General Council briefed on Cultural Resources

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals staff writer

Cultural Resources Department Manager David Harrelson updated Tribal members on the department’s various programs and accomplishments during a Sunday, March 6, General Council meeting held via the Zoom video conferencing application.

During the approximately 50-minute presentation, Harrelson discussed the different programs within the department, various projects and future plans.

“It’s good to revisit and take the time to look at Cultural Resources,” Harrelson said. “The mission of our department is to support a healthy community by facilitating dialogue, maintaining continuity and providing protection of Tribal lifeways for the benefit of future generations.”

Cultural Resources programs include cultural collections, interpretation, visitor services, historical preservation, archeology and research, and cultural protection. The Tribal Historic Preservation Office and Chachalu Museum & Cultural Center are also under the umbrella of the department.

Some of the department’s highlights include:

• Cultural Resources currently has 24 full-time employees with five vacant positions open for an archeologist, linguist, cultural center assistant, administrative specialist and exhibits coordinator. Tribal member and longtime employee Travis Stewart was named Chachalu manager after Julie Brown retired in 2021.
• After mostly being shuttered since March 2020, Chachalu has re-opened to the public. Call 503-879-2226 before visiting. There are also plans to reboot the popular AV Club programming, which aims to share the Tribe’s history with community members and employees by showing videos and photos from the archives on a regular basis.
• Cultural Resources will be launching the chachalu.org site this year, dedicated to digital exhibits and cataloged materials of what the Tribe has in its cultural collections so that it is more broadly accessible, as well as feature programming through the research library.
• Visitor services is working on interpretive training which includes future docent opportunities for community members, so they can be an active part of programming that is happening.
• The Historic Preservation Office has seen a dramatic increase of consultation requests when business went remote in the pandemic. In 2021, there were more than 8,000 notifications of projects for review, which included requests from 57 federal agencies and 32 state agencies. Every single inquiry has to be put into a priority list and triaged, no matter how complicated or simple the project.
• The historic wildfires in 2020 and 2021 have required fire recovery initiatives and efforts after thousands of acres of Tribal homelands burned, exposing material culture. Tribal employees have been consulting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as private landowners, to protect and document new cultural sites that weren’t visible before.
• In partnership with the Tribe’s legal department and Tribal lobbyist Justin Martin, Cultural Resources crafted a memorandum of understanding with city of Salem, which consulted with the Tribe when its new police station was built and when renovations were done at South Salem High School, which are both located in historically important Kalapuyan areas.
• A linguist and archeologist will be hired this spring to help with the department’s busy summer season.
• Cultural Resources administration worked on art installations with the Portland Monuments and Memorials project. The department assembled staff to brainstorm ideas for good Indigenous monuments for the city. Two were featured in an exhibit called “Prototypes” in a Pearl District gallery. “First Fish Herons” is being developed and will be installed at Milwaukie Bay Park in the next few years.
• The Champinefu webinar series has proven popular during the pandemic. The Tribe proposes topics that it feels would be of value to the citizens of Corvallis. When Tribal staff are presenters, a donation to Chachalu is made in lieu of payment. This year’s topics included “Fire Since Time Immemorial,” “Trees & Forests of Marys Peak” and “Oregon’s Water.” All are available on YouTube. Thus far, more than 4,000 people have viewed the videos.
• The new Salem Amphitheater at Riverfront Park’s design was inspired from Kalapuyan baskets. Harrelson worked with an artist to create a Kalapuya seasonal round of plants and food that were significant to Grand Ronde ancestors and it is located at the amphitheater on a large metal dedication plaque.
• The Hillsboro School District wanted to name a new school with a Kalapuyan name. The elementary school was named Atfalati Ridge and includes Kalapuyan quotes throughout the school. Additionally, murals were developed with a Tribal artist.

After the presentation, Harrelson took 12 questions and comments from the audience.

 “This is very important work you are doing for the Tribe,” Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said. “This is a very scholarly area that many Tribal members have moved forward to advance their education and careers. I believe it’s because of things that happened to our people and they wanted to know and explore areas that aren’t prominent in history. I applaud all of our members who have embarked upon the learning that has taken place today. Thank you for all that you do and the staff that work there.”   

In other action, it was announced that the next General Council meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 3, with a report on capital improvement projects. The hybrid meeting will be held in the Tribal gym with limited in-person seating.

After the General Council meeting adjourned, a community input session was held to consider items for potential advisory votes in this September’s Tribal Council election. Those who were unable to attend but want to make suggestions can do so by visiting
www.surveymonkey.com/r/K9GC2W3.

Door prize winners were Val Alexander, Bill Stephens, Shannon Stanton, Shawn Haggerty and Lorena Rivera, $50 each; and Adrainne Llaneza, Pamela Rennert and Martha Jones, $100 each.

The meeting can be viewed in its entirety by visiting the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and clicking on the Government tab and then Videos.