12
S moke S ignals
september 15, 2014
Restoration work begins at Portland Harbor site
Tribal input seeks more
data on juvenile lamprey
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
PORTLAND — Work has started
on the 52-acre Alder Creek resto-
ration project, which is within the
Portland Harbor Superfund site at
the southern tip of Sauvie Island.
The site is in the Tribe’s ceded
lands and when the project is done
it will have a positive effect on
the local environment with many
cultural benefits for the once dev-
astated harbor.
Alder Creek is the first project
designed specifically to benefit fish
and wildlife in the Portland Harbor
Superfund site. The area used to
have abundant habitat but now
has little. This project will provide
habitat for salmon, lamprey, mink,
bald eagle, osprey, and other native
fish and wildlife.
Specifically, the restoration will
remove buildings and fill from the
floodplain, reshape the riverbanks,
and plant native trees and shrubs.
The project will create shallow wa-
ter habitat to provide resting and
feeding areas for young salmon and
lamprey, and foraging for birds,
according to a news release from
federal, state and Tribal partici-
pants in the project.
“The project will also restore
beaches and wetlands that give
mink access to water and food, and
for forests to again have shelter and
nesting opportunities for native
birds,” the press release states.
“Work has started,” said Michael
Karnosh, manager of the Tribe’s
Courtesy photo
Work has begun on the Alder Creek restoration project, which is within the
Portland Harbor Superfund site.
Ceded Lands Program and rep-
resentative for the Tribe on the
Portland Harbor Natural Resource
Trustee Council. The council over-
sees the restoration work and ulti-
mately approves it, Karnosh said.
“Something good is happening.”
The harbor was named a Su-
perfund site in 2000. The Trustee
Council formed in 2002 to develop
and coordinate damage assessment
activities at Portland Harbor, and
plan for the restoration of natural
resources.
Preliminary planning for restora-
tion projects began in 2010. Along
with this project, the council has
started planning for other proj-
ects in the harbor, but this is the
first one to reach the construction
phase.
“We’re hoping it’s the first of
many,” said Karnosh.
Holly Partridge, a member of the
Tribe and Ceded Lands special-
ist, also represents the Tribe. She
serves on the Restoration Commit-
tee with eight active participants.
Industry representatives and
other parties interested in restora-
tion, who are not on the committee,
make presentations for projects
they want to work on, said Par-
tridge. The committee then makes
sure the projects “sit with what
we want to do. We make sure the
proposals are going to do what ad-
vocates for the project say it will.
The committee sends projects that
meet the criteria to the Trustee
Council for approval.”
A specialist in Indian law, Par-
tridge contributes technical input to
the restoration projects, being sure
that they support Tribal cultural
and environmental priorities.
An important player in the restora-
tion is a for-profit company, Rocklin,
Calif.-based Wildlands, a habitat
development and land management
company that funds the project and
recovers its investment by selling
credits to companies that are poten-
tially responsible for contamination
in the Portland Harbor. A company’s
credits can be used to reduce its li-
ability for the cost of cleanup and res-
toration. With enough credits, these
companies can reduce their liability
to nothing, said Karnosh.
Wildlands “focuses on creating
open market solutions that protect
our environment,” according to
the company website. Through in-
house mitigation and conservation
banking, Wildlands takes total
responsibility for the success of the
project.
All of the stakeholders work
with Wildlands to ensure the best
result.
For the Grand Ronde Tribe, con-
struction of habitat is important,
said Karnosh, who also notes that
surveying and monitoring juvenile
lamprey going through the harbor
will uncover a world of new infor-
mation for the Tribe.
“Through this project,” Karnosh
said, “we’ll get a lot of data on
whether lamprey prefer this type of
habitat or not. The information is
almost nil about juvenile lamprey.
The Tribe negotiated for this to be
part of the project.”
For Partridge, what makes her
participation worthwhile is “to get
to see that what I do every day
translates into the Tribe’s cultural
interests. The First Salmon cer-
emony was a huge connection for
what I do: to see that it makes a dif-
ference for all Tribal members.” n
‘Engine rental revenue ... drives the program’
FIREFIGHTERS continued
from front page
tection Program manager.
“Nationwide, California and the
Pacific Northwest are where most
of the action is this year,” Nepstad
said.
The Tribe owns six fire engines,
five able to hold 200 to 400 gallons
of water and one with a 1,000-gal-
lon capacity. The larger engine and
one of the smaller engines stay in
Grand Ronde for potential fires.
The other four are rented out for
fires within federal jurisdictions
beyond the local area.
The Department of the Interior
and the regional office of the Bu-
reau of Indian Affairs direct the fire
program. The Tribe’s authorization
to take part in emergency manage-
ment incidents nationally comes
from these federal agencies and the
Tribe’s cooperative fire agreement
with them.
Through the beginning of Sep-
tember, federal wildland fire funds
have reimbursed the Tribe more
than $800,000 for the cost of labor,
supplies, travel and engine rent-
als. Of that, rentals accounted for
$140,000.
“Engine rental revenue is what
drives the program,” said Nepstad.
“With the lack of federal prepared-
ness funding, more Tribes are get-
ting into this same business model.
Total reimbursements for this fire
season will more than likely exceed
$1 million.”
The reimbursements completely
fund the Tribe’s firefighting pro-
gram, which costs the Tribe nothing
while bringing benefits back to the
community, including fire protec-
tion for reservation woodlands and
career-building.
Logan Kneeland, 24, was certi-
fied as an engine boss this year, his
sixth with the Tribal program. “I’ve
really enjoyed my experience,” he
said, “and it is something I would
like to keep doing.”
“More and more, the Grand Ronde
fire crews are known in the fire
community,” said Natural Resourc-
es Department Manager Michael
Wilson. “They now have a solid
track record of being hard working
and they know fire. To be successful
in firefighting takes teamwork and
leadership, and these skills help
the Tribe in many other ways. It is
hard and dangerous work, and I am
especially proud of the outstanding
safety record of our crews.”
Earlier this month, two Tribal
fire engines with crews of three
were at work at the Happy Camp
Complex in northern California.
They started Aug. 12 and Tribal
crews were in early September in
their third week there.
“They could be down there for
another month or longer,” Nepstad
said. “I’m predicting this fire will
burn until it rains.”
For two weeks in August, a hand
crew of 20 Tribal firefighters helped
out at the Devil’s Elbow Complex on
the Colville Reservation in Wash-
ington state.
To date, fires across the country
have burned more than 2.7 million
acres and about 1.2 million acres
have burned in the Northwest.
Northwest fires account for 43
percent of the nation’s total. At the
season’s peak, the Northwest had
8,000 firefighters working.
On Sept. 4, Grand Ronde 20-man
hand crews departed to fight the
northern California July Com-
plex.
The 10-year national average
number of fires is 56,278 covering
6.16 million acres. This year, up to
early September, there had been
38,395 fires covering 2.76 million
acres.
“The year is far from over,” said
Nepstad. “The Northwest and Cali-
fornia are currently in high to ex-
treme fire danger. NOAA (National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration) is predicting a moderate
El Nino year, which causes the
Northwest to be drier and warmer
than normal.”
In 2002, another El Nino year,
the Natural Resources Department
fought fires into November, said
Nepstad.
Everybody working fires this year
has seen that most are significantly
understaffed. So many covering
so much acreage has driven the
shortages of firefighters, said Nep-
stad. Most are caused by lightning
storms, but others start from camp-
fires and other recreational activi-
ties, and arson.
At the South Fork Complex near
John Day, three Grand Ronde
engines and crews were at work.
Kneeland’s engine spent two weeks
there and the other engines stayed
for a second two-week tour.
“It was nice to have some of our
own guys with us,” said Kneeland.
“After day 14, it definitely starts
to wear on you, but it is also what
we prepare for all year long. This
fire season, it has been pretty much
16-day fire assignments.”
For Kneeland, the job is more
than fighting fires. “It’s serving the
Tribe,” he said, “and I really do enjoy
what we do back here: pre-commer-
cial thinning on the Reservation,
helping with future timber harvests.
I take a lot of pride in that. It’s for
the future generations.” n