PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 66 employees honored for service — pg. 13 NOVEMBER 15, 2016 AlertSense keeps Tribal community in-the-know quickly By Brent Merrill Smoke Signals staff writer ritical communication, both emergency and non-emer- gency, has been made easier by a program called AlertSense that is being used at the Tribal gov- ernment campus in Grand Ronde. AlertSense, which was estab- lished in 2002, is a communication technology that provides emergen- cy alerting and critical services that are continually available and geographically dispersed through a cloud network. AlertSense is not a real-time emergency notification system yet, but it possibly could be in the fu- ture. What AlertSense is right now is another layer to the important critical communication that needs to occur for the Tribe to conduct business on a daily basis. “The goal is that we’ve got ev- eryone enrolled in text and e-mail so that when we need to send out an alert that people are getting it instantly,” said Tribal General Manager David Fullerton. “Like anything, what you are doing for preparedness is key. I think it is vital to be able to communicate in any natural disaster or a crisis. We have to have some sense of commu- nication with people even if it is just to give accurate information.” Currently, there are four distinct “regions” of AlertSense in use on the Tribal campus. The main region is the Tribal gov- ernment and it is used primarily for emergency notification, but it can be used for special events or circum- stances to announce other things that the Tribal government would want to relay to the community. “Like many notification systems it has a lot of capabilities for messag- C See ALERTSENSE continued on page 14 Photo by Michelle Alaimo A few yampah bulbs are displayed that were harvested from the raised plant beds at the Tribe’s Natural Resources Department on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Native harvest Natural Resources cultivates traditional plant bulbs By Brent Merrill Smoke Signals staff writer T he Tribe’s Natural Resources Department held its first camas and yampah harvest from the Tribal Plant Materials Program on Tuesday, Nov. 8, in front of the office building off Hebo Road in Grand Ronde. About 15 Tribal members and employees gath- ered on a crisp morning at Natural Resources’ raised plant beds and dug out 200 camas bulbs and 200 yampah bulbs. The camas bulbs ranged from the size of a large garlic clove to the size of a big apple, and the yampah was about the size of a finger. “Camas was the primary plant food of our an- cestors,” said Tribal Historic Preservation Office Manager David Harrelson. “Most people recognize it because it has this beautiful blue flower. The bulbs themselves are harvested and put in an earthen oven and cooked for a long period of time. Eating camas becomes possible after you cook it for two to three days. Our ancestors would pull it out and press it into cakes; big cakes that could be stored for up to three years.” After a brief explanation of the Tribe’s joint effort with the Plants for People Project, Silviculture Technician Jeremy Ojua showed everyone how to dig up the bulbs and had attendees spread out the length of the raised bed so as not to deplete just See HARVEST continued on page 15 Restoration Roll members have seen many changes By Brent Merrill Smoke Signals staff writer ccording to the Tribal Member Services Department, there were 335 living Trib- al members as of October who were on the Tribe’s Restoration Roll with a roll number under 1,100 and an enrollment date of before Nov. 23, 1983. Three of those Elders recently shared their thoughts about the Tribe’s 33rd Restoration celebration that will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 22, in the Tribal gym. “I think of the Termination period of histo- A ry – of my history,” said Tribal Elder George McEachran during an interview at the Elders Activity Center. “I think of that - who we were, where we were. The whole story behind Termi- nation and Restoration for me is in between. It’s what I needed to do in between that day and then Restoration.” McEachran, 68, is the son of Bernice Howe, the grandson of Agatha Howe and the great-grand- son of Victoria Howard. He said he remembers visiting Grand Ronde as a child. Raised in Mil- waukie, McEachran said his family stopped and visited with Velma Mercier, who was a cousin to McEachran’s mother, in Grand Ronde on their way to Rockaway Beach. “They would sit and visit, and that was a real highlight. We came this way so we could go through Grand Ronde,” remembered McEachran. “As little kids we would sit in the car and who got to see the Grand Ronde sign first was the winner. My mother lived here, was born here and went to St. Michael’s because it was a boarding school back then.” See RESTORATION continued on page 10