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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2016)
PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 Employees honored for years of service — pg. 7 FEBRUARY 1, 2016 Tribal Council OKs general manager contract David Fullerton offi cially hired to lead Tribal government Thorsgard joins Yosemite staff By Brent Merrill By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals staff writer Smoke Signals editor See COUNCIL continued on page 9 rand Ronde Tribal member Eirik Thorsgard began a new chapter in his life and professional career when he accepted a job with the National Park Ser- vice at Yosemite National Park in Mariposa, Calif., in December. Thorsgard, who holds a doctorate degree in archaeology from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, and a master’s degree in applied anthropology from Oregon State University, is the national park’s new cultural anthropologist and American Indian liaison. Thorsgard, 38, will be working directly with the seven Native American Tribes that border the park. Scott Carpenter, who heads up Yosemite’s cultural anthropology program, said Thors- gard will be very active in compiling “really important information” about the park’s history and the Tribes that border it. Carpenter said the park has been doing a lot of catching up over the last 50 years in its relationships with area Tribes and that Yosemite is one of only a few national parks in the United States to have a full-time an- thropologist. The land for Yosemite National Park was set aside when President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill passed by Congress in 1864. The park was actually created when Congress passed the Yosemite Act in 1890. Yosemite National Park covers an area of 747,956 acres of well-known granite cliffs, waterfalls, pristine streams, giant sequoia G A fter spending almost five months as interim general manager, former Social Services Department Manager David Fullerton is now offi cially the Tribal governmen- tal staff’s new leader. Tribal Council approved an employment agreement effective as of Jan. 7 with Fullerton during its Wednesday, Jan. 20, meeting. Fullerton started working for the Tribe in June 2001 as an Indian Child Welfare case- worker. He managed the Social Services De- partment from Decem- ber 2001 through late August 2015 when he David Fullerton was tapped to serve as interim general manager. Before joining the Grand Ronde Tribe, Ful- lerton was the Social Services director for the Quinault Indian Nation in Washington state. He also has worked as a probation offi cer for the Lake County Youth Court in Poulson, Mont., and as a sociology instructor for Stone Child Tribal College on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation in Montana. Fullerton earned a bachelor’s degree in sociol- ogy from the University of Montana in Missoula, where he minored in both Native American stud- ies and criminology. He graduated from Jesuit High School in Portland, Ore. In other action, Tribal Council: • Approved the Yeti Logging Unit timber sale, Contributed photo Tribal member Eirik Thorsgard is the new cultural anthropologist and American Indian liaison at Yosemite National Park in northern California. The park includes several world- famous landmarks, such as Half Dome, Bridalveil Falls and El Capitan, and is the third most-visited national park in the United States, with almost 3.9 million visitors in 2014. Thorsgard is standing in front of Lower Yosemite Falls in the national park. See THORSGARD continued on page 10 Education Board allows Indian mascot exceptions Grand Ronde infl uential in asking for government-to- government consultation By Brent Merrill Smoke Signals staff writer ALEM – The Oregon Board of Education decided to trust Oregon’s nine federally rec- ognized Tribes in deciding what imagery associated with American Indians and used by Oregon schools S “Putting this decision back in the hands of the Tribes to work on these issues and to move through these exceptions when it makes sense may be the most respectful act we can make as a board.” Oregon Board of Education Vice Chairman Charles Martinez as mascots is appropriate at its Thursday, Jan. 21, meeting. The issue of Native American mascots used by Oregon schools has been on the Board of Education’s radar since a meeting in December 2006 and work groups were formed in 2007 to decide whether Native American mascots used by Oregon schools should be banned. After fi ve years of studies being presented to the Board of Educa- tion, its members adopted a res- olution and rule that would have entirely banned Native mascots in schools by the end of the 2017 school year. In particular, the board sought to ban names like Warriors, See MASCOTS continued on page 5
