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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2019)
6 Smoke Signals JUNE 1, 2019 Tribe agrees to pursue transfer of 667.5-acre Noble Oaks Preserve By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Tribal Council approved a res- olution during its Wednesday, May 15, meeting that may lead to the Grand Ronde Tribe assuming wildlife management of the 667.5- acre Noble Oaks Preserve outside of Willamina. Noble Oaks is a conservation property currently managed by The Nature Conservancy, which purchased the preserve in October 2014 for $1.5 million, according to Polk County Assessor records. Richard Noble, a former lawyer, and his wife, Nancy, purchased the property because they enjoyed raising animals, which progressed into helping endangered animals such as antelope, rhinoceros, gi- raffes and red pandas. The couple subsequently joined the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. After outgrowing a 50-acre prop- erty in the Scholls area southwest of Portland, they purchased the former cattle spread near Willam- ina and had as many as 250 rare and endangered animals roaming the land. To help protect the exotic animals, its location was a guarded secret. Wanting to ensure that their land remained protected after they walked on, the Nobles contacted The Nature Conservancy. The property is one of the last spots where white oak savanna that once dominated the Willamette Valley continues to thrive. It also is near the historic boundaries of the original Grand Ronde Reservation. The Nature Conservancy received funding from the Bonneville Power Administration’s Willamette Wild- life Mitigation Program to purchase the property, which is now subject to a conservation easement that protects it as wildlife habitat in perpetuity. The approved Tribal Council resolution directs Tribal Lands Manager Jan Looking Wolf Rei- bach to complete the donation of the property to the Tribe. Once the Noble Oaks Reserve property is acquired, it will join Chahal- pam, Chankawan and Rattlesnake Butte as the Tribe’s conservation properties acquired through the Bonneville Power Administration program being managed for wildlife and conservation purposes. Smoke Signals is not identifying the exact location of the Noble Oaks Preserve property at the request of the Tribal Lands Department to help ensure its safety. In addition, Tribal Council also approved a purchase and sale agreement to pursue buying a 4,502-square-foot home situated on an additional 2.75 acres on the Noble Oaks property, which is sepa- rate from The Nature Conservancy donation. “The Tribe prides itself in acquir- ing property for any number of rea- sons,” Reibach said. “Over the past few months we have been working to secure a conservation property in Polk County. The majority of the property will be donated to the Tribe while a smaller parcel is available for purchase. We are working closely with the current landowner to finalize details and, pending approvals and closing, hope to take ownership later this HELP BUILD OUR FLOAT! 2019 Spirit Mountain Grand Floral Parade June 5 – 6, 2019 VOLUNTEERS Room for 30 Employees (First Come First Served). All volunteers will be entered in a raffle for City Fair passes with unlimited carnival rides or Rose Cup Race tickets. Folding chairs will be available for those who can not stand for any length of time. WHERE Meet at the Main Entrance (by Mountain View Sports Bar) at 7:45am. The bus departs at 8:15am and returns to the casino at 4:30pm. A continental breakfast and box lunch will be provided. When calling to reserve your space, please specify what kind of sandwich you prefer (Ham, Turkey, Roast Beef or Tuna). PTO If this is your regularly scheduled day to work, you must request PTO from your department. CONTACT Please call Sponsorship Administrator Jocelyn Huffman at 503-879-3054 by June 1, 2018 to register. Don’t forget to place your lunch order, and get any necessary PTO approved. summer.” Reibach said people with ques- tions should contact him at 503- 879-2394. In other action, Tribal Council: • Declared Friday, June 14, as the second per capita payment date in 2019. Finance Officer Chris Leno said the amount of the payment will not be known until after June 1; • Approved applying for a $20,000 grant from the Oregon Depart- ment of Parks & Recreation that would help with preser- vation of the 2,000-square-foot Grand Ronde Depot building. The Tribe has already received a $75,000 grant from Spirit Moun- tain Community Fund to pay for the estimated $180,000 needed to fix the building’s foundation, cedar roof, gutters, windows and doors. The depot building is the only structure in Grand Ronde on the National Register of Historic Places, which occurred in 2012; • Approved a cooperative agree- ment with the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency that will continue to fund the Grand Ronde Tribe’s involvement in the Portland Harbor Superfund site. The agreement will provide the Tribe a maximum $384,256 that will fund the Tribe’s work as a technical consultant and employee participation from July 1 through December 2020; • Approved an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Hills- boro for the Interpretive Program to complete artwork at Rood Creek Bridge Park; • And approved the enrollment of three infants into the Tribe because they meet the criteria outlined in the Tribal Constitu- tion and Enrollment Ordinance. Also included in the May 15 Trib- al Council packet was an approved authorization to proceed that ap- pointed Tribal Council member Michael Langley to the Elliott State Research Forest Advisory Committee. The entire meeting can be viewed on the Tribal website, www.gran- dronde.org, by clicking on the News tab and then Video. Tribal Council adds 15 to Restoration Roll By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Tribal Council voted to add 15 names to the Restoration Roll during its Wednesday, May 29, meeting. It marked the second time this year that Tribal members have been added to the roll. During a special meeting held Feb. 28, Tribal Council voted to add 20 Tribal members to the Resto- ration Roll. Tribal Council will now request that the Secretary of the Interi- or approve the Restoration Roll additions. Tribal members added to the roll were Tamara Kennedy, Ran- dy Cunningham, Gregg Leno, Michelle Kelley, Joyce Hanson, Tommy Jones, Janet Taggart, Eloise Winter, Marvin Cunning- ham, Lynda Jones, Ann Clev- enger, Sally Weiss, Sylvia Jones, Danny Jeffers and Tommy Jef- fers. Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said she did not participate in the Restoration Roll process for Tamara Kennedy, who is her daughter, and did not vote on her addition to the Res- toration Roll. The process for adding names to the Restoration Roll started in 2012 when Tribal legal staff started working with the Depart- ment of the Interior to develop a process for approval and addi- tions to the roll. In December 2015, Tribal Council approved 16 additions and three corrections to the Res- toration Roll. At the time, Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris Mercier said the advantage to having your name on the Restoration Roll is that it allows Tribal members to count all of their Indian blood as Grand Ronde blood, which could help extend an individual’s bloodline. “Tribal Council recognizes the devastating effects Termination had on the membership,” said Tribal Council Secretary Jon A. George in reading from a pre- pared statement. “In an effort to correct those effects, we passed a resolution in November 2018 that provides criteria for con- sistently applying the phrase ‘entitled to be on the member- ship roll of the Tribe on Aug. 13, 1954.’ The resolution states that a person was entitled to be on the membership roll of the Tribe on Aug. 13, 1954, if that person was alive on that date and born to a Tribal member. Tonight, we wish to provide additional thoughts on what it means to be born to a Tribal member. We believe being ‘born to a Tribal member’ means being born to a person who could have been a Tribal member at the time of the applicant’s birth. “When this Tribe was Termi- nated, a number of families were wrongfully left off the member- ship roll. The correction of the Restoration Roll is important to Tribal families because having an ancestor on the Restoration Roll is a requirement for mem- bership under the current Tribal Constitution. Corrections to the Restoration Roll are part of an ongoing effort to correct the wrongs of the past and provide a path to membership for those families who continue to suffer the effects of Termination. “The interpretation is an at- tempt to address the inaccura- cies of the federal government’s recordkeeping at the time of Ter- mination. This Tribal Council continues to build on the efforts of our previous leadership and help bring closure to families who have been suffering. This See MEETING continued on page 15
