New department makes debut at General Council meeting

Barely a month old, the new Tribal Land and Culture Department made its debut at the Sunday, April 7, General Council meeting held in the Tribal Community Center in Grand Ronde.

The 15-person department was created during the recent Tribal re-organization, merging the Land Management and Cultural Resources departments.

The new department is headed by Jan Michael Looking Wolf Reibach, who formerly was in charge of Land Management.

"The Tribe has been working really hard to increase our efficiencies," Reibach said. "There's been a strong effort to put things together in a good way to support each other's programs, so now we have this department with a strong emphasis on land and culture."

The new department's offices are located on the second floor of the Education Building and in the former Grand Ronde Middle School building, which the Tribe purchased in 2011.

Reibach said the Land and Culture Department is broken down into five programs -- Tribal Realty, Cultural Protection, Ceded Lands, Education and Outreach, and Cultural Exhibits and Archives.

"The mission of the Land and Culture Department is to identify, protect, preserve, restore, procure and manage the Tribe's ancestral lands, cultural places, cultural collections and practices throughout the Tribe's ceded lands and areas of interest," Reibach said in reading the department's collective mission.

"The vision of the Land and Culture Department is to support the Tribe in its sovereignty, becoming owner, co-manager and steward of natural and cultural resources within its ceded lands and other areas of interest, and ensuring that our cultural practices are preserved."

He then introduced the managers of each program, who made presentations regarding their specific areas.

Reibach, who is in charge of Tribal Realty as well as the department, said that the Tribe currently owns more than 12,822 acres as it continues to rebound from Termination. Of that land, 10,052 acres is reservation forest land and 1,418 is fee land.

Reibach said the Grand Ronde Tribe holds the national record for a trust conversion - 110 days from Bureau of Indian Affairs receipt of the application. The average time in the Northwest is more than four years, he added.

Ceded Lands Program Manager Michael Karnosh said his program, which includes Environmental Resource Specialist Brandy Humphreys, is working on a Ceded Lands Plan that will be completed by Nov. 22, the 30^th anniversary of the Tribe's Restoration.

"It will be comprehensive," Karnosh said, and include the Tribe's natural and cultural resources. "We will incorporate input from Tribal Council, Tribal members and staff. Tribal member input will be solicited in writing. We also will have a series of public scoping meetings to receive input from the Tribal membership."

Ceded Lands also is working on land acquisitions, such as the 97-acre Rattlesnake Butte site outside of Junction City and the 338-acre Chahalpam site near Stayton on the North Santiam River. Both conservation properties are being acquired with Bonneville Power Administration funds under its Willamette Mitigation Program.

The Tribe will manage both properties for habitat enhancement using Bonneville Power funding, Karnosh said.

Ceded Lands also works on government-to-government consultations with 65 active projects, Karnosh said. It also works on agency outreach, such as training and teaching federal employees about Native culture. For instance, he said, the Tribe was paid to recently host Bonneville Power Administration staff members and teach them about Grand Ronde cultural practices, such as flint-knapping.

Cultural Protection Program Manager Eirik Thorsgard, who also is the Tribe's Historic Preservation Officer, said his program is working on several projects, including a cultural resource survey of the original reservation, drafting a cultural resources ordinance, contracting for cultural resource work, research projects and a Tribal historic management plan.

Cultural Protection also includes Tribal Archaeologist Briece Edwards, Cultural Protection Specialist David Harrelson and Compliance Technician Melisa Chandler.

Cultural Exhibits and Archives Manager David Lewis, who also is the Tribe's historian, said his goal is for the program to become the center for research and information about the Grand Ronde Tribe.

"The program envisions the Tribe appropriately as the primary center of research and interpretation about the Tribe's history and culture," Lewis said.

Cultural Exhibits and Archives also includes Cultural Interpretive Specialist Julie Brown and Cultural Collection Specialist Veronica Montano.

Lewis said the program is completing Tribal historic signs in Salem, Dallas and Ashland, and working on signs for Oregon City and Tualatin.

Kathy Cole, manager of the Education and Outreach Program, said the program will manage cultural education for Tribal and community members, facilitate cultural events and ceremonies, support and help coordinate cultural presentations at Tribal and public events, serve as a point of contact for Tribal and community members regarding cultural-related inquiries, and promote Tribal culture through articles, publications and other media.

"The presentations through this program help the Tribe successfully communicate its sovereignty and identity to other governments and groups," Cole said.

Education and Outreach includes Cultural Education Specialist Brian Krehbiel and Cultural Outreach Specialist Bobby Mercier.

Flicka Lucero is the department's secretary. Eleven of the department's 15 employees are Tribal members, Reibach said.

Betty Bly, acting chair of the Culture Committee, also made a presentation about how the committee works with the Land and Culture Department and Tribal Council to preserve and protect ancestral culture and awareness for all Tribal members. The committee meets the first Wednesday of the month in the Land and Culture conference room on the second floor of the Education Building.

Reibach closed the presentation by reading a list of 12 accomplishments since the March 4 departmental launch and vowing that the Land and Culture Department will strive to support cultural efforts throughout the Tribe.

He emphasized a "Circle of Culture" PowerPoint slide that had "CTGR Culture" in the middle surrounded by smaller circles representing Elders, children, other departments and committees, Tribal families, the Culture Committee, Tribal Council, the Land and Culture Department, community and culture groups, and the Portland office and other extension offices.

"There is an importance in knowing our place and supporting others in the circle that is our Tribal culture," the slide said.

"We have cultural leaders throughout this Tribe and our role in the Land and Culture Department is to support them by getting them the information that they need for their projects," Reibach said. "One goal of this department is to provide both support and leadership in all cultural things."

Reibach then listed 14 goals for the new department, including producing cultural class videos for Tribal members who cannot access educational sessions in Grand Ronde, Portland or Eugene.

Merging of the two departments received a glowing endorsement from Lewis, who used to be manager of the Cultural Resources Department.

"I think that the arrangement that we have today, where Land and Culture are working together, is a powerful arrangement that will take us into the future," he said. "I think that Jan Michael Reibach turned out to be an excellent and talented manager, and somebody who is well aware of culture. We really need that; we need a supervisor who understands culture so that we can move forward."

In other action, Grand Ronde Royalty opened the General Council meeting with a presentation of "The Lord's Prayer." Royalty participating included Kiana Leno, Iyana Holmes, Amaryssa and Amelia Mooney, Madison Ross, Elizabeth Watson-Croy and Kaleigha Simi.

Tammy Cook and Leslie Riggs made a presentation about the Tribal Education Committee, which meets the first Monday of the month in the Tribal Education Building.

"We want every Tribal member to achieve his or her goals," Cook said about the committee's work.

The next General Council meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 5, at the Valley River Inn in Eugene. It is the final meeting before the traditional summer break.

Dan Johnson, Makai Simmons and Terry Gray won the $50 door prizes and Veronica Gaston won the $100 door prize. In addition, jewelry items donated by Tribal Council member Jon A. George and Gaston were raffled off.