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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2021)
PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS MARCH 14, 2021 Turn clocks forward one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 14 march 1, 2021 Willamina schools will soon offer in-person learning for all students Absence to presence Grand Ronde-based dissertation wins national recognition By Danielle Harrison Smoke Signals staff writer W ILLAMINA — After almost a year of online classes, the Willamina School District expects to re-open to all stu- dents by Tuesday, March 16. The COVID-19 pandemic left most Oregon schools shuttered starting in March 2020, but with vaccinations on the rise and positive cases falling, in-person learning is now possible. Willamina School District first- and sec- ond-graders returned to the Oaken Hills cam- pus under a hybrid model on Tuesday, Feb. 9, joining kindergarteners who had been attending half-time since September. Later that week, northwestern Oregon was pummeled with an ice storm that left many without power. “Despite the crazy weather, the return of first and second grade went well, (both) teachers and kids were happy to see each other,” Superinten- dent Carrie Zimbrick said. Most Tribal and descendant students in Grand Ronde attend school in Willamina. The return to the classroom has been a slow and arduous journey at times, but district offi- cials have met regularly with their leadership team to discuss evolving state guidance on how to best re-open schools safely. The Oregon Department of Education, in partnership with the state Health Authority, authored a “Ready Schools, Safe Learners” guide for in-person instruction last summer. The guide has undergone several revisions, including in January to allow counties with higher COVID-19 case counts to return if they followed certain safety restrictions. Beginning on Jan. 1, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s instructions for returning to school be- came “advisory rather than mandatory,” accord- ing to a letter sent to the Oregon Department See SCHOOLS continued on page 6 By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor or five summers, University of Wash- ington archaeology student Ian Kretzler was digging in the dirt of Grand Ronde. During the summer of 2015, he was helping excavate the Umpqua encampment of the original Grand Ronde Reservation. For the next four summers, he was working in the Molalla encampment. All of his work is encapsulated in a disser- tation, “An Archaeology of Survivance on the Grand Ronde Reservation: Telling Stories of Enduring Native Presence,” which was recently awarded the Society for American Archaeology’s 2021 Dissertation Award for the outstanding contributions it makes to the discipline. The society is the largest professional archae- ology organization in the United States. It rec- ognizes one dissertation annually and Kretzler received a plaque and three years’ worth of free membership in the organization. “Ian is the first archaeology graduate recog- nized for this honor who has conducted com- munity-based research with a Tribal nation,” says Dr. Sara Gonzalez, an associate professor with the University of Washington’s Depart- ment of Anthropology. “For a field whose his- tory of relations with Indigenous communities can be best characterized as extractive, Ian’s Tribally led approach to conducting heritage research with the Confederated Tribes of F Contributed photo by Luke Schneider University of Washington archaeology student Ian Kretzler recently received the Society for American Archaeology’s 2021 Dissertation Award for outstanding contributions to the discipline for “An Archaeology of Survivance on the Grand Ronde Reservation: Telling Stories of Enduring Native Presence.” He worked for five years on the Grand Ronde Reservation, including during the summer of 2018 on the Molalla encampment when the above picture was taken. See DISSERTATION continued on page 7 Winter storm affects Grand Ronde area By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor A winter storm that dumped freezing rain and snow on most of northwestern Ore- gon over the Valentine's Day week- end forced the closure of two state highways at Grand Ronde Road and Portland General Electric re- ported power outages in the Grand Ronde area. According to the Oregon De- partment of Transportation’s Trip Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez Check site, both Highway 18 and Hebo Road (Highway 22) were closed westbound at their intersec- tions with Grand Ronde Road. Highway 18 closed at 11 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, from milepost 20 to milepost 6 and Hebo Road closed from milepost 21 to milepost 11. Ice caused many trees lining the highways to either topple or lose See STORM continued on page 8 An Oregon Department of Transportation employee works on cleaning up fallen tree branches along Hebo Road on Friday, Feb. 19, in the aftermath of the Valentine’s Day weekend snow and ice storm. The employee declined to give Smoke Signals his name.