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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2017)
6 S moke S ignals JUNE 15, 2017 Tribal Council OKs Felled Tree Study By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Tribal Council approved Natu- ral Resources staff cutting down between 58 and 94 trees on Tribal trust and fee lands on Wednesday, May 31, to calibrate the depart- ment’s forest inventory computer software to local conditions, which will enable the software to make better predictions about future timber growth and yield. Tribal Council approval was re- quired to obtain a free-use timber cutting permit from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to fell trees on trust land. According to Forester Andrew Pu- erini’s “Forest Officer’s Report,” the Tribe uses a computer-based forest inventory called Forest Projection and Planning Software for forest modeling and harvest scheduling purposes. The Forest Biometric Research Institute recommends a process where 100-foot trees or taller are felled across the landscape and cross sections are measured and inputted into the software to calibrate growth and yield. The Tribe will cut down trees in 19 different locations with primarily Douglas fir being felled. At the Wednesday, May 31, Leg- islative Action Committee meeting, Timber and Roads Program Manag- er Jeff Kuust said the estimated net worth of the felled trees will range from $2,538 to $4,113, but the study will give the Tribe a more accurate estimate of its forestland yield. In response to a question from Tribal Council Vice Chair Cheryle A. Kennedy, Kuust said most trees on Tribal forestlands take about 28 to 30 years of growth before they become commercially viable. In other action, Tribal Council approved the Portland Harbor Nat- ural Resource Damage Assessment Restoration Plan and Programmat- ic Environmental Impact State- ment because the Tribe is acting as a trustee for natural resources damages at the superfund site. Tribal Council also OK’d an agreement between the Trustee Council, the University of Portland and the Oregon Department of State Lands that provides not less than $33,850.90 to fund Tribal em- ployees and technical consultation with designing and estimating a value for a restoration site. Cultural Resources Department employees Bobby Mercier, Jordan Mercier and Brian Krehbiel, Youth Council member Izaiah Fisher, Lea Pratt, Kim Contreras and Tribal youth Jacob Holmes, Nokoa Mercier, Kyoni Mercier, Kaikanim Mercier, Kailiyah Krehbiel and Red Sky Clawson performed the cultural drumming and singing to open the meeting. Also included in the May 31 Tribal Council packet was an ap- proved staff directive requesting the Tribal Attorney’s Office prepare amendments to the Enrollment Ordinance that would return final decision making on involuntary loss of membership cases back to Tribal Council and an approved authori- zation to proceed for the Health & Wellness Department’s $150,000 Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist Project to become the Tribe’s 2017 Spirit Mountain Community Fund Tribal Grant application project. The meeting in its entirety can be viewed on the Tribal website, www. grandronde.org, by clicking on the News tab and then Video. Tualatin sign dedication Photos by Michelle Alaimo Tribal Council Secretary Jon A. George, right, accepts an atlatl weight, in his hand, from Sandra Lafkey Carlson during the dedication of the interpretive sign at the Tualatin Heritage Center in Tualatin on Wednesday, June 7. The weight was found by her grandfather in 1930 on his farm in the Tualatin area and Carlson wanted to return it to the Tribe. The dedication also included a drum song by Tribal drummers and a speech from Tribal Council Vice Chair Cheryle A. Kennedy. This interpretive sign telling the Grand Ronde Tribe’s history, some specific to the Tualatin area, is now outside the Tualatin Heritage Center. To find out more, attend a FREE Start Your Business class! JOIN US at the Grand Ronde Adult Education Building on the second Thursday of every month at 4PM 9615 Grand Ronde Road Grand Ronde, OR LEARN MORE AT: WWW.meritnw.org Or call 503 548-7314