General Council briefed on Natural Resources Department

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Natural Resources Department Manager Colby Drake briefed the membership on his departments accomplishments and future goals during the Sunday, Feb. 1, General Council meeting, held at Hilton Garden Inn Clackamas Portland.

“It’s good to be here and to see everyone,” he said. “I think that a common theme you’ll see in my presentation is that there’s a lot of cross collaboration among different programs within the Natural Resources Department. It’s awesome to see our teams work together.”

Natural Resources programs include Timber Resources, Parks and Recreation, Fish and Wildlife, Fire Management and Protection, and the Native Plant Nursery.

Drake noted that Natural Resources continues to grow its programs and have increased staff from 24 to 34 employees since 2015.  Fulltime employees do not include the seasonal youth crew or firefighters, which can bolster the department to more than 100 employees in the summer.

“This is a lot to manage with multiple department and program managers,” he said. “We’ve been growing quite a bit.”

Highlights include:

Timber Resources: The 10-year Natural Resource Management Plan has been completed and is currently implemented on all NRD managed lands. Additionally, the program has completed hiring of all new staff due to long-term employees retiring and the program has been relocated to a house on the Uyxat Powwow Grounds.

“It’s working out really well and this is helping us to move people around,” Drake said. “Natural Resources is kind of outgrowing the building itself so this works out really well for us. We have our staff, we have our team and things are moving forward.”  

Parks and Recreation: Big Buck Campground is now open for reservations. It is an online reservation system. Non-Tribal members pay a daily use fee and Tribal members do not pay a fee. Another area that the program has worked on during the past year includes the Nature Playground on the Tribal campus across the street from the Elders Activity Center. Additionally, Parks and Recreation works with is the summer youth crew.

“This is one of those programs that really creates a lot of opportunity,” Drake said. “They can work on the youth crew, build trails, work on team building and they can transition right into our fire program (at 18 or older).”

Fish and Wildlife: The program coordinates ceremonial fishing, administers the Tribal hunting program and manages the annual fish distribution program, along with other opportunities for wild game. 

“This last year, we were able to distribute 17,500 pounds of protein and not just fish,” Drake said. “We have elk, dear, sometimes bear, we have programs with OSP if there is poaching or roadkill, we can access and process that and have it available. Also, we had a day where ODFW had whole, round fish available at one of the hatcheries. On that day, we were able to give out over 1,000 pounds of fish.”

Fish and Wildlife manages the hunting program, which includes the Tribe’s memorandum of understanding with the state of Oregon for expanded hunting, fishing and gathering rights beyond the reservation boundaries.

The ODFW Commission approved the MOA with Grand Ronde in 2023, which expanded the cultural hunting, fishing and gathering area from the 1,300-square-mile Trask Unit to more than 11,000 square miles. The agreement is limited to subsistence and ceremonial harvest. In July 2025, the commission voted to accept a petition filed by four Tribes requesting to amend or repeal the MOA. However, that decision will have no effect on the 2026 hunting and fishing program, Drake said.

“There were a lot of concerns it could impact the 2026 season, but there are no impacts and we are moving forward with everything we’ve planned,” he said. “I’m really excited and proud about some of the opportunities we are able to offer our membership and it’s something we’ve never been able to do before. We’re doing it and that’s something that’s really cool.”

Drake noted that the 2026 program will greatly expand the season and bag limits in some areas and Natural Resources is planning to release a hunting and fishing program synopsis in late March with a hunter education meeting being held before Wednesday, April 1, when the spring bear season begins.

On the Tribal conservation properties, Fish and Wildlife has been able to secure more than $4.3 million in grants and has reforested 225 acres, restored 750 acres, replaced two large fish passage barriers and reconnected floodplains by removing three barriers.

There are more than 5,000 acres of conservation and restoration properties. In 2026, some will be open to ceremonial hunting. For information on accessing the properties, contact naturalresources@grandronde.org.

Fire Management and Protection: The purpose of the program is to carry on the Tribal tradition of natural resources stewardship through minimizing damage to natural resources cause by wildlife and other events, while providing for firefighter and public safety. Additionally, the program aims to maintain forest health and future productivity through the use of silviculture, prescribed fire, Tribal ecological knowledge and the best available science, Drake said.

“We’re a nationally available (fire) program and we currently have two fire trucks back in North Carolina right now and we’ll have staff going back there and work with the Cherokee nation and help them do prescribed fire and get their fire program running,” he said. “In my opinion, Grand Ronde is a leader when it comes to wildland fire. It’s something I’m really proud of.”

Native Plant Nursery: The Native Plant Nursery was established in 2014 and has become one of the department’s signature programs, according to Drake.

It was established to increase the availability of culturally significant plant materials for both restoration and cultural activities. There are 45 species total. Plant distribution throughout the Tribe’s ceded lands has included 86 combined sales and plant donations, with 59 entities in 41 locations that have received plant materials in 17 municipalities. Lastly, 58% of the distribution stayed within the Grand Ronde community.   

After the presentation, Drake took seven questions and comments from the audience.

“Thank you, Colby, that was absolutely amazing and you guys are doing great,” Tribal Council member Matt Haller said. “Going back to the MOA…It’s our job as individual Tribal members to have increased stewardship. One Tribal member’s decision could affect how we look as a Tribe for the entire MOA. With that, I just encourage you guys, don’t be prideful, if you’re questioning something, call NRD and say, ‘Hey, I really want to know what these details are.’ I just want to say it’s so important to stay within approved aeras, time frames and bag limits.”

In other action, Tribal Council set the time and date for the next General Council meeting. It will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 1, in Tribal Council Chambers and via Zoom.

Door prize winners included Valerie Alexander, Kathie Levine and Dallas Archuleta, $100; and Chris Bailey, Simone Auger, Mike Wilson, Dominik Williams and Tracy Cooney, $50.

To watch the entire meeting, visit www.grandronde.org and click on the Videos tab.