Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2019)
smok signflz OCTOBER 15, 2019 9 Artisanal summit Muckleshoot Tribal members Keith Stevenson and Tyson Simmons work on ceremonial boards in the Southern Salish style during the seventh annual History and Cultural Summit held at Chachalu Museum & Cultural Center on Saturday, Oct. 5. The summit focused on Columbia River Chinookan Art and those who continue its practice. The summit took on a new format this year and instead of having lectures it concentrated on hands-on activities and interacting with the artisans. Attendees also could tour the museum and engage with the artisans as they worked. Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez Cultural Center Specialist Rachelle Kellogg works on separating a reed while making a basket during the seventh annual History and Cultural Summit. Tribal member Stephanie Craig works on a traditional twisted tule matt in the Upper Columbia River style. Home ownership will be next phase in Grand Ronde HOUSING continued from page 8 approve leases locally instead of sending each and every lease away for federal approval. Home ownership also could help retain professionals who work at the Health & Wellness Clinic who would like to move to Grand Ronde and not commute 20 or more miles, but currently can’t find any place to live. “Home ownership is our next phase of opportunity in Grand Ronde where people can own their own homes,” Leno says. Dugger adds that Tribal Council has made home ownership a prior- ity. “All this survey information we are doing will result in developing a preliminary recommendation to council on how many and what we exactly think would be most likely for us to build,” she says. How it would work is still to be determined, but once a piece of Tribal land is identified for home development, the Tribe could con- tract with a home builder who would construct the homes for prospective buyers who would select their own floor plans and home options. Lure of coming home The lure of moving back to Grand Ronde is a highly individual de- cision, but Leno and Dugger say that reconnecting with culture and community are the biggest draws. “People want to be part of some- thing bigger than themselves,” Leno says, adding that the distance from a large city and the pastoral Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez Housing Department Administrative Program Manager Joan Dugger talks about the future of Tribal housing in the Grand Ronde area on Wednesday, Oct. 2. setting are quickly morphing from being a detriment to an asset. “Peo- ple are trying to get away from a busy life.” Elders like the proximity of the Health & Wellness Center, the Wellness Program regularly check- ing on them if they request it and the social and activity options of- fered by the Elders Activity Center. Another nonissue is sewage dis- posal. Although the public sewage system is at capacity and has been since 2003, the two Tribally-owned sewage treatment plants located in Elder housing and Chxi Musam Illi- hi are at approximately 65 percent capacity, giving the Tribe room to grow, says Engineering & Public Works Manager Jesse White. “They were built for expansion. We forecasted that Grand Ronde was going to grow and we built them accordingly,” Leno says. As reported in this series’ first story, water is plentiful. Grand Ronde Community Water Asso- ciation Manager Karl Ekstrom estimates that the association, which currently serves 960 mem- bers, could serve as many as 1,900 connections based on its engineer’s estimates. The challenges, Leno says, are not surprisingly connected with the federal government and its funding. Housing & Urban Devel- opment funding to maintain Tribal housing units has not received a cost-of-living increase recently while maintenance and repair costs increase. Add to that an increasingly ex- pensive number of units that are contaminated by drug usage and must be rehabilitated before they can be rented out and you have a situation where the Housing Department might have to curtail building because the funds are not available to maintain more units. “The more you build, obviously the more you have to take care of,” Leno says. “But they are not giv- ing you dollars to do that. We can build, build, build, but we’re going to eventually run out of money to maintain it.” Another big drawback is the lack of a nearby grocery store. Stores such as a Safeway or Albertson’s are more than 20 miles away in Mc- Minnville, Dallas or Lincoln City. “Maybe when we get enough units and enough people here, that will be something we can support fully,” Dugger says. “Right now we don’t have the number of people who can sustain a grocery store. We’re not there yet.” “As far as looking at starting a community, we have everything but that,” Leno says. “We have fire. We have police. We have a lot of essential medical care close by. So that is like the one piece for people that is not here.” Despite any drawbacks, however, Tribal members are still interested in returning to their homeland and reversing the effects of the federal government’s relocation efforts instituted following Termination in the 1950s. Is there a maximum population for Grand Ronde? “I have lived my whole life here,” Leno says. “If you would have told me as a kid that you’re going to have 500 people live out here right in this local area, everybody would have looked at you and said, ‘Wow.’ You can’t really predict what it would look like. We have 500 people here and it seems like we’re making it work. “So if you added another 500, I’m sure you’d have those folks who’d say it’s too crowded … but they would have said the same thing before we built any of this also. I think leadership does a good job of expanding where we need to expand based on our pop- ulation increases. If it comes in increments and doesn’t come in as an overall flood, I think we’ll be just fine.”
