10
S MOKE S IGNALS
FEBRUARY 1, 2016
Thorsgard to capture park's history
THORSGARD continued
from front page
trees, mountains and valleys. Land-
marks include the world-famous
Half Dome, Bridalveil Falls and El
Capitan. In 2014, Yosemite was the
third most-visited national park in
the United States with almost 3.9
million visitors.
Carpenter said the park has a
good working relationship with the
area Tribes and that Thorsgard “is
doing really well” in his time on the
job so far.
“He (Thorsgard) hit the ground
running and he has already attend-
ed several meetings with Tribes,”
said Carpenter.
Thorsgard will be working directly
with the Bishop Paiute Tribe, the
American Indian Council of Maripo-
sa County, the Northfork Rancheria
of Mono Indians of California, the
Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi
Indians, the Tuolumne Band of Me-
Wuk Indians, the Bridgeport Indian
Colony and the Mono Lake Indians
known as the Kutzadika’a.
“Our job is to do all of the NAG-
PRA (Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act)
compliance for the park and to take
the lead in all of the consultation
for the interaction with the Tribes,”
said Thorsgard. “I’m in a really
interesting position where even
though I’m a park employee, I’m
still acting as an advocate for the
Tribes. But, I’m also an advocate
for the Park Service too.”
Thorsgard said he works with
Name changes in Tribal Court
Tribal Court provides both minor and adult name changes to enrolled
members for a fi ling fee of only $30. If you have any questions or would
like to request a packet, contact Devin Larsen at 503-879-2303 or devin.
larsen@grandronde.org. n
both sides so that the agreements
reached between the parties are the
type of understandings that serve
everyone’s needs.
Thorsgard said his experience
working for his own Tribe in a va-
riety of positions over the years has
and will help in working with the
Tribes he is assigned to now.
Before moving to Northern Cal-
ifornia to continue his career,
Thorsgard worked for the Confed-
erated Tribes of Grand Ronde as
a cultural protection specialist,
cultural protection program man-
ager, Tribal historic preservation
offi cer and Education Department
manager. Thorsgard also served a
seven-month stint with the Army
Corps of Engineers as an anthropol-
ogist before accepting the position
with Yosemite National Park.
He said the work that he does is
rewarding and that he is looking
forward to working closely with
the Tribal communities he serves
while also learning as much as he
can about the park.
“It’s a lot like working with our
community (Grand Ronde),” said
Additional fish available
Please join NRD for a special
CTGR Fish Distribution
Natural Resources Department
Fish Lab
47010 S.W. Hebo Road
Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347
503-879-2424
GRAND RONDE LIVING and ENROLLED
TRIBAL MEMBERS
Must show current photo I.D.
Thursday, March 10, 2016 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Friday, March 11, 2016 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
If picking up for others, a signed release form will be required!
No early or late pickup
Fish will NOT be mailed
If you have any questions please call the Natural Resources Department 503-879-2424.
Elders will have a special line established to expediently fill their requests. To ensure this, only Elder
orders will be filled using this line. Thank you for understanding and consideration of others.
PORTLAND SATELLITE OFFICE DISTRIBUTION
There will be No deliveries to Portland Satellite office.
2016 Salmon Distribution Release Form
I
give
Signature of Tribal Member:
, Roll Number
,
permission to pick up my salmon.
Date:
Thorsgard. “There are some things
that if you don’t record them, they
just get lost. Finding a way to be
helpful as that knowledge transfers
from generation to generation and
fi nding ways to help these commu-
nities record what is important to
them is super exciting.”
Thorsgard said the Tribes he has
worked with so far have been sup-
portive and interested in the work
he is doing with and for them.
Grand Ronde Tribal Historic
Preservation Offi ce Manager and
Tribal member David Harrelson
said he is not surprised that Thors-
gard landed in a position to per-
form meaningful work on behalf of
Indian people. He said he believes
Thorsgard’s experience working
with his own Tribe will only help
him help Tribal people.
“What I’ve seen is that Eirik
brings his life as an Indian to
archaeology and historic preser-
vation,” said Harrelson. “He also
brings his experience as an ar-
chaeologist and cultural resource
manager to creating value to people
in Indian communities.”
Harrelson gives credit to Thors-
gard for creating the program he now
manages for the Grand Ronde Tribe.
“Eirik was really the catalyst for
our Tribal Historic Preservation Of-
fi ce department and when I heard
that he got the job at the National
Park Service it really excited me
because while working here and
helping to build and kick off our
department and our program we
developed a lot of tools and learned
a lot of lessons from that work,”
said Harrelson. “I see Eirik being
able to now apply that work at a
much more increased scope, scale
and visibility.
“Eirik is committed to solutions,
relationship building and inspiring
improvement in others. I see that
across the board. That is the reason
why he is able to work really well
in Indian Country and the reason
he was able to build such a strong
program here.”
Grand Ronde Education Depart-
ment manager and Tribal member
Leslie Riggs said he sees Thorsgard
as a good representative of the
Grand Ronde Tribe wherever he is
working.
“If a Tribal member is out in the
wider world and they are doing a
high-profi le job like that as a Grand
Ronde Tribal member then that is
significant,” said Riggs. “When I
fi rst met Eirik I was still working
for culture and this guy came in and
you could just tell he was very am-
bitious and he really had a burning
desire to make sure that we were
doing things appropriately. He just
had a way about himself; you could
just tell he was going to rise up the
ranks. You could see it in him. He
was ambitious, but he was also
willing to put in the work. I think
he is going to do very well.”
Thorsgard said he and his wife,
Misty, who currently works in the
Tribe’s Culture Department as a
compliance technician, just made
an offer on a home in California and
the family plans to join him after
the deal closes in the next couple
of months. n