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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