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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2018)
6 S moke S ignals JULY 1, 2018 BPA training Tribal Council approves fourth round of hunting seasons, tags By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Photos by Dean Rhodes Bonneville Power Administration employees visited Grand Ronde on Wednesday, June 20, as part of the annual government-to- government Culture & Consultation exercise "People Working Together." While at the Tribe's Chachalu Museum & Cultural Center, BPA Contract Administrator Vishnu Jetmalani, above, learned how to make beargrass braids from Cultural Education staff members Flicka Lucero, left, and her sister, Candi LaBonte. They also toured the "Rise of the Collectors" exhibit and practiced with a bow and atlatl, below. The second day of the consultation on Thursday, June 21, saw BPA employees travel to Chankawan in Marion County where they learned about Tribal conservation properties and toured the site. The event, which is paid for by the Power Administration, involves the Lands and Cultural Resources departments. Social Services has bike helmets The Tribe’s Social Services Department has bicycle helmets available for distribution. Those needing a helmet should visit the department and sign a helmet application, as well as get fitted. For more information, contact Social Services at 503-879-2034. Tribal Council approves website redesign contract By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Tribal Council held its sec- ond consecutive meeting on Wednesday, June 27, because the Fourth of July falls on a Wednesday and approved two items. Tribal Council OK’d a max- imum $105,000 contract with Subtext of Portland to redesign and develop the Tribal website at www.grandronde.org. In addition, Tribal Council appointed Kristina Summers to the Enrollment Board out of 14 applicants for the position. Her term will run through March 2020. Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy reminded Tribal members that the first educational meeting regarding this year’s advisory votes that will appear on the September Tribal Council ballot will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 11, in the Community Center. The entire meeting can be viewed by signing on to the Tribal website and clicking on the News tab and then Video. Tribal Council approved the fourth year of Tribal hunting sea- sons and tags at its Wednesday, June 20, meeting. The Grand Ronde Wildlife Man- agement Plan, which was approved by the Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission in September 2014, allows the Tribe to designate its own hunting seasons outside of state-sanctioned seasons on Reser- vation and trust lands, as well as issue Tribal hunting tags. Fish & Wildlife Program Man- ager Kelly Dirksen said during the Tuesday, June 19, Legislative Action Committee meeting that this year’s Tribal hunting seasons will mostly fall ahead of state-sanc- tioned seasons and will feature 87 tags over seven seasons. In 2015, the Tribe issued 46 tags for black-tailed deer and Roosevelt elk, 70 in 2016 and 76 last year. According to an executive sum- mary, Tribal hunters have been issued 192 hunting tags with 149 Tribal hunting days and have had a 10 percent hunter success rate over the first three years. The Tribal hunting seasons will run from mid-August through mid-December. In other action, Tribal Council: • Approved an agreement with the Willamette National Forest that will allow Grand Ronde firefight- ers to participate in prescribed burns on national forest lands that will promote Native plants and provide professional devel- opment for Tribal employees. Natural Resources Department Manager Michael Wilson said the Tribe’s relationship with Willa- mette National Forest is “good” and “productive.” The Forest Service will reimburse the Tribe up to $24,300, according to the agreement. • Approved acceptance of an $119,924 Natural Resources Conservation Service grant that will fund wildlife habitat en- hancement projects on meadows on the Reservation. • Approved sending amendments to the Enrollment Ordinance out to the general membership for a first reading after receiv- ing myriad comments from the membership. Assistant Tribal Attorney Kim D’Aquila said at the Tuesday, June 19, Legisla- tive Action Committee meeting that the amendments address a process for reinstatement of disenrolled Tribal members in a set of limited circumstances. The disenrollment must have occurred between July 2, 2014, and Jan. 28, 2018, which was the time period during which the Enrollment Board was invested with the final decision-making authority when it came to invol- untary loss of membership. A first reading will advertise the proposed changes twice in Smoke Signals and allow Tribal mem- bers to comment. • Approved Tribal staff submitting a plan to the Department of the Interior to consolidate funds from general assistance, Native em- ployment works and job training programs into a single three-year plan to provide employment and training services; • And approved applying for a five- year grant from the federal De- partment of Health and Human Services that would fund suicide and drug prevention and mental health promotion. Tribal Council also approved the agenda for the Sunday, June 24, General Council meeting, which only included Tribal Council nom- inations and door prizes. Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy also announced that one of the advisory votes that will be on the September Tribal Council ballot will address the split family situations and ask if unen- rolled siblings who met the enroll- ment requirements before the 1999 amendment should be enrolled. Cultural Resources Department Manager David Harrelson gave the cultural presentation to open the meeting regarding mainstream society still having the antiquated idea that Native American people will eventually cease to exist. Also included in the June 20 Tribal Council packet were ap- proved authorizations to proceed that raise the Tribal government minimum wage to $10.75 to match the state minimum wage that goes into effect on July 1 and authorizes staff to spend $5,000 to evaluate the functionality of the Depot building, including structural analysis, space usage capacity, and historical and cultural reports. The entire meeting can be viewed on the Tribal website www.gran- dronde.org by clicking on the News tab and then Video. Adult Members’ Trust and Minors’ Custodial & Rabbi Trust Funds Investments in the Adult Members’ Trust Fund and the Minors’ Custodial and Rabbi Trust Funds are updated each business day. If you are a trust participant and/or if you are the parent/guardian of a minor member, you can access and review your balance and your minor child’s balance by visiting www.401Save.com. To log-in, the initial User ID is your (or your child’s) Social Security number, and the initial Password is “00” followed by your (or your child’s) membership number. Once logged in, you can customize your User ID and password for security purposes. If you have any trouble logging in to or using the sys- tem, contact the 401Save Call Center at 1-888-700-0808 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday.
