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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