FUNDS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 used to install screens to prevent fish from entering irrigation ditches.

Some other key elements in the Interior bill to support tribes in Oregon and across the country include:

• Advanced Appropriations for the Indian Health Service (IHS): The bill provides an advance appropriation of $5.22 billion in fiscal year 2025 for the IHS. Advance appropriations will improve the reliability of health care services provided by IHS to more than 2.5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives by ensuring predictable funding and protecting services from future lapses in funding due to government shutdowns and unpredictable budget years. The IHS operates health care facilities within Oregon in Warm Springs and Salem. Additionally, the bill provides $82 million for staffing newly built IHS facilities around the country.

• Tribal Programs and Services: The bill includes $11.2 billion in critical funding for tribal communities across the country, including $7.17 billion for the IHS and $243.6 million for the Indian Reservation Drinking Water Program, which addresses water infrastructure challenges like those faced by the Warm Springs community. Additionally, the bill includes $95 million for the Bureau of Indian Education, which oversees 184 schools across 23 states.

• Tribal Public Safety and Justice: The bill provides $592 million—a $12.5 million increase above the FY23 level—to support police services, special initiatives to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons cases, Tribal courts, and Detention and Corrections facilities.

• Columbia River Treaty Fishing Access Sites: The bill provides $5.5 million for Columbia River In-Lieu Treaty Sites, including an increase of $1 million for fishing sites construction, to further implement senator Merkley’s Columbia River In-Lieu and Treaty Fishing Access Sites Improvement Act.

• Columbia River Basin Restoration: The Columbia River Basin Geographic Program will receive a 17% increase to $3.5 million in the bill, the largest percentage increase of the Environmental Protection Agency geographic programs, for restoration efforts in the basin.

• Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act (FRIMA): The bill provides $5 million in funding for FRIMA, for fish passage devices, fish screens and other related features to mitigate water diversion impacts on fisheries in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, and California. FRIMA is an important tool to conserve and restore native anadromous and resident fish populations in the Pacific Northwest.

Alaska Native Tourism Association, in partnership with the National Park Service, to highlight tribal perspectives and the voices of Indigenous people living along the historic route. Most recently, Snell taught English in the Czech Republic. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Tulsa.

“I’m really thrilled to have the opportunity to be here and to learn about a tribe that’s not my own, and at the same time, contribute the best way I know how, which is to put together a quality publication,” Snell said.

As editor, Snell will oversee operations of the monthly newspaper – writing and editing local, community-focused news stories, designing and laying out the paper, selling advertisements to generate revenue, and establishing and maintaining subscriptions.

Now that the Interior bill has cleared the Appropriations Committee, it next heads to the Senate floor for a full vote before it can be conferenced with its counterpart bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The final, merged legislation must then be passed by both chambers before it is signed into law.

Federal funding comes through the FY24 Senate Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which encompasses funding for the Department of the Interior, U.S. Forest Service, and the EPA.