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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.”