Tribal Council adds 20 more names to Restoration Roll

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council continued adding Tribal members to the Restoration Roll by approving 20 new names during its Wednesday, May 19, meeting.

The 20 names brings the number of Tribal members who have been added to the historically important roll since 2019 to 421. Tribal Council added 204 names in 2019, 127 names in 2020 and has now added 90 names this year.

The Restoration Roll was the first roll compiled of Grand Ronde Tribal members after Nov. 22, 1983, and included 1,101 names. 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 20 new names now move forward to the Department of the Interior for approval.

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved two agreements with the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board that will support watershed health on two of the Tribe’s Marion County conservation properties. One agreement will bring the Tribe a maximum of $276,125 to replace undersized culverts with a bridge on Dieckman Creek on the Chahalpam property. The second agreement will bring the Tribe a maximum $31,850 to develop a habitat restoration alternatives analysis at Chankawan.
• Approved extending the contract of Tribal Court Chief Judge Cynthia Kaufman Noble for two years through June 2023. Noble has been chief judge since July 2019 and her contract was set to expire at the end of June.
• Set June 11 as the next per capita payment date.
• Approved a maximum $188,745 conceptual design contract with GBD Architects Inc. of Portland. The firm was hired by the Tribe in June 2020 to begin master planning the 23-acre Blue Heron Paper Mill site in Oregon City that the Tribe purchased in August 2019. GBD was hired to work with Tribal Council and staff to prepare options for the property’s use. The new contract will continue that work.
• Approved an application to the Oregon Community Fund that would help fund the K-12 Summer Learning Project. The current project budget is $125,575 and the maximum grant is $200,000.
• Approved an application the Department of Homeland Security for a Tribal Homeland Security Grant that would help pay the salaries of two emergency preparedness staff members for three years, as well as fund training, exercises and equipment expenses.
• Approved a purchase and sale agreement for the Tribe to purchase the 25.62-acre Risseeuw 3 property that is immediately south of the Tribe’s Risseeuw 2 property at the end of McPherson Road in Grand Ronde.
• Approved agreements with Portland General Electric and Northwest Natural Gas to provide utility service to the new Procurement and Technology building currently under construction on the west side of Grand Ronde Road. The agreements are required by the Bureau of Indian Affairs since the building is being constructed on Reservation land.
• Approved accepting a grant not to exceed $21,000 from the Oregon Youth Corps to help fund the Natural Resources Department’s annual summer youth crew program. The Tribe has received the grant for more than 20 years. The youth crew will hire 18 youth and three crew leaders this year.
• Approved a memorandum of agreement with the Indian Health Service that will help fund construction of water and wastewater infrastructure for the proposed Tribal home ownership construction site. The agreement would bring the Tribe $607,000 in federal funding.
• Approved the enrollment of one infant into the Tribe because he or she meets the requirements outlined in the Tribal Constitution and Enrollment Ordinance.

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