Smoke signals., December 15, 2018, Page 9, Image 9

DECEMBER 15, 2018
S moke S ignals
9
‘We are after the truth’
FISHERY continued
from front page
harvest lamprey at the falls.
State Lands Director Vicki Walk-
er reaffirmed that decision on Nov.
26.
Beckham said the Native Amer-
icans of the Willamette Valley
continued to fish at Willamette
Falls even after removal to the
Grand Ronde Reservation in the
mid-1850s. He cited an 1880s pho-
to taken at the falls that shows a
Native American dipnetting.
“Native people had to return
to the falls to survive,” Beckham
said, citing the poor farmland in
the Grand Ronde Valley. “It was a
remarkable resource.”
Beckham called Columbia Pla-
teau Tribes’ claims to the Willa-
mette Falls fishery a “modern-day
discovery of opportunity.”
“None of the Columbia Plateau
Tribes ceded lands west of the Cas-
cade Range,” the report says. “None
of the Columbia Plateau Tribes
identified ‘usual and accustomed
grounds and stations’ for fishing
at the falls in the 1942 Swindell
report. None of the Columbia Pla-
teau Tribes sought compensation
in the U.S. Claims Court or Indian
Claims Commission for lands in the
Willamette Valley.”
However, Beckham said, an
emergency accommodation by
the Oregon Department of Fish
& Wildlife in the mid-1990s that
allowed a spring salmon fish-
ery at Willamette Falls by the
four Columbia Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission Tribes muddied the
waters. The Grand Ronde Tribe,
which was only 10 years into
of the takeaways from
Beckham’s report is that
Tribal knowledge main-
tained in families, such
as the traditional practice
of exacting a tribute from
visiting Tribes that fished
at Willamette Falls, is
buttressed by historical
accounts.
Tribal Council Chair-
woman Cheryle A. Ken-
nedy thanked Beckham
for his research. “We are
after the truth,” she said.
Other Tribal Council
members who attended
included Lisa Leno, De-
nise Harvey, Kathleen
George, Michael Langley,
Secretary Jon A. George
and Vice Chair Chris
Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez
Mercier. Tribal staff who
Cultural Resource Department Manager David Harrelson, Dr. Stephen Dow Beckham
attended included Tribal
and Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy attended the “Coffee and
Attorney Rob Greene,
Conversation” event about the Willamette Falls fishery that was held before the General
Chief of Staff Stacia Her-
Council meeting held in the Community Center on Sunday, Dec. 2.
nandez, General Manager
David Fullerton and Dep-
Restoration, was not consulted
1988 Reservation Plan. Since then,
uty Press Secretary Sara Thomp-
or informed about the agreement
the Tribe has slowly recaptured
son.
when it occurred.
ceremonial hunting and fishing
The full report, which was sub-
Beckham said he and fellow
rights, as well as completed and
mitted by the Grand Ronde Tribe
ethnohistorian E. Richard Hart
fished from the Willamette Falls
to the State Lands Department
found no evidence in separate re-
platform.
and Oregon Department of Fish
ports commissioned by the state
Cultural Resources Department
& Wildlife, can be found at www.
Department of Justice that Willa-
Manager David Harrelson said one
grandronde.org/about/archives/. 
mette Falls was ever a “usual and
accustomed grounds and stations”
for eastern Oregon and eastern
Washington Tribes.
“Restoration for Grand Ronde
came at a high price,” Beckham
said, referring to the consent de-
cree which required the Tribe to
sacrifice hunting and fishing rights
AMENDMENT continued
mail the first week of January.
in return for state support of the
from front page
Tribal members will have until
Jan. 25 to register to vote in the
election and ballots are scheduled
14, 1999, and who meet pre-1999
to be mailed on Feb. 1.
constitutional enrollment require-
Two-thirds of those who vote will
ments. Applicants also must meet
have
to approve for the amendment
the five-year relinquishment re-
to
pass,
as well as 30 percent of
quirement if they have enrolled in
those who registered must cast a
another Tribe.
ballot for the election to count.
Tribal Council was encouraged to
In the last three constitutional
move the proposed amendment to a
amendment elections held in 2016,
vote by a positive Sept. 8 advisory
2015 and 2012, an average of 1,248
vote result. Tribal voters favored a
Tribal members have registered to
similarly worded proposal 839 to
vote in BIA-run elections, but the
365, for a 69.7 percent majority.
turnout has only averaged 61.3
To amend the Tribal Constitution,
percent.
two-thirds of those voting must
As of the September Tribal Coun-
approve of the change.
cil election, more than 4,150 Tribal
Only two proposed constitutional
members were 18 or older, making
amendments have ever received suf-
them eligible to vote in a Tribal
ficient yes votes to pass — the July
election.
1999 enrollment requirements that
In the run-up to the election,
created the current split siblings
Tribal Council has scheduled four
situation and the February 2008
educational sessions: 5:30 p.m.
proposal to increase the relinquish-
Wednesday, Jan. 16, in Grand
ment period from one to five years.
Ronde; 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan.
Other constitutional amendment
30, in a Portland location yet to be
proposals have either failed to gar-
announced; 5:30 p.m. Wednesday,
ner the two-thirds majority man-
Feb. 13, in a Eugene location yet to
dated by the Tribal Constitution or
be announced; and again in Grand
have been defeated.
Ronde at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Since the election is being run by
Feb. 20.
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Tribal
The Bureau of Indian Affairs con-
members will have to specially reg-
tinues to run Tribal constitutional
ister to vote in the election. Being
amendment elections because a
registered to vote in regular Tribal
proposal to remove the federal
elections is not sufficient.
government from the process was
Registration packets are sched-
defeated in March 2015 by a vote
uled to be mailed on Dec. 31 and
Ad created by George Valdez
of 381 to 230. 
start arriving in Tribal members’
Amending constitution requires
two-thirds majority of votes