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; prayer Isabelle and Sophia Grout; flute Donn Grishaber; video and music Carter Tollis; Shari for her loving care at his most needed time; and Jo Ann Empey for calming my soul. Donna Stronach Roll No. 12 Dear Smoke Signals : I attended the virtual General Council meeting on Dec. 6, 2020, and was impressed and powerfully moved by the presentation from Spirit Mountain Community Fund. SMCF provides small and large competitive grants to nonprofit organizations as a philanthropic investment in communities …

will feature six classrooms. Four classrooms are planned for construction in 2021 and two older grade classrooms are planned for future construction. Currently, the Tribe has enough funds to pay for the two planned blended K-4 classrooms through a $500,000 federal grant and has raised more than 50 percent of the funds needed for two preschool classrooms and has arranged funding for most of the balance. However, there are not sufficient funds to pay for the design of the two older grade classrooms …

another turtle near the Siletz River in the 1990s and had them as pets until her death. Donna liked camping, fishing and especially loved the ocean, walking the beach most days and beachcombing. She lived in the small towns of St. Helens, Seaside, Newport, a farm in Toledo, an RV on the Siletz River and Newport once again before returning to Portland in 2001 when her father took ill. Donna met her birth mother in June 1997 and began exchanging letters on a regular basis. She was preceded …

advised to quarantine because of potential exposure. Most Grand Ronde Tribal students attend Willamina schools. Willamina schools returned to remote virtual learning on Tuesday, April 20, through at least Tuesday, April 27. The Tribe will host a a Facebook Live event at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 21, to update employees and the community about the latest developments surrounding COVID-19. COVID-19 cases have been steadily increasing in Oregon over the last week, according to the Oregon Health Authority …

chosen for funding provided proposals that met the criteria to deliver services to communities most affected by substance abuse disorders and the war on drugs, including communities of color and Tribal communities. “We are using the funds to support our efforts to deliver services focused on substance use disorder,” said Health Services Executive Director Kelly Rowe. The funds will help pay for five peer support counselors, a transitional housing manufactured home for men, a van and car …

Affairs soon afterward and never stopped devoting his time to bettering the way of life for Native Americans. Recently honored for his years of service to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Speaks’ career included serving as a teacher, supervisor, manager, agency superintendent, area director and most recently as the director of the BIA’s Northwest Regional Office in Oregon, which oversees 15 agencies that serve 45 federally recognized Tribes. His career also involved his service as acting director …

to the ideology many in America believed called “manifest destiny.” As a tactic to eradicate the Natives, the United States devised a plan of eliminating their most important resource. By the end of the 1800s, almost no bison were left and Native people were forcefully moved onto Reservations. In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established and the remaining bison roamed the park as a refuge. “The same U.S. government that had driven the animal to near extinction in the first place now …

in September 2021 expressing concern about water quality within the state. In the letter, the Tribes requested Brown create a Tribe-Agency Water Vision Task Force that would “fully coordinate the vision and goals of a holistic water vision.” “This is the Tribes really standing up and signaling that we see how dire the challenges to our waters and our fisheries are,” George said. “We don’t see that reflected in most of the state dialogue. People are interested in other things. They’re not interested …

rates ever recorded. Aiyana George is heard sharing excitement for her dad’s catch because he doesn’t always get fish. “I hope there’s fish though, when she gets older,” Samuel George says about his daughter. “I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to fish.” The video attributes the decline in the fish population to rising water temperatures and, most significantly, dams built along the Columbia River. This has put the burden of sustaining salmon in the Columbia River on the shoulder …

, regularly attracts 400 to 500 attendees. Most importantly, organizers want people to know the Round Dance is a ceremony first and foremost. “It’s a whole ceremony in itself, it’s not just a bunch of people coming together and singing,” Mercier said in a 2016 Smoke Signals story about the Round Dance. “For us here, we want to do it right. It also ties back to other ceremonies like the Ghost Dance; that’s how powerful that Round Dance is.” Mercier was responsible for starting the Round Dance tradition …