Yesteryears - Sept. 1, 2025

2020 — As the economic fallout from the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic dragged into fall, Tribal Council approved another round of payments to help adult Tribal members manage, using its funding from the CARES Act. The approximately 4,500 adult Tribal members were approved to receive three payments of $600 each month, from September through November.

2015 — The Willamina Creek Fire, which burned some 230 acres of heavily timbered land in Yamhill County, 4.8 miles from the northeast corner of the Grand Reservation boundary, prompted the Tribe to activate its Emergency Operations Team. Residents of four cabins along East Creek Road were required to evacuate. While firefighters were battling that blaze, smoke from large fires in eastern Oregon and Washington blanketed the Willamette Valley, leaving Grand Ronde cloaked in haze. The Elders Activity Center was designated as an emergency shelter for Tribal members who needed a place to escape from breathing the smoke.

2010 — U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader hired Tribal member Stacia Martin, winner of the 2009-10 Mark O. Hatfield Fellowship, as his communications director. The Spirit Mountain Community Fund started the Mark O. Hatfield Fellowship Program in 1997, to offer Native Americans the opportunity to learn the federal legislative system and become skilled at working within the system to meet Tribal needs.

2005 — The Tribe entered an agreement with the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department to develop the Fort Yamhill site as a new state park, with restoration of the officers’ quarters, a new entrance road and informational signage.

2000 — The Tribe was sending a social and economic community assessment survey to all Tribal members 17 and older, to create a database and help Tribal Council plan the Tribe’s future.  

1995 — In recognition of the 50^th anniversary of World War II, the annual powwow honored Tribal veterans who served in the Armed Forces, presenting each with a Pendleton blanket, and held honor dances to show respect for all veterans. Thousands of visitors attended the powwow.

1990 — The Tribe received a $275,000 block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to construct a community services building.

1985 — Tribal members were reminded to complete their health care service applications annually, to enable the Western Oregon Service Unit to keep its files up to date, and ensure the Tribe received the funding it was entitled to.

Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year increments through the pages of Smoke Signals.