Twenty-five more names added to the Restoration Roll

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council continued adding Tribal member names to the Restoration Roll by approving 25 new names during its Wednesday, Feb. 24, meeting.

The 25 names brings the number of Tribal members who have been added to the historically important roll since 2019 to 377. Tribal Council added 204 names in 2019, 127 names in 2020 and had previously added 21 names this year.

The Restoration Roll was the first roll compiled of Grand Ronde Tribal members after Nov. 22, 1983. However, because the membership had become so dispersed during the 29 years after 1954’s Termination, all those who should have been included could not be identified at the time or were unaware that they should have had their names on the roll.

The current process, which requires Tribal members apply to Member Services for addition to the Restoration Roll, allows a Tribal member who was living on Aug. 13, 1954 – date of congressional approval of the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act -- and born to a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde to be added.

In November 2018, Tribal Council approved a resolution that established criteria for consistently applying the phrase “entitled to be on the membership roll of the Tribe on Aug. 13, 1954” as meaning that the person was entitled to be on the roll if that person was alive on that date and born to a Tribal member.

The 25 new names now move forward to the Department of the Interior for approval.

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved a Friday, March 12, per capita distribution date. The payment amount will not be known until early March after Spirit Mountain Casino reports its proceeds for the quarter, Finance Officer Chris Leno said. Tribal Council member Steve Bobb Sr. said during the Tuesday, Feb. 23, Legislative Action Committee meeting that Spirit Mountain Casino had a record-breaking January and continues to do well despite the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Approved the first supplemental budget for 2021. The $350,000 appropriation will fund a 2 percent cost-of-living increase for the Elders’ pension program and will be funded by the Elders’ pension endowment. The increase will be retroactive to January, Leno said;
• Approved three grant applications to the Oregon Department of Transportation that will fund transit service between Grand Ronde and Salem and Grand Ronde and McMinnville. The three grants total approximately $333,000 for the upcoming biennium;
• Approved installing an access gate at the Tribal conservation property Chahalpam in Marion County to limit and discourage trespassers and combat illegal dumping at the site. The Tribe will have to pay $2,500 to apply to the county to vacate Dieckman Lane Southeast and it will cost about the same amount to install the gate, said Tribal Fish & Wildlife Program Manager Kelly Dirksen. He added that two nearby property owners have signed off on the vacation effort;
• And approved one blood quantum correction.

Tribal Council also approved the agenda for the 11 a.m. Sunday, March 7, General Council meeting that will include a presentation from the Tribal Lands Department. The meeting will be held via the Zoom conferencing program.

Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris Mercier also announced that the Tribe’s new Small Loan Program will start accepting applications on Monday, March 8. Tribal members will be able to borrow up to $1,000 from the Tribe and have two years to pay the loan back.

To watch the entire meeting, visit the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and click on the Government tab and then Videos.