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MAY 15, 2021
5
Tribe withdraws from Willamette Falls Trust
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Tribal Council Chairwoman
Cheryle A. Kennedy has formally
notified the Willamette Falls Trust
that the Grand Ronde Tribe will no
longer participate as a member.
The trust is a nonprofit organiza-
tion that is raising funds and engag-
ing the community to “realize the
collective vision for a spectacular
Riverwalk at the Falls,” according
to its website. Participants included
the Grand Ronde, Yakama, Siletz,
Umatilla and Warm Springs Tribes
and government representatives
from Oregon City, Clackamas, Met-
ro and the state of Oregon.
Kennedy cited the trust’s contin-
ued harmful practices in explaining
why the Grand Ronde Tribe was
withdrawing in a Thursday, April
22, letter.
“There have been many instances
of continued undermining of our
Tribal sovereignty and subjection to
micro-aggressions at both the staff
and board levels,” she said.
Kennedy cited two specific inci-
dents.
In February, the Grand Ronde
Tribe was presented with a con-
fidentiality and nondisclosure
agreement it had to sign to be able
to attend the trust’s next board
meeting.
“We expressed our concern about
the nature of the agreement be-
cause we believe the trust should
be more transparent in its activities
in relationship to a public project,”
Kennedy said. She also complained
that the agreement was initially
sent to the Tribe branded with
the colonial name “Rediscover the
Falls,” which was the previous
name of the trust.
The second incident occurred on
Feb. 22 when trust staff refused
entry to a Zoom meeting to Tribal
Council Secretary Jon A. George
and Tribal Council Chief of Staff
Stacia Hernandez, who had both
requested to participate in the
update.
“These insulting and harmful
practices do not demonstrate in any
way a commitment to transparen-
cy, accountability or partnership,”
Kennedy said. “Additionally, the
trust regularly sends out public
communications mentioning the
Tribe’s work at Willamette Falls
without prior notice, permission
or coordination. However, when
the Tribe provides the trust with
important studies or information,
that information is not given due
consideration and is often ignored
or dismissed. The trust’s repeated
communication failures have be-
come the norm and not the excep-
tion in our relationship.”
Kennedy was referring to a recent
analysis the Grand Ronde Tribe
commissioned from noted Oregon
historian Stephen Dow Beckham.
He was asked to analyze a Confed-
erated Tribes of Umatilla document
that contended Umatilla Tribal
members regularly used the falls
for fishing in the 19th century.
Beckham found the Umatilla
document filled with factual errors,
faulty conclusions and misunder-
standing of sources.
The Grand Ronde Tribe dissem-
inated Beckham’s analysis and
it was posted on the Willamette
Falls & Landing Heritage Area’s
website, but not the Willamette
Falls Trust’s.
In addition, as of Friday, April
30, the trust’s website continued
to misspell the name of the Tribe
as “Grande Ronde.”
This isn’t the first time the Grand
Ronde Tribe, which has been a
member of the trust’s Board of
Directors since December 2019,
has had concerns. In July 2020,
the Tribe shared concerns about a
trust contractor perpetuating mis-
information regarding the Tribe’s
historical and ancestral connection
to Willamette Falls.
“In response, your board issued a
formal apology and indicated a firm
commitment to do better,” Kennedy
said. “Unfortunately, that has not
been our experience. The practices
of the Willamette Falls Trust have
not improved.”
In response to the Tribe’s with-
drawal, the Willamette Falls Trust
Board of Directors said it will
always welcome the Grand Ronde
community and hold a seat open
should the Tribe reconsider. It
did not address any of the specific
concerns detailed in Kennedy’s
withdrawal letter.
What effect the Tribe’s with-
drawal will have on its ownership
of the former Blue Heron Paper
Mill site in Oregon City, which it
purchased in August 2019, and the
development of the Riverwalk that
will go through the Tribal property
is projected to be minimal.
The Willamette Falls Legacy
Project is the public sector collab-
oration between the Tribes and
various governmental agencies
that is managing the Riverwalk
construction.
Kennedy told Pamplin Media
Group that Grand Ronde is not
sure what role the trust is meant
to play in the greater process of
completing the legacy project. She
also said Grand Ronde might rejoin
the trust if a mutual understanding
over the role each organization has
to play is reached.
“The Tribe holds the vision of the
future of Willamette Falls to be sa-
cred with our ancestors and are com-
mitted to see that vision through,”
Kennedy said in the Tribe’s with-
drawal letter. “We will continue to
proactively move forward by clean-
ing up the heavily polluted area to
create an inspiring place where all
can gather and enjoy the majesty of
Willamette Falls.” 
Police Department has non-emergency text line
The Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department has created a non-emer-
gency text line at 541-921-2927. “Even though this is mostly designed for
children, I don’t want adults thinking that they can’t use it as well.” said
Grand Ronde Tribal Police Chief Jake McKnight.
McKnight said that emergency situations still require calling 911. For
more information, contact McKnight at 503-879-1474. 
Learning to hunt
Grand Ronde Tribe has not
announced any plans on how it will
spend American Rescue funds
RESCUE PLAN
continued from front page
and providing specific contact infor-
mation for questions.
“Tribal governments have broad
flexibility to decide how best to use
this funding to meet the needs of
your communities, and that is cer-
tainly something we heard in the
Tribal consultations last month,”
Lozar said.
Tribal governments will have to
use the Treasury Submission Por-
tal and complete various require-
ments to receive the two payments.
May 24 is the deadline for the $1
billion equal allocation and June 7
is the deadline for the employment
allocation.
In 2020, some Tribes had issues
with the CARES Act methodology
and sued the federal government.
For instance, the Shawnee Tribe
in Oklahoma and the Miccosukee
Tribe of Indians in Florida received
the minimum $100,000 because
Housing & Urban Development
data said they had enrollment to-
tals of zero.
The Grand Ronde Tribe, as well
as the other eight federally rec-
ognized Tribes in Oregon, fared
well under the CARES Act. Grand
Ronde received more than $45
million and used a considerable
portion of it to fund coronavirus
relief payments to adult Tribal
members who received a combined
eight payments that totaled $4,400
in 2020.
So far, the Grand Ronde Tribe
has not announced any plans on
how it will spend American Rescue
Plan funds once they are received.
The $1.9 trillion American Res-
cue Plan was signed into law by
President Joseph Biden on March
11, 2021. 
Includes information from
Indian Country Today.
Contributed photos
The Natural Resources Department held a field day during which Tribal
and community youth earned Hunter’s Safety certificates on Saturday,
May 1. The class was hosted by the Parks and Recreation Program and
was taught by five instructors from the Polk County area. Eighteen
certificates were issued.