Tribal Council approves community fire assistance grant application

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council had a much shorter agenda than it has had lately at its Wednesday, Aug. 26, meeting, with only five action items. One of those was approving the Tribe’s application to the Bureau of Land Management Fuels Management and Community Fire Assistance grant for up to $1.2 million.

If awarded, the funds would be used to purchase equipment for developing the Tribal Natural Resources Department’s hazardous fuels reduction branch within its fire management program.

“The equipment will be used to complete the fuel reduction and wildlife safety projects on Tribal lands,” Tribal Grants Manager Wendy Sparks said during a Tuesday, Aug. 25, Legislative Action Committee meeting. “We’re pivoting this application to the fuels management and fire assistance program because it’s a much better fit and I believe we have a really strong chance of getting this funded. There’s no FTEs (full time employees), no match and we can’t take indirect (costs) because we’re just buying tons of equipment.”

Currently, staff within NRD are working to develop this branch, which will focus on fuel reduction and projects that lessen wildfire risks on Tribal lands, with an emphasis on the reservation’s forest, and it will use both mechanical treatments and prescribed fire.

In other news, Tribal Council:

• Approved an amendment to the Oregon Department of Energy Community Renewable Energy Program to use the $1 million in awarded funds for the Grand Ronde Fire Station community emergency center instead of toward construction costs for solar and microgrid components for the resident resilience center project, as it has been put on hold after federal funding was rescinded last year;
• Approved reappointing Pat Davis, Robert Miller and Pat Paul to two-year terms on the Tribal Court of Appeals and appointing Karen Costello as an associate judge on the Tribal Court for a two-year term, all with effective dates of Sept. 10;
• And approved enrolling three infants and seven non-infants into the Tribe because they meet the enrollment requirements in the Tribal Constitution and Enrollment Ordinance.

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