ll be
able to concentrate on the research
and history of the Tribe to a greater
degree.
“The museum will attract a spe-
cific clientele that really wants
to know about the Tribe, to learn
things in a good way.”
Cultural Education and Outreach
Program Manager Kathy Cole said,
“It’s a place to help Tribal members
bring back their cultural identity
and bring back the ways of our
ancestors. It will give Tribal people
a chance to see the things that our
ancestors made and hopefully in-
spire them to want to do the same.
It will also give us a chance to have
all of the cultural activities happen
in one location.”
As the project develops, the days
mark new successes and the arrival
of pieces of the final project, large
and small. For example, Lewis said,
shelving for the building’s archives
just came in.
The capital campaign team at the
Tribe, with the support of Land and
Culture Department staff, includes
Reibach, Public Affairs Director
Siobhan Taylor, Tribal Historian
David Lewis, Tribal Engineer Jesse
White, Planning and Grants De-
velopment Manager Kim Rogers,
Assistant General Manager Chris
Leno, Tribal Finance Officer Julio
Martinez, Tribal Attorney Jennifer
Biesack and fundraising consultant
Rich Foster. The team works closely
with Tribal Council in carrying out
the fundraising activities of the
campaign.
The builder for Phase I is Corval-
lis-based Gerding Builders. The
architects are Seattle-based Jones
& Jones and Roseburg-based Paul
L. Bentley Architecture.
John Paul Jones, principal of
the firm bearing his name, is a
highly respected architect in In-
dian Country. His firm has done
the architecture for the National
Museum of the American Indian
on the mall in Washington, D.C.,
and for the longhouses at Oregon
State University, the University of
Oregon and Evergreen College.
Chachalu is the Tualatin/Yamhill
Kalapuya word for “place of burnt
timbers.” It refers to a huge forest
fire that burned through the Grand
Ronde valley just before relocation
occurred in 1856. Just as the val-
ley forests have healed, the Grand
Ronde Tribe continues to heal,
Reibach said.
To make a donation dedicated to
building Chachalu, go to the Tribal
website: www.grandronde.org/
chachalu-museum-donations/ n