PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 Being prepared could mean eating 25-year-old food — pg. 7 AUGUST 15, 2016 Grand Ronde plans appeal of Cowlitz decision By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor T he Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde plans to ap- peal to the Supreme Court following a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling on Friday, July 29, that will allow the Cowlitz Tribe to keep its 152-acre reservation and continue building a casino 15 miles north of the Portland-Vancouver metropol- itan area. Tribal Council Chief of Staff Sta- cia Martin said a majority of Tribal Council approved an appeal to the Supreme Court last week. The ruling handed down by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected arguments made by the Grand Ronde Tribe and Clark County, Wash., during a March 18 appeals hearing held in Washington, D.C. At issue was a decision by District Court Judge Barbara Rothstein that favored the Department of the Interior’s decision to take land into trust for a Cowlitz Reservation. The Tribe, city of Vancouver and Clark County appealed Rothstein’s December 2014 ruling. The three-judge Appeals Court panel that heard the case included Cornelia Pillard, Robert Wilkins and Harry Edwards. Attending the appeal hearing were Grand Ronde Tribal Council members Chairman Reyn Leno, Vice Chair Jack Giffen Jr., Brenda Tuomi, Jon A. George, Tonya Glea- son-Shepek and Denise Harvey. Tribal Attorney Rob Greene, Assis- tant Tribal Attorney Kim D’Aquila and Tribal Council Chief of Staff Photos by Michelle Alaimo Anesia Ainam dances to “New Beginnings” during the Grand Ronde Canoe Family’s protocol for Paddle to Nisqually, the 2016 Canoe Journey, on the Nisqually Indian Reservation near Olympia, Wash., on Tuesday, Aug. 2. People from the audience were invited to join the Canoe Family during the dance. Destination Nisqually Kyoni Mercier, wearing a coyote mask, sits in the front of Stankiya as the Grand Ronde Canoe Family participates in the Paddle to Nisqually landing held at the Port of Olympia in Olympia, Wash., on Saturday, July 30. The Canoe Family started paddling from Potlatch State Park in Skokomish, Wash., on July 23 and paddled about 220 miles on this year’s journey. For more photos, see pages 10-11. See DECISION continued on page 22 Tribe completes eighth-grade history curriculum By Brent Merrill Smoke Signals staff writer T he Grand Ronde Eighth Grade Tribal History curriculum unit has been released to the public and is already being shared with Oregon schools. The new curriculum began as a pilot project in 2014 that was funded mostly by an Administra- tion for Native American’s Social and Economic Development Strategies grant. Photo by Michelle Alaimo The Tribe’s Education Department has completed the Grand Ronde Tribal History eighth-grade curriculum unit. Seeing the need for culturally relevant and historically accurate educational information for Oregon students as a priority, the Tribe’s Education Department began work on a fourth- grade curriculum project that has been in public schools for two years. The Tribe’s newly released eighth-grade curriculum is a follow-up to that successful project. The fourth-grade curriculum provided lesson plans to Oregon schools in social studies. Tribal member and Tribal Curriculum Advis- See CURRICULUM continued on page 16