Tribal Council adds 25 more names to Restoration Roll

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council continued adding members to the Restoration Roll by approving 25 new names during its Wednesday, Aug. 11, meeting, which marked the first time it has met at 4 p.m. since March 2020.

The 25 names brings the number of Tribal members who have been added to the historically important roll since 2019 to 446. Tribal Council added 204 names in 2019, 127 names in 2020 and has now added 115 names this year.

The Restoration Roll was the first roll compiled of Grand Ronde Tribal members after Nov. 22, 1983, and included 1,101 names. However, because the membership had become so dispersed during the 29 years after 1954’s Termination, all those who should have been included could not be identified at the time or were unaware that they should have had their names on the roll.

The current process, which requires Tribal members apply to Member Services for addition to the Restoration Roll, allows a Tribal member who was living on Aug. 13, 1954 – date of congressional approval of the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act -- and born to a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde to be added.

In November 2018, Tribal Council approved a resolution that established criteria for consistently applying the phrase “entitled to be on the membership roll of the Tribe on Aug. 13, 1954” as meaning that the person was entitled to be on the roll if that person was alive on that date and born to a Tribal member.

The 25 names now move forward to the Department of the Interior for approval.

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Designated Sept. 15 as the next per capita payment day;
• Approved a fourth supplemental budget for 2021, allocating an additional $300,000 in gaming dividend to the popular Small Loan Program. The first $100,000 allocation to the program, which allows Tribal members to borrow up to a $1,000 with two years to pay it back, was depleted within six weeks after it started in early March. The first supplemental budget of 2021 funded a cost-of-living increase for the Elders’ pension program, the second allowed the Natural Resources Department to purchase a new 500-gallon wildland fire engine and the third allowed the Tribe to purchase properties in Grand Ronde and Wood Village;
• Approved the Integrated Pest Management Plan as presented by the Natural Resources Department. The plan is a systematic way of addressing invasive plant species issues and provides a step-by-step process to evaluate the best management practices to control them by taking into account site conditions, weather, the target species, etc.;
• Approved the enrollment of three infants into the Tribe because they meet the requirements outlined in the Enrollment Ordinance and the Tribal Constitution;
• Approved management plans for the Ahsney and Noble Oaks conservation properties that the Tribe acquired through the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program. Fish & Wildlife Program Manager Kelly Dirksen said that the Bonneville Power Administration, which funds the program, has already approved the two plans. The Tribe acquired the 61-acre Ahsney property in Polk County and the 667-acre Noble Oaks property outside of Willamina in 2019. In addition, Tribal Council OK’d a Noble Oaks Partnership Program with the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board;
• Approved RJS Construction, a Native-owned business out of Yakima, Wash., to begin construction of infrastructure and utilities for the Tribe’s home ownership development project on the 86.5-acre Rink 2 property in Grand Ronde. Tribal Council also approved a contract with Willamette Valley Excavating Inc. of Turner, Ore., to construct infrastructure and utilities to support the Creekside Elder Housing development that will be built at the southwest corner of Grand Ronde and Hebo roads;
• And approved a construction contract to replace a culvert on BIA Route 304 in the Tribal forestlands north of Grand Ronde. Public Works Manager John Mercier said the new bottomless culvert will allow for better fish passage on Yoncalla Creek.

Also included in the Aug. 11 Tribal Council packet were two approved authorizations to proceed that will allow the Information Systems Department to work with Native Networks to submit a grant application to fund installing a fiber optic network on the Reservation where feasible and gives Health Services Executive Director Kelly Rowe permission not to renew the adult foster homes’  license with the Oregon Department of Human Services because of the limitations and barriers the state places on residency in the program.

To watch the entire meeting, visit the Tribal government website at www.grandronde.org and click on the Government tab and then Videos.