8
S moke S ignals
AUGUST 1, 2018
Grand Ronde seeking ways to assist Warm Springs Tribe
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
In the wake of the announcement
that the Warm Springs Tribe plans
to shutter its well-known Kah-Nee-
Ta Resort, Grand Ronde Tribal
Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy
plans on contacting the eastern
Oregon Tribe’s leadership to see if
there is any way to help.
The Grand Ronde Tribal Council
discussed the situation in executive
session on Tuesday, July 17, and
Tribal Council Chief of Staff Stacia
Hernandez said the consensus was
that the matter should be handled
in a government-to-government
manner.
Warm Springs member Mike
Clements, who is married to Grand
Ronde Tribal member Maxine Cle-
ments, attended the Saturday, July
14, Grand Ronde PAC candidate fo-
rum held in Portland and asked for
help from the Grand Ronde Tribe.
Only the Tribal Council incum-
bents seeking re-election – Kenne-
dy, Secretary Jon A. George and
Brenda Tuomi – were present at
that forum.
Kah-Nee-Ta has been struggling
since the Warm Springs Tribe
Kah-Nee-Ta’s history
Time immemorial – Hot springs named after a woman named Xnitla,
meaning “root digger.” She lived on the lands surrounding the springs.
1887 – General Allotment Act gave land owners right to sell their
property to nonIndians.
1935 – Portland physician F.B. Freeland purchased the 320 acres
surrounding the mineral springs for $35,000 and built a small resort.
1950s – Warm Springs Tribes received $4.45 million settlement from
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for loss of Celilo Falls.
1961 – Warm Springs Tribes purchased land back for $165,000 and
started to rebuild spa.
1964-65 – Tribes built Olympic-sized swimming pool, cottages, restau-
rant and tipis.
1971 – Tribes began construction of lodge.
1995 – Tribes expanded operations to include $6 million Indian Head
Casino and improved convention center.
2001 – Resort and casino merged to form Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert
Resort & Casino, which included an 18-hole golf course.
2011 – Casino closed in December in preparation for moving 11 miles
to new property along more heavily traveled U.S. Highway 26.
2018 – Tribes announced plans to close resort on Sept. 5.
Source: Oregon History Project
moved its Indian Head Casino to
more heavily traveled Highway 26
in 2012. The resort is 11 miles off
Highway 26.
“The Tribes have sustained the
resort financially, though this has
Tribe receives child wellness health grant
The Grand Ronde Tribe has received a potentially $2.2 million grant
from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Center for Mental
Health Services that will fund a youth child wellness program.
The Tribe was notified on Friday, July 20, that it had received $388,719
for the first year of the project, which will add two full-time positions –
Youth Child Wellness project director and mental health partner – and
most of a third position that will perform community outreach.
The multi-year grant will have annual awards through September 2023
and would total $2.2 million if the Tribe’s project does well and is funded
throughout the time period, Planning & Grants Manager Kim Rogers said.
The grant also would pay 10 percent for the hiring of a pediatrician,
Rogers said.
Health Services Executive Director Kelly Rowe will be the project di-
rector.
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been increasingly difficult in recent
years in light of the Tribal budget,”
according to Warm Springs Tribal
newspaper Spilyay Tymoo.
Early in July, it was announced
that the resort would close on Sept.
5 and that approximately 150 em-
ployees would lose their jobs. The
Tribe had to notify the state in a
Worker Adjustment and Retrain-
ing Notification notice, which is
required for mass layoffs.
The Warm Springs Tribe had
hoped to enter into a long-term
lease with AV Northwest, a man-
agement company that planned to
invest $17 million into the resort.
However, because Kah-Nee-Ta is
located on trust land, it cannot
be used as collateral, the Warm
Springs Tribal newspaper reported,
making it difficult for AV North-
west to acquire sufficient financial
backing.
The resort follows in the path of
the Kah-Nee-Ta Golf Course, which
went on the market in December
2016 after operating with losses
for four years. Course member
Brent Moschetti signed a contract
in January 2017 to take over the
golf course.
The Warm Springs Tribe also
closed its mill and lumber compa-
ny, Warm Springs Forest Products
Industries, in 2016. The 49-year-old
sawmill employed more than 80
people.
In December 2015, 86 percent of
Warm Springs Tribal voters said
yes to growing, processing and sell-
ing marijuana on the recreational
market in an election that drew
record turnout. The proposal called
for production and processing at
a facility on the Reservation with
sales at three Tribal stores located
off the Reservation.
On Saturday, July 21, Warm
Springs Elders held a prayer ser-
vice in front of the hotel lodge.
Clements, who organized the
protest, said the resources at Kah-
Nee-Ta have long provided oppor-
tunities for Native people.
“We want to see it continue as a
Tribal operation – managed by the
Tribe: for the people, by the people.
That’s our hope with our prayer,”
he said.
Clements also called for more
transparency and communica-
tion from the resort’s board of
directors and the Warm Springs
Tribal Council, which oversees
the board.
Includes information from
Oregon Public Broadcasting
and the Bend Bulletin.