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-emerged from behind a week-long curtain of smoke and haze on Tuesday morning. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality still registered Grand Ronde air as "very unhealthy" with a 257 pollutant rating, which is a decrease from the "hazardous" rating of 499 only 24 hours earlier. A "very unhealthy" rating means everyone should reduce their outdoor activities and people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should avoid outdoor physical activities. Everyone else should …

within the department, various projects and future goals. “I’m very excited for the opportunity to represent the Natural Resources Department,” Drake said. “We have six different programs within the department which includes an administrative team that keeps our department together. It’s been a great opportunity to work with them.” Drake served as interim manager after former manager Mike Wilson retired in January 2021 and was officially named to the post eight months later. Natural Resources …

will no longer be allowed in the casino except in designated areas. “Our plan is to stay nonsmoking so the need for separate table games in a nonsmoking area has been reduced,” Spirit Mountain Casino General Manager Bruce Thomas said. “We will redesign the area and make it into a $5 (table) to go after five dollar business that is very popular.” Additionally, the Stadium Bar, which currently has one serving window is being expanded to three windows, tripling its food and beverage service area …

and the first Tribally operated facility of its kind in Oregon. It opened to the public in 2021 and by early 2022 it had served more than 200 clients. Plans are underway to open a second clinic in Portland. Great Circle Recovery worked with Forest River RV of Dallas to redesign the inside, Worth said, as building an opioid treatment program inside a mobile unit is a very new concept overall. “I know how to build, design and operate [opioid treatment programs], but wanted to work with experts of RV …

not provide the Conservation District with biographical or profile information. McClary added that she has received support from her Natural Resources Department colleagues, some of whom have offered to place campaign signs in their yards, and from her husband, who won two terms on the Grand Ronde Tribal Council. “He’s very supportive,” McClary says. “He’s my campaign manager. He’s very excited to be back in the political scene.” In addition, former Natural Resources Department Manager Michael …

the community through difficult times, such as ice and snow storms, threatened flooding, the nearby wildfires that occurred in the summer of 2020 and COVID-19. “He has done a hard job for this Tribe,” Gleason-Shepek said. “Sometimes the things that he has had to do are very difficult. He’s had to fire Tribal members. He’s had to tell Tribal members ‘no.’ He has had to trespass Tribal members. Those are all very hard things to do, but that’s the job and he does it. … I think those of us that know Dave …

for its employee and Tribal member health care, and has selected Wisconsin-based Forest County Potawatomi as the new vendor. The change will be effective July 1. The process has been going on for nearly two years, dating back to when Shasta began having backlogged claims, some of which were going to collections for nonpayment. “It’s been a long haul and I’m very pleased we’re at this point now,” Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said. “All of the accommodations demonstrated by (Forest …

Press Ordinance, address attempts to interfere with the ordinance (such as blocking access for reporters or censorship in the stories published) and helps create a path for staff to cover stories for the membership that are timely, factual and deemed newsworthy to Tribal members. Please know that we are very intentional about touting the adoption of the Independent Tribal Free Press Ordinance because it is something we should be proud of. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is only one …

an inventory of current practices and has been putting out surveys to assess member preferences. Restoration Ecologist/FW Policy Analyst Lindsay McClary, who oversees Natural Resources’ work on conservation lands, said that so far very few people have filled it out. It remains available in the print and PDF editions of Smoke Signals via a QR code and online, at weblink.grandronde.org/Forms/ReducingToxicWater and will be open until Tuesday, Dec. 31. The Tribe’s Planning and Grants departments worked …

to Oregon Tribes. “For Grand Ronde, we are not affected (directly),” she said. “There could be the potential, if there are new initiatives or new funds made available by Congress, there could be delays (in receiving the funds), because the Indian Health Service parcels out the funds, so if administrative staff is very small, there could be significant delays.” In addition, she said, funding cuts at the IHS headquarters in Maryland could prevent the agency from compiling its annual reports …