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SALEM, OR
PERMIT NO. 178
General Council
meeting — pg. 5
september 15, 2014
Leno wins seventh term
Voters re-elect Chris Mercier,
select Tonya Gleason-Shepek
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
T
ribal voters re-elected Tribal Council
Chairman Reyn Leno to his seventh con-
secutive three-year term after election
results were released on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Leno, who was fi rst elected to Tribal Council
in 1996, was the top recipient of votes, garnering
558, or 15.47 percent of the total.
Grand Ronde voters also re-elected Chris
Mercier, who took a year off from Tribal Council
after serving three consecutive terms from 2004
to 2013.
Mercier, who is attending law school at Michi-
gan State University, received the second most
votes with 543, or 15.06 percent. He said before
Election Day that he will take a leave of absence
from law school if elected.
First-time Tribal Council candidate Tonya
Gleason-Shepek received the third most votes
with 539, or 14.95 percent. She ran on a slate
with Leno and incumbent June Sherer.
Sherer and fellow incumbent Kathleen Tom
fi nished fourth and fi fth with 521 votes and 424
votes, respectively. Sherer will end her fourth
non-consecutive term on Tribal Council while
See ELECTIONS
continued on page 8
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Reyn Leno, left, and Tonya Gleason-Shepek give each other a congratulatory hug before the start of the
General Council meeting held at the Tribal Community Center on Sunday, Sept. 7. Leno was re-elected
for a seventh consecutive three-year term and Gleason-Shepek was elected to Tribal Council for the fi rst
time during the Saturday, Sept. 6, election.
State grants Grand Ronde
greater control over its
natural resources
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Photo courtesy of Gabe Clift
This year, the Grand Ronde Tribe’s wildland fi refi ghting crew was sent to fi ght
fi res in Oregon, Washington and California, including the Pine Creek Fire in
central Oregon.
Tribal fi refi ghters battled
23 fi res across the Northwest
Program anticipates $1 million in reimbursements this year
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
T
he Grand Ronde Reservation
and most of western Oregon
has so far this season been
spared wildland fi res, but across
the Northwest many other areas
have not been as lucky.
This summer, 54 Tribal fire-
fi ghters have been busy in three
northwestern states – Oregon,
Washington and California, spe-
cifi cally in the north – battling 23
wildland fires, according to Jeff
Nepstad, Silviculture and Fire Pro-
See FIREFIGHTERS
continued on page 12
J
OSEPH – The Oregon
Department of Fish &
W ildlif e Commis s ion
unanimously approved the
Grand Ronde Tribe’s Fish and
Wildlife Management Plan
and a new administrative rule
that gives the Tribe control
over the take of fi sh and wild-
life on Reservation and trust
lands during its Friday, Sept.
5, meeting held in the Joseph
Community Center.
By adopting the Tribe’s Fish
& Wildlife Management Plan,
the state commission delegated
its authority to the Tribe to be
exercised on Reservation and
trust lands in accordance with
the provisions outlined in the
management plan.
The new permanent plan
replaces an interim plan that
the Tribe has been managing
its lands under.
“It was a very historic mo-
ment for the Tribe,” said Tribal
Council Chairman Reyn Leno
during the Sept. 7 General
Council meeting. “We will now
manage our own Reservation.
It’s something that hasn’t been
done before. .. It says a lot for
our Tribe. It says a lot for our
leadership because it is also
the recovery of some of our sov-
ereignty that was taken away
from us 60 years ago. This is
something that very few Tribes
ever get to do. It was a huge day
for Grand Ronde … a monu-
mental time for our Tribe.”
Fish and Wildlife Commis-
See CONTROL
continued on page 11