MISSION – Candidate petitions are available for tribal members interested in becoming a candidate for an elected leadership position, tribal election officials recently announced.
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) tribal members who wish to appear on the ballot during the November tribal election for a Board of Trustees or General Council position will be able to pick up a nominating petition on Aug. 1, said tribal Election Commission Chair Kat Brigham. The deadline to return petitions is Aug. 20.
Petition forms can be picked up at the Nixyáawii Governance Center.
Potential candidates will have until 4 p.m. on the deadline day to collect signatures from at least 50 qualified tribal member voters and return the nominating petition to a locked ballot box in the Nixyáawii Governance Center, according to the CTUIR Election Code.
The commission will then review the petitions and determine whether the potential candidate meets all requirements to be placed on the tribal general election ballot, the tribal Election Code says.
This year, tribal elections were moved up one week to Nov. 4 after the BOT voted in May to change the date to avoid holding this year’s election on Veteran’s Day - a federal holiday.
Tribal members who are eligible to vote will elect a new nine-person Board of Trustees consisting of a Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, General
Oregon Department of Fish and
July 11 to reconsider an agreement with
Grand Ronde that involved off-reservation rights and ownership rights at Willamette
ODFW rethinks pact with Grand Ronde
CHRIS AADLAND
The CUJ
OREGON CITY – Ongoing inter-tribal disputes over natural resources and access to sacred sites involving the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (Grand Ronde) intensified in July after recent state actions.
On July 11, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Commission voted to
reconsider an agreement with the Grand Ronde that involved expanding its off-reservation hunting, fishing and gathering rights, as well as access and ownership rights at Willamette Falls near Portland.
CTUIR and other tribes have argued the agreement threatened their treaty rights in ceded lands or areas of usual and accustomed hunting, fishing and gathering.
“We are concerned that the broad geographical scope of the agreement will create unnecessary
intertribal conflicts,” said CTUIR Board of Trustees (BOT) member Corinne Sams at the July 11 ODFW meeting.
State lawmakers followed the wildlife officials’ decision by awarding – despite Grand Ronde opposition –a $45 million grant to a nonprofit group spearheaded by the CTUIR and three other tribes. The grant will help fund the purchase and development of land at Willamette Falls, a culturally
MISSION – Officials with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) are lauding a bill recently passed by Oregon lawmakers that funds water projects in the Walla Walla Basin.
House Bill 5006 earmarks $2.5 million to the Oregon Water Resources Department so it can administer funding for certain water projects in the state, including several CTUIR projects.
“This funding would not have been possible without our local
legislators championing the request, so a special thanks goes out to Sen. Todd Nash, Rep. Bobby Levy and Rep. Greg Smith,” CTUIR Board of Trustees Member at Large Toby Patrick said. “We also would not have succeeded in receiving this funding if it weren’t for the support of Rep. Ken Helm and Rep. Mark Owens and the Ways & Means Committee cochairs, Sen. Kate Lieber and Rep. Tawna Sanchez.”
Anton Chiono, CTUIR Habitat Conservation Project leader, said
the tribe also appreciated help from the Walla Walla River Irrigation District, which worked with CTUIR on the funding request, the Washington Department of Ecology and Walla Walla 2050 Basin Advisory Committee members who supported the bill.
The $2.5 million will help the CTUIR implement six project types identified in the Walla Walla Water 2050 Plan, Chiono said. Those project types are:
WATER CONTINUED PAGE 6
Wildhorse Resort & Casino Annual Powwow results
the Confederated Tribes of
Falls near Portland. LEE GAVIN/CTUIR
The award is given to Sea Service veterans who distinguished themselves during service and in civilian life, embodying the Navy’s core values.
BY DANELI ATILANO
The CUJ
MISSION — Charles "Chuck" F. Sams III is set to receive the 2025 Lone Sailor Award at this year’s U.S. Navy Memorial Lone Sailor Awards Dinner on Sept. 9.
The award is presented each year to Sea Service veterans who have distinguished themselves during their service and in their civilian life, embodying the Navy’s core values of honor, courage, and commitment.
He served in the Navy for four years as an Intelligence Specialist with Attack Squadron 155, the Joint Intelligence Center Pacific Command, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Following his service, Sams had a 35-year career in public service and conservation.
In January, as Sams was leaving his position as National Park Service Director, he was notified of his selection by Vice Admiral John B. Nowell Jr., President and CEO of the U.S. Navy Memorial.
“I am deeply honored to have been chosen,” said Sams.
The award marks Sams’ second time making history and paving the way for future generations. He was the first Native American to serve as director of the National Park Service, and now the first Native American to receive the Lone Sailor Award.
“I was surprised to learn that I am the first Native American to receive this award. Natives serve in the armed services of the United States at surprising greater number per capita compared to other ethnicities,” said Sams. “I come from a long line of service members.”
His father, the late Chuck Sams Jr., served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. His grandfather, the late Chuck Sams, served in the U.S. Navy during World War
ELECTION
Council Chair and four at-large members to serve two-year terms.
Voters will also elect General Council officers, who will also serve two-year terms. In addition to the General Council Chair, tribal members will vote on who they want to serve as that body’s Vice Chair, Secretary and Interpreter.
Those who wish to seek tribal elected office, according to the Election Code, can only run for one position – except for the Chair of both the BOT and General Council – on the Board of Trustees or General Council. Candidates are allowed to seek both Chair seats in the same election.
Voters will also elect General Council officers, who will also
“I was surprised to learn that I am the first Native American to receive this award. Natives serve in the armed services of the United States at surprising greater number per capita compared to other ethnicities."
II in the Pacific campaign. Today, his son, Chauncey Sams, is serv ing in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg.
Through four generations of military service in his family, Sams found a connection to one of the earliest recipients of the Lone Sailor Award, Admiral Arleigh Burke. Sams’ grandfather served under Burke’s command as part of Destroyer Squadron 23, “Little Beavers,” during World War II.
“My grandfather spoke very highly of Admiral Burke,” said Sams. “I admire Admiral Burke to this very day. To receive the same honor that he has received is very humbling.”
Joining him on his big night in Washington, D.C., Sams has invit ed former shipmates Dan Young, Mike Bigley, Dan Farley, Ned Ba con and Jon Constant, who served with Sams on the USS Ranger (CV61) during the Gulf War.
“This award is just as much theirs as it is mine,” said Sams. “Over the last 30 plus years, these guys have always been there for me, and I wanted them to join me in this experience.”
serve two-year terms. In addition to the General Council Chair, tribal members will vote on who they want to serve as that body’s Vice Chair, Secretary and Interpreter. For more information or questions, contact the CTUIR Election Commission at 541-276-3165 or electioncommission@ctuir.org.
Charles "Chuck" Sams
FROM PAGE 1
significant site that several tribes, including the CTUIR , share claims of ancestral ties to.
On July 14, The CTUIR BOT voted to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The agreement formalizes “their shared commitment to the healing and stewardship of Moore’s Island and the adjacent Willamette Falls.”
The MOU states the tribes recognize the cultural, spiritual, and historical significance of the site to their shared heritage, and seek to ensure its restoration and protection for current and future generations.
Hunting and fishing agreement
In 2023, the ODFW approved a five-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Grand Ronde that allowed the tribe to issue its own licenses to its citizens for subsistence and ceremonial harvesting, giving it greater control over hunting and fishing regulations for its members.
However, the MOA included areas of Oregon outside of Grand Ronde lands. CTUIR and other tribes said those areas were traditional use areas where they retained treaty-protected rights to hunt, fish or gather.
In 2024, the CTUIR, along with the Nez Perce, Warm Springs and
Yakama tribes, petitioned ODFW to repeal or amend the agreement to avoid conflicts with their treaty rights. The coalitions said there was a lack of consultation and that the agreement overlapped with lands where they have “usual and accustomed” treaty rights. They also argued the agreement could allow Grand Ronde to purchase land in treaty-protected ceded or reservation areas of other tribes and gain co-management rights.
While the agreement was similar to others Oregon had signed with other tribes, those did not spark controversy, according to the CTUIR and the other tribes, because they didn’t create landuse and management conflicts.
At the meeting, Sams said the CTUIR had supported or been neutral on previous agreements with other tribes.
After a five-hour meeting on July 11, the ODFW voted 4-2 in favor of reconsidering the MOA with Grand Ronde. The decision did not repeal the agreement but reopened the process for amendments.
An amended agreement, Sams said, would reduce land area where Grand Ronde would have comanagement rights with the state to avoid overlapping with areas where other tribes have concerns about treaty right infringements.
Commissioner Mark Labhart, who voted against reconsideration, urged the tribes to resolve their differences. “I’m begging you, tribes, get together and see if you can work this out,” Labhart said.
The Warm Springs Tribe said the move would ensure the state does not “mistakenly interfere” with
other tribes’ treaty rights through a MOU with Grand Ronde.
At the meeting, Grand Ronde pushed back, saying concerns about treaty rights and land purchases were overstated. It said reopening the agreement process would retraumatize tribal members and damage relations with the state.
“This was a painful setback, but we will not give up,” Grand Ronde Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said in the release. “The agreement was never about competition with other tribes; it was about the continuity of our culture and long-held traditions.”
Grand Ronde lost federal recognition and its treaty rights in the 1950s. Though recognition was later restored via executive order, the tribe’s hunting and fishing rights were limited under a consent decree with the state.
The CTUIR’s main concerns are with the state’s actions and a lack of consultation, not the Grand Ronde’s experiences or desire to exercise greater hunting and fishing management rights, Sams said.
“Our petition to the ODFW Commission is not intended as an attack on our relatives, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde,” she said in her testimony.
Willamette Falls partnership
While the off-reservation comanagement agreement with Grand Ronde included broad areas of Oregon land, it did not apply to Willamette Falls. The site was removed from the MOU in 2023 after petitioning tribes raised concerns about competing claims
and treaty rights.
Still, the waterfall remains a point of contention between Grand Ronde and the CTUIR and other tribes, that cite ancestral and cultural ties to the landmark.
In 2013, the Grand Ronde, CTUIR, other tribes and local governments began work on a legacy project to restore access and repair industrial damage at the former paper mill. Grand Ronde exited the partnership in 2022 and moved ahead with its Tumwata Village plans.
In response, the CTUIR formed a nonprofit organization called the Willamette Falls Trust with the Siletz, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes to pursue a competing public access project at the falls.
Both sides say their projects won’t infringe on other tribes’ treaty rights and will be open to the public. However, a federal lawsuit over 60 acres of land owned by Portland General Electric—central to the trust’s plans—is pending, with a ruling expected soon.
During the Oregon Legislature’s 2025 session, the trust requested $50-$75 million to buy Moore’s Island and adjacent land. Grand Ronde leaders asked Gov. Tina Kotek to block the proposal, saying they were excluded from planning.
Lawmakers ultimately agreed to provide a $45 million grant for the project over the Grand Ronde’s objections.
However, Gov. Tina Kotek's office sent out notification on July 31 that she is considering vetoing the legislation.
Cultural Institute.
Pride in Patriotism
Fred L. Mitchell Collection of Patriotic Beadwork
Opening day is free!
Friday, August 1
This exquisite beadwork collection illustrates the deep patriotic pride of Tribal Plateau people who have disproportionately high rates of Armed Forces enlistment dating back to World War I through today. The creativity, artistry, and diversity in each of the beaded bags, vests, and gauntlets will impress and engage you.
Pepsi Primetime @ the Museum Indigenous Games!
Saturday, August 23 10am-2pm
Fun for all ages! Learn how to play the traditional games of the Plateau Tribes and others. Youngsters will love Run & Scream! Adults can learn to use an atlatl, master the Stick Game, or test their luck at CupBall. Admission is free!
August 1, 10am-5pm September 5, 10am-5pm
FREE admission every first Friday! Enjoy lunch at Kinship Cafe on the patio or order take-out. Dine on Indian Tacos ($10.50), Frybread ($5), and other goodies from 11am-2pm. Shop the Museum Store for unique items and great prices!
3-Day Sale!
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
August 7,8,9
40% OFF
For three days only get 40% o eveything in the store including blankets, home décor, art, books, CDs, and DVDs. Colorful bags, apparel, water bottles, hats and accessories are all marked down for three days only. The 3-Day Sale happens just once a year so don’t miss out!
O er may not be combined with other discounts or o ers.
ABOUT THE CUJ
The Confederated Umatilla Journal (CUJ) was created in 1975 as the official publication of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), which includes the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla people. The CUJ is produced monthly by the CTUIR Communications Department.
Reporter: Chris Aadland christopheraadland@ctuir.org
Advertising: M. Moses-Conner cuj@ctuir.org
Contributors:
Kathy Aney
Dallas Dick
Annie Fowler
Lee Gavin
Sammantha McCloud Wil Phinney
Travis Snell
Aaron Worden
CONTACT US
Confederated Umatilla Journal 46411 Timine Way Pendleton, OR 97801
Email: CUJ@ctuir.org Phone: 541-429-7005
EMAIL ADVERTISING, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR & OTHER SUBMISSIONS TO: CUJ@ctuir.org
DEADLINE: 20th of the month prior to publication
The CUJ prints on the first Wednesday of each month and is distributed the first Thursday.
SUBSCRIBE
The CUJ is free to pick up at tribal entities and area businesses. However, a mailed subscription can be purchased for the price of shipping and handling by contacting the CTUIR Finance Department. Call 541-429-7150 or visit the Finance Department in person at Nixyáawii Governance Center, 46411 Timine Way, Pendleton.
One year: $15 • Two years: $28
For more information or daily news, visit the CUJ online at: www.TheCUJ.org
General Council gives thanks for Treaty Day effort
Dear Editor,
General Council officers thank all who participated in the Treaty Day Commemoration Event on June 13. The theme this year was “Honoring Sovereignty –Commemorating Leadership” in that we honor the sovereignty in the signing of the 1855 Treaty, and we commemorate the leadership of those who took part in the process.
The Steering Committee:
•James Hall, Umatilla Tribal Fire Department – parade manager;
•Sam Spino, Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Veteran’s Manager –sound system, event logistics;
•Kateara Chavez, Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center;
•Kathleen Elliott, DCFS –volunteer coordinator;
• Celeste Reves, Department of Natural Resources (DNR);
• Angelica Lopez, DNR;
• Boots Pond, WRC – donations coordinator;
•Sarah Frank, DCFS, elders coordinator;
• Abel Matamoros – logistics;
•Jeanine Gordon, Whitman College; and
•Anson Crane, Communications Department – providing sound and parade announcements and for being available.
Many thanks to the Public Safety’s Umatilla Tribal Police Department for providing pilot cars for the parade. To the Public Works Department for its unfailing and cheerful
availability to repair, put together, troubleshooting, in general, making sure that all of the little glitches that could have happened, not happen. To our many sponsors without whom the event would take place.
Thank you to the Board of Trustees for its annual approval of the funds necessary to host the important reminder of our treaty signing and what it means to us as a tribe. Thank you to WRC, which donated the delicious boxed lunches we sat down and ate together. Thank you to Cayuse Holdings, which generously donated the funds we were able to share with the veterans who took time to travel to Pendleton for this event.
Thank you to Tamástslikt Culture Institute for the blanket donated and shared as a gift to the deemed “Best Dressed” in this year’s parade – Manaia Wolf.
A huge thank you to the DCFS Veteran’s Program, which donated the funds for the purchase of the beautiful T-shirts with artwork by Kevin Crane. Another big thank you goes to all the volunteers who assisted by passing out waters, giving rides from one event to another on golf carts, handing out the boxed lunches, handing out the swag bags and T-shirts, in general seeing to any needs they could and ensuring that the event was enjoyable to all.
In the Longhouse annex we had several educational stations sharing their work and how it relates to the treaty. We appreciated all the time and dedication this took to set up and display your important work.
Each year we hope to have a bigger commemoration event, and this year did not disappoint. On the day of our last planning meeting, we had only three parade applications to share and before the time of the parade, there were 17 entries led by Grand Marshal Jeanine Gordon and including tribal departments: Yellowhawk Family Strength (Community Smudge); WRC (this year’s judges); Arrowhead Travel Plaza; Youth Leadership Council; CTUIR Veterans Drummers; Nicht-Yow-Way Elders; Bureau of Indian Affairs Firefighters; The “Gatherers Project” book release; Jill Perrine; Logan Quaempts, Lindsey Watchman and Lawanda Bronson along with several other riders; Tawtaliks (Fred Hill) Umatilla Master Speaker; Happy Canyon Princesses: Katie Spencer and Avery Quaempts; Kah-Mah-Spel-Loh (James Halfmoon-FastHorse) – descendant of Treaty Signer Kamaspello, War Chief of all eight Bands of Liksiyu; Whitman College Native American Outreach; Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission; CTUIR Communications; and this year’s parade winner CTUIR Tribal Court.
The winning department receives a pizza party from Big John’s. If we left anyone out, we do apologize. Again, we appreciate all who were able to attend. We look forward to next year’s event.
General Council Chairman Alan Crawford, Vice Chair Michael R. Johnson, Secretary Martina Gordon Interpreter Thomas Morning Owl
Canceled RCBA shows US still breaking promises
BY REBECCA TALLENT GUEST COLUMNIST
It is a common phrase in treaties between the U.S. government and Indigenous American tribes: “Each tribe or band shall have the right to possess, occupy and use the reserve allotted to it, as long as the grass shall grow and the waters run, and the reserves shall be their own property like their horses and cattle.”
But as Angie Debo pointed out in her book “And Still the Waters Run,” grass still grows, waters still run and all the treaties have been broken by the federal government for mining, grazing, land for settlers and other reasons. Tribes are protected people under federal law even though they are sovereign nations.
Now, the Trump administration continues that federal tradition by breaking yet another treaty, this one between the feds, four Indigenous tribes and the states of Washington and Oregon. The 2023 agreement to restore fish runs is being revoked so corporations can generate electricity in the Columbia Basin. Prior to the agreement, salmon, steelhead and other native fish were being killed
by hydroelectric dams along the Columbia River.
For the Nez Perce Tribe, the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs this is not a minor inconvenience. Fishing – especially salmon – is a sacred right, a duty for the tribe to protect the fish which feeds the people. Removing the protections from the damns erases a major part of the tribe’s identity and culture.
A major issue for the tribes is because of the dams, the salmon are disappearing at an alarming rate. Shannon Wheeler, Nez Perce tribal chairman, told the Oregon Capital Chronicle to eliminate the treaty is to deny the truth of what is happening.
“This action tries to hide from the truth,” he said. “The Nez Perce Tribe holds a duty to speak the truth for the salmon, and the truth is that the extinction of salmon population is happening now.”
Because Congress has the final say about dams, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, introduced legislation protecting the Lower Snake River Dams, an action which erases the treaty. Risch applauded Trump’s move, calling
it “common sense.”
What would be more common sense is encouragement of other forms of electrical generation. Sources such as wind power, solar and geothermal are now being discouraged. Electricity could be generated using other renewable resources beyond hydropower. By using these other resources, the U.S. could help tribes protect their cultures while still generating power for all citizens.
For anyone who would say the tribes no longer matter, think of it this way: How would it feel to have someone erase the Fourth of July saying it is no longer important?
To tribal members, their cultures are not just a symbol, it is their way of life, the essence of their soul. It is their belief systems, their history and how they see and interact in the world. Erasing part of that does more than simply reduce the salmon population, it destroys the center of tribal culture.
The U.S. needs to honor its treaties to people they are legally required under federal law to protect. Congress should insist on keeping the treaty. Otherwise, why should the government be trusted to keep their word?
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO POTENTIAL CTUIR CANDIDATES
CUJ Political Campaign Advertising Policy 2025
CUJ news coverage and reporting of campaigns, candidates or ballot issues shall adhere to the Society of Professional Journalists standards of accepted ethics.
CUJ news coverage and reporting on campaigns, candidates or ballot issues is at the discretion of the CUJ editor and is not considered advertising.
The CUJ does not endorse specific candidates or constitutional amendments that may be on the ballot in CTUIR elections.
No political advertising for candidates will be accepted until the official filing period is completed and candidates are certified as official by the CTUIR Election Commission.
All political advertising will comply with Section 5.01 of the CTUIR Election Code and all other applicable laws. It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure political advertisements are compliant.
Payment for political advertising will only be accepted from individual candidates, or their campaign accounts, for the elected position they are seeking. Third parties are not allowed to pay. In the case of a constitutional amendment on the ballot, any person or entity shall be entitled to place an ad regarding the constitutional amendment.
The CUJ will not accommodate specific placement requests for advertising. Political advertisements will appear in the newspaper with consideration for color and design standards.
Individual candidates will not
be allowed to reserve prime space separate from other candidates, or advertise on the front page of the newspaper.
The CUJ editor will have sole discretion on placement of ads with consideration for quality of print and ease of design to aid readers in effectively navigating information.
No candidate or ballot initiative will be allowed to purchase all available space in a such a way that it excludes other candidates or ballot initiatives from advertising in a fair manner.
Advertising must adhere to standard CUJ ad dimensions published on the CUJ rate card.
submitted, paid, and cleared before ad space is reserved.
Political advertising rates will be the same for all candidates.
All ads will be reviewed for appropriate content prior to scheduling. No lewd or clearly defamatory subject matter will be allowed. The CUJ editor will have discretion to approve or decline any ads deemed inappropriate.
Political advertising for nonCTUIR candidates and issues in local, state and federal elections must follow the same rules and requirements as CTUIR campaigns.
All advertising must be emailed to cuj@ctuir.org.
CUJ staff will not create, modify, update or change political advertisements. Political advertisements MUST be created by the candidate or the candidate’s campaign.
Political advertisements must be submitted by deadline and prepaid. No exceptions.
Candidates are responsible for ensuring advertisements are submitted and paid for on time. Special circumstances will not be considered and no advertising will be allowed after deadline.
Without exception, political advertisements must be
For more information, call CUJ Editor Daneli Atilano at 541-429-7399 or email daneliatilano@ctuir.org.
Yellowhawk and CTUIR Public Safety partner to improve emergency response
BY DANELI ATILANO THE CUJ
MISSION — After months of planning, Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center Public Health (Public Health) and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Public Safety Department have teamed up to address gaps in emergency preparedness and response within the community.
Together, the two departments identified three concerns: limited ability to quickly deploy emergency equipment, lack of space for emergency management and preparedness, and law enforcement officers not being equipped with proper first aid kits.
To help close these gaps, Public Health secured funding to buy a covered trailer for Public Safety's emergency use. The trailer will provide extra storage and enable faster deployment across the community. It will also be available for public health use during emergencies.
Also, Public Health donated 23 first aid kits for each patrol vehicle in the Umatilla Tribal Police Department (UTPD).
“These kits will be placed in our patrol vehicles, ensuring our officers have the necessary supplies to provide immediate care when responding to incidents in the field,” said UTPD Sgt. Jon Lehman. “This support not only enhances officer safety but also improves our ability to care for the public in critical moments.”
The donation also included a special pet first aid kit for Valor, the UTPD’s K-9 officer.
“Yellowhawk Public Health is proud to stand with our CTUIR Public Safety team and support all our first responders — human and canine alike. We know how important they are to our community, and we look forward to working together to keep the CTUIR safe and strong,” said Public Health Assistant Director Mike Erickson.
The teams are continuing their collaborations through monthly meetings to discuss emerging needs, coordinate training opportunities and explore ways to support each other’s efforts.
Both departments recognize the overlap in their missions, particularly when addresses the social determinates of health.
WATER
• Floodplain restoration to reduce flood risk and restore habitat,
• Streamflow restoration through water rights transactions,
• Fish passage improvement and habitat restoration in Mill Creek,
• Increased infiltration of stormwater to improve surface water quality,
• Modernizing irrigation infrastructure to benefit streamflows and
• Improving water quality in the South Fork Walla Walla River.
“CTUIR’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will work with Walla Walla basin stakeholders to use the money on various projects, including to restore instream flows through irrigation efficiency projects and projects that improve habitat via floodplain restoration,” Chiono said. “While the specific project outcomes vary, the projects types were prioritized on the
basis of the multiple benefits that each would provide for fish, farms and people.”
Chiono added that determining how much funding each project receives is still being decided. However, he said Washington State is providing $2.4 million in matching funds to help implement the projects, which are part of the Walla Walla Water 2050 Plan.
The Walla Walla Water 2050 Plan is a strategic initiative aimed at improving water management and streamflows in the Walla Walla Basin over the next 30 years.
“These projects types were identified by the Walla Walla Water 2050 Plan as funding priorities in 2021, but in many cases, they have been critical needs in the basin for decades,” Chiono said. “These are the projects that CTUIR, basin stakeholders and Oregon and Washington identified as the priority projects necessary to implement the Walla Walla 2050 Plan and achieve sustainable water management in the Walla Walla Basin.”
The Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Public Safety Department have teamed up to address gaps in emergency preparedness and response within the community. YELLOWHAWK
First Foods Protection Program hosts food waste class
The project focuses on keeping food waste out of landfills and educating the community on how they can be a part of the solution in combating the climate crisis.
BY DANELI ATILANO THE CUJ
MISSON – First Foods Policy Program (FFPP) partnered with Biowaste Technologies to host its second food waste training for the Nixyaawii community and their regional partners at the Mission Longhouse on July 5.
The training, led by Biowaste Technologies owner DeArcie Abraham, focused on why food waste is an important issue, strategies to help break habits that cause food waste and provided hands-on experience with methods of composting and processing food waste.
As a modification from November’s previous training, attendees were asked to prepare a meal together. Through this exercise and demonstration of various composting methods, they learned how to divert food waste from the trash and turn it into garden fertilizer.
Colleen Sanders, FFPP climate adaptation planner, said the training was a chance to support community education on their role in reducing greenhouse gases created during daily life, while building skills in composting and
resource recovery.
“Our tribal families have an important role to play in reducing climate impacts and keeping our resources within our community, but it does take some time, knowledge and equipment to get started,” said Sanders.
In addition to learning composting methods such as vermicomposting, the Bokashi method and anaerobic digestion, attendees were given their own composting starter kits to apply
what they learned at home.
Sanders added that by attendees “helping address food waste within their own homes, they are helping address a global crisis that threatens future generations.”
The training is one of many that will take place under the Nixyaawii, Don’t Throw It Away! Project (NDTIA!P) funded by the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The project focuses on keeping food waste out of landfills and
“Our tribal families have an important role to play in reducing climate impacts and keeping our resources within our community, but it does take some time, knowledge and equipment to get started.”
educating the community on how they can be a part of the solution in combating the climate crisis.
While this was the last training focused on food waste prevention skills under the NDTIA!P, a workshop on biogas will be held in November 2025, as well as another educational event in the spring of 2026.
“There will still be future opportunities to learn more about the value and importance of recovering our food waste coming up,” said Sanders.
For information, visit https:// ctuir.org/departments/naturalresources/climate-adaptation/ nixyaawii-don-t-throw-it-awayproject/.
Longhouse Food Waste Training participants (left to right) Ermia Butler, Adan Andrade and DeArcie Abraham grin as they present the fruits of their labor with the hands-on diversion activity. PHOTOS BY COLLEEN SANDERS/CTUIR
Nixyaawii, Don’t Throw It Away! Project staff show off food waste created by the event being recovered into a composting strategy being implemented in the Food Waste Recovery Center at the Longhouse.
MISSION – Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) officials have announced Chanda K. Aloysius Yates as a new deputy executive director to help manage the CTUIR’s governmental departments.
Yates, who holds a master’s degree in business administration, has more than 30 years of experience in health care management and consulting, specializing in Indian Health systems, tribal health organizations and village corporation governance.
“I am deeply honored to step into the role of deputy executive director for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation,” she said. “In this capacity, I look forward to collaborating closely with the executive director, the Board of Trustees and the dedicated staff to strengthen our organizational framework, ensure efficient service delivery and continue advancing the long-term goals of the tribal government. I am committed to upholding the values and priorities of the CTUIR, working strategically to enhance our operations and making meaningful progress for our community and citizens.”
Previously, Yates served as a senior advisor at Kauffman and Associates where she contributed to health care research, planning and transformation initiatives.
She also was health general manager at Klamath Tribal Health & Family Services where she successfully managed the operations of a $60 million dollar budget and 225-plus staff members.
She also served as chief operations officer at OLE Health and vice president at Southcentral Foundation where she directed behavioral health integration and quality improvement efforts within Alaska’s Nuka System of Care.
“My leadership has been integral in guiding health systems through significant changes, including during the COVID pandemic and post-COVID recovery efforts, operational redesigns and achieving strategic plan goals,” she said.
CTUIR Executive Director J.D. Tovey said he selected Yates as one of the tribe’s two deputy executive directors because of her commitment to strategic growth and sustainability.
“When considering Chanda’s work history, she has consistently demonstrated expertise in organizational leadership, business development and board governance across health care and business environments,” Tovey said. “She also has a proven track record of successfully managing multimillion-dollar budgets and leading large teams to drive operational excellence and organizational transformation. We are glad to be welcoming her to the CTUIR family.”
Yates, an enrolled member of Holy Cross Tribe in Alaska, replaces Human Resources Director Kathryn Burke, who served part of 2024 and 2025 as deputy executive director before returning full time to HR. The other executive deputy director position is Finance Department Director Paul Rabb.
CTUIR caps off 2nd Tri-City
Water Follies sponsorship
KENNEWICK, Wash. – For the second straight year, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) on July 27 capped off a successful sponsorship of the Tri-City Water Follies by awarding prize money to the Apollo Columbia Cup’s top three finishers.
Raced on Sunday evening, the winner of the Apollo American Power Boat Association Gold Cup was Dave Villwock of Apollo Racing, who received $10,000. Jamie Nilsen of FLAV-R-PAC Racing earned $5,000 for second place, while Andrew Tate of Goodman Real Estate Racing won $2,500 for third place.
“On behalf of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Board of Trustees, we are proud to
once again have sponsored the Gold Cup prize money, and we congratulate all the racers and the Water Follies,” said CTUIR Treasurer Raymond Huesties, who handed out the ceremonial prize checks. “We are extremely pleased with our Tri-City Water Follies partnership and wish the racers the best of luck the rest of the season.”
The Water Follies is a weekend of hydroplane boat racing in pursuit of the Apollo Columbia Cup and a stop for the H1 Unlimited hydroplane race schedule, showcasing multiple classes of boats. It annually draws crowds of approximately 65,000 during its three days.
The Tri-Cities area is a part of the CTUIR’s traditional use and aboriginal title lands reserved in the Treaty of 1855.
Chanda Yates
Confederated Tribes of
Umatilla Indian Reservation Election Commission 46411 Timíne Way Pendleton, OR 97801
Main in # 541|276-3165 Website: https://ctuir.org/our-government/committees-commissions/election-commission Tukepelikéecey | (too-cap-uh-lee-cat-say) | VOTE
Voting will be by Paper ballot or by Absentee ballot
If you are unable to vote in person, your Absentee Ballot Request Form must be received no later than 10-17-25 Absentee voting request forms are available on the CTUIR website http://ww.ctuir.org.
Per Section 3.11 (B), “any written request for an absentee ballot must be signed by the voter requesting the ballot, and his/her signature must be verified by Election Commission. Requests for absentee ballots that must be mailed must be received by the Election Commission no less than twenty (20) days before the [General or] Special Election, as defined in section 3.01 of this [Election] Code.”
Section 3.11, (F), Absentee ballot request forms shall be made available to be picked up or mailed, as requested to all Qualified Voters fifty (50) days prior to General Election. The Election Commission shall use the Tribal newspaper [CUJ] to provide information about absentee balloting and how to request absentee ballots to Tribal members.”
Absentee Ballots are scheduled to be mailed on or before 10-10-25 by regular mail.
You may submit your absentee ballot in the Ballot Box at the Nixyáawii Governance Center drop boxes. It must be received on day of election by 8:00 pm on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
CTUIR Election Commission
Kat Brigham Chair
CTUIR Election Commission
Nixyaawii Governance Center 46411 Timine Way, Pendleton, OR Member
Delise Guererro Vice-Chair
Tami Rochelle Secretary Elfrina Lubrin
Clarise Huesties Member
Mariah Watchman Member
Email: tec@ctuir.org
Website: www.ctuir.org
Leiloni Eustaquio Member
Aaronessa Frank Member
CTUIR holds blessing at site of future flour mill
Cairnspring Mills will begin building the Blue Mountain Flour Mill at the Coyote Business Park South later this year.
MISSION – The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) on July 10 held a blessing for the future site of the Blue Mountain Flour Mill at the Coyote Business Park South.
With about two dozen people attending, Umatilla Master Speaker Fred Hill blessed the nearly 6-acre site with prayer and song before offering CTUIR and Cairnspring Mills officials the opportunity to speak about the endeavor.
“In May 2023, Cairnspring Mills was looking for a location within the Columbia Basin with a list of sites,” Bill Tovey, CTUIR Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) director, said on why the company chose Coyote Business Park. “Kevin Morse, CEO of Cairnspring Mills, liked the location – easy interstate access, all infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer, electrical natural gas and fiber – and understood the tribe’s desire to have healthy foods and healthy soils.”
With a group of Skagit Valley farmers and other partners, Morse formed Cairnspring Mills in 2016 in Burlington, Washington.
It focuses on ensuring farmers remain financially viable while facing growing urbanization, preserving agricultural heritage, shortening distances between farmer and customer, building soil health and conserving farmland.
Morse said when his company’s Skagit mill reached full capacity, the company looked to expand.
“As soon as we drove onto this site, I knew this was the right place for me,” he said. “The community
feeling and the synergy just all felt right. And so this dream that started 10 years ago in the Skagit Valley, this is our dream come true, to come to another community, grow this business in a good way with wonderful partners that are value-aligned. And I can’t thank you enough for giving us the honor to locate our business here and for all your help and partnership along the way.”
The CTUIR is leasing the parcel of trust land to Cairnspring Mills to build and operate the flour mill. The lease is for 50 years with an option for another 25 years.
Details of annual payments weren’t disclosed, but Tovey said the lease and tax revenues would go to Coyote Business Park.
Construction is expected to begin the week of Aug. 4 and take about a year to complete with operations starting for the 2026 wheat crop, Tovey said.
He also estimated construction would cost more than $40 million, which includes buying milling equipment, architect and engineering work, project management, building permits, cultural resources, interim interest, financing and legal costs.
He added that after the mill is complete it would employ 1520 workers who would produce different flour varieties and labels.
Tovey also said Cairnspring Mills would work with the CTUIR’s Workforce Development and Tribal Employment Rights Office to create training and educational opportunities for tribal members.
For more information about Cairnspring Mills, visit https:// cairnspring.com.
“As soon as we drove onto this site, I knew this was the right place for me. The community feeling and the synergy just all felt right.”
Cairnspring Mills CEO Kevin Morse, left, speaks during a blessing of the future site of the Blue Mountain Flour Mill at the Coyote Business Park South on Thursday, July 10 in Mission. Once the mill is operational in 2026, it will employ 15-20 workers. CTUIR
Atilano named new CUJ editor, aims to reflect CTUIR members' voices
MISSION – The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation has hired Daneli Atilano as the new editor of its award-winning Confederated Umatilla Journal.
Atilano, who has spent her young career as a journalist serving eastern Oregon communities, started her role on July 1.
“My goal is to honor the purpose and values of the CUJ while helping it grow in ways that serve the community. I want to support accurate, respectful reporting that reflects the voices and experiences of the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla people,” she said. “I also hope to encourage more community involvement. That includes inviting more local contributions, highlighting youth perspectives and making space for stories that reflect everyday life as well as major events. I plan to expand community engagement and increase accessibility for readers of all ages, while maintaining the respect and integrity that the publication is known for. Above all else, I'm here to listen, learn, and serve.”
Born in Pendleton and raised in Hermiston, Atilano graduated from Hermiston High School in 2019. She then attended Eastern Oregon University (EOU) where she received a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in business administration. During her junior year at EOU, she joined the student newspaper, The Voice.
“I worked as a student reporter for almost two years before the newspaper lost its funding and was forced to shut down,” Atilano said. “Shortly after I joined the student newspaper I began working as a freelance writer for Go Eastern Oregon Magazine. I worked as a freelance writer for
two years. Also, during that time I became a staff writer for the EOU marketing department.”
In her senior year, she worked as a general assignment reporter for the Hermiston Herald before taking a hiatus to care for a family member. She was then hired to lead the CUJ.
As editor, Atilano will oversee operations of the monthly newspaper as well as its daily website and social media — writing and editing local, communityfocused news stories, designing and laying out the newspaper, selling advertisements to generate revenue and establishing and maintaining subscriptions.
“I'm infinitely grateful for this opportunity and am excited to work hard as the new CUJ editor,” she said. “It's my second week and I already love working for the CTUIR. Everyone I've met has been very kind and welcoming. The energy of the people here and the environment are unlike anything I've ever experienced.
I'm grateful that I get to be a part of an organization that informs, uplifts and gives a voice to a community that deserves to be heard.”
All Oregon Dept. of Forestry districts in fire season
SALEM — In July all Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) districts were in fire season. This means that to reduce the risk of human-caused wildfires, fire restrictions may be in place where you live or at a destination you plan to visit or recreate.
“We have already experienced several large fires in the state this year and anticipate fire behavior to be progressively more volatile. Right now is the time to practice fire prevention and preparedness,” said Michael Curran, ODF Fire Protection Division chief. “Prevention is our number one tool to reduce property loss, firefighting costs, and risk to the lives of our firefighters. We can’t prevent lightning fires, but we can prevent human-caused fires.”
Wildfire prevention tips include:
• Know before you go. Campfires may be banned or only allowed in
approved campgrounds.
• Ensure your campfire is cool to the touch before going to sleep or leaving your site. Don’t forget to Drown, Stir, Repeat.
• Backyard debris burning either requires a burn permit during fire season or is prohibited altogether. If you burned earlier this spring, go back and check on your debris burn site to make sure nothing reignites due to the heat.
• Don’t flick a cigarette onto the ground. It may be just enough to start a fire.
• Don’t park or idle over dried grass.
• Don’t drag tow chains.
• Check local restrictions and fire danger levels.
Fire season is declared at the local level when conditions reach a point where the risk of a fire starting and spreading becomes clear.
Daneli Atilano
Tribal and State Leaders Gather for Women in Government Event at Willamette University
SALEM – Oregon Women Transforming Government event on July 30, 2025, at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, explored the challenges and opportunities women leaders face in government, tribal leadership, and higher education. Panelists discussed strategies for navigating complex structures, policy shifts, and evolving societal expectations.
CTUIR Water Quality Project - Partnering with Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) and Tiicham Conservation District
Information
Well water testing initially started in 2020 following the flooding that occurred on the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Since then, the Planning/Environmental Health and Safety department has continued the water testing with the help of NPAIHB and Tiicham
Numbers: As of July 2025 and Well Water Test Request
Total water tests completed is 235.
As we are nearing the last few water tests to be completed, we may have missed some homes. If you live on the Umatilla Indian Reservation and are a Tribal member wanting your well water tested, please contact us at: brianfullen@ctuir.org , work phone (541)429-7521 megangeorge@ctuir.org , work phone (541)429-7522
Potential filtration options (varies depending on water results)
Filtration systems:
Reverse Osmosis System-
A high efficiency filter that removes up to 95% of nitrates. This is the best choice for drinking and cooking water. Typically installed under the kitchen sink.
Where to buy a Reverse Osmosis system: Amazon, Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart etc.
Ways to mitigate against bacteria (Total coliforms and E. coli) in well water :
Shocking the well- The most effective way to mitigate against bacteria in one’s well water. Chlorine is poured directly into the well and flushed through the whole house system for 8-12 hours
Ultraviolet - In ultraviolet disinfection, water is passed through a reactor containing ultraviolet (or UV) bulbs; the UV light inactivates microorganisms Installed at the point-of-entry or the point-of-use
ABOVE: From left are Oregon Health Authority Tribal Affairs Director Julie Johnson, Oregon Tribal Affairs Director Shana Radford, former Gov. Kate Brown, CTUIR Member-at-Large Corinne Sams, and Siletz Tribal Chair Dee Pigsley pose for a photo during the Oregon Women Transforming Government event on July 30, 2025, at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. COURTESY PHOTOS
LEFT: The group later participated on a panel.
Kotek weighs veto for Willamette Falls funds
BY HOLLY BARTHOLOMEW OPB
Some tribal governments are urging Gov. Tina Kotek to support their effort to restore public access to Willamette Falls after the governor announced she is considering vetoing $45 million for the project.
Kotek’s office stated July 31 that she is considering a veto of a budget line item from the Legislature’s “Christmas Tree” bill that allocated funding for projects and initiatives, including the Willamette Falls project.
“[Kotek] is exercising her due diligence to understand more fully the use of these dollars and wants to hear more from all interested parties,” Kotek's office wrote.
The announcement came amid a conflict among regional tribes over the project and fishing access at Willamette Falls.
Kotek is also signaling her willingness to claw back funding from an organization helmed by her gubernatorial predecessor and fellow Democrat, Kate Brown.
Brown was named executive director of the Willamette Falls Trust last year.
“There is now a once in a century moment to restore the natural beauty of the site and open it as a spiritual, cultural and educational resource to future generations,” Brown said in a press release from the Trust. “We must take advantage of this moment.”
The trust, a coalition of four tribal governments with historic ties to the falls, announced plans for the Inter Tribal Public Access Project in 2023.
The 40-foot Willamette Falls span the river between West Linn and Oregon City. The nation’s second largest waterfall by volume, they are largely inaccessible to the general public. The falls are surrounded on both sides by massive industrial complexes, such as Portland General Electric’s TW Sullivan Hydroelectric project, and the recently shuttered Willamette Falls Paper Company.
For years, the trust worked on a project to erect a public walkway, known as the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, to the falls from downtown Oregon City. That work halted in 2021 when the Confederated Tribes of the Grand
Ronde withdrew from the trust, citing frustrations with a lack of progress on the project.
With the Grand Ronde now focused on its project to bring access to the falls from the Oregon City side of the river, the remaining members of the trust pivoted in 2023 to focus on the West Linn side of the river.
The trust envisioned the project would include “public walkways, spaces for interpretation, cultural events, community programming, viewing structures and other public amenities.”
The four tribal governments making up the trust, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, all lobbied state lawmakers for money to buy land on the West Linn side of the falls.
“The state’s investment is critical to the future of this site,” Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Tribal Councilor and Willamette Falls Trust board member Robert Kentta said in a statement from the Trust. “It will guarantee that all Oregonians and visitors have access to, and enjoy the beauty, grandeur, and historical cultural importance of Willamette Falls.”
The trust hopes to acquire about 50 acres along the river, including a portion of Moore’s Island, which was formerly home to the more than century-old Willamette Falls
Paper Company (previously the West Linn Paper Mill) and some of the surrounding upland area.
The Grand Ronde — which is also pitted against the other four tribes and PGE in a federal lawsuit over fishing access at the falls — asked Kotek to not grant the funds for the inter-tribal project.
“Proponents are presenting this project as returning land to Oregon’s tribal nations, however the WFT excludes CTGR, which is the Tribe of record in the area, and includes an out of state tribe,” Grand Ronde tribal council chairwoman Cheryl Kennedy wrote in a June 9 letter to Kotek.
For years, the Grand Ronde and other tribes have argued over
which groups originally lived and fished at the falls.
Kennedy wrote to Kotek that the trust had “misrepresented Tribal history at Willamette Falls” in its request for funding.
On Aug. 1, the Grand Ronde expressed appreciation for Kotek’s decision to hold off on granting funds for the project.
“Any investment at this sacred site must center the rights and voices of the original Tribes and bands that called Willamette Falls home -not a nonprofit with a long track record of exclusion and unanswered questions,” the Grand Ronde said in a statement.
The trust has pushed back on the Grand Ronde’s claims of misrepresentation of tribal history and unwillingness to work together.
Michelle Cole, a trust spokesperson, said the Grand Ronde was welcome to rejoin the trust and its Tribal Leadership Committee at any time.
In addition to wanting to “hear more from all interested parties” Kotek’s office said she wants to learn more about how the trust has spent previously allocated funds from the state and Metro.
Though Metro’s 2019 parks and nature bond set aside $30 million for the Legacy Project before it devolved, the trust says it never received any money from Metro or the state. Asked what the trust plans to do if Kotek vetos the funds, Cole said the trust is hopeful and is in talks with the governor’s office.
Tribal lamprey harvesters from several Columbia Plateau tribes approach Willamette Falls, Ore., on July 12, 2024. Willamette Falls is a culturally significant place for numerous Tribal governments. ANNA LUECK /OPB
What to know about public broadcasting fund cuts
The private, nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting was founded in 1968 shortly after Congress authorized its formation.
BY AUDREY MCAVOY AP
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations as well as programs like “Sesame Street” and “Finding Your Roots,” said that it would close after the U.S. government withdrew funding.
The organization told employees that most staff positions will end with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A small transition team will stay until January to finish any remaining work.
The private, nonprofit corporation was founded in 1968 shortly after Congress authorized its formation. It now ends nearly six decades of fueling the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and emergency alerts about natural disasters.
Losing funding
President Donald Trump signed a bill on July 24 canceling about $1.1 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting. The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense, and conservatives have particularly directed their ire at NPR and PBS.
Lawmakers with large rural constituencies voiced concern about what the cuts could mean for some local public stations in their state. They warned some stations will have to close.
The Senate Appropriations Committee reinforced the policy change by excluding funding for the corporation for the first time in more than 50 years as part of a broader spending bill.
How it began
Congress passed legislation creating the body in 1967, several years after then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow described commercial television a “vast wasteland” and called for programming in the public interest. The corporation doesn’t produce programming and it doesn’t own, operate or control any public broadcasting stations. The corporation, PBS, NPR are independent of each other as are local public television and radio stations.
Rural stations hit hard
Roughly 70% of the corporation’s money went directly to 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations across the country. The cuts are expected to weigh most heavily on smaller public media outlets away from big cities, and it’s likely some won’t survive.
NPR’s president estimated as many as 80 NPR stations may close in the next year.
Mississippi Public Broadcasting has already decided to eliminate a streaming channel that airs children’s programming like “Caillou” and “Daniel Tiger’s
Neighborhood” 24 hours a day.
Maine’s public media system is looking at a hit of $2.5 million, or about 12% of its budget, for the next fiscal year. The state’s rural residents rely heavily on public media for weather updates and disaster alerts.
In Kodiak, Alaska, KMXT estimated the cuts would slice 22% from its budget. Public radio stations in the sprawling, heavily rural state often provide not just news but alerts about natural disasters like tsunamis, landslides and volcanic eruptions.
From Big Bird to war documentaries
The first episode of “Sesame Street” aired in 1969. Child viewers, adults and guest stars alike were instantly hooked.
Over the decades, characters from Big Bird to Cookie Monster and Elmo have become household favorites Entertainer
Carol Burnett appeared on that inaugural episode. She told The Associated Press she was a big fan. “I would have done anything they wanted me to do,” she said. “I loved being exposed to all that goodness and humor.”
Sesame Street said in May it would also get some help from a Netflix streaming deal.
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. started “Finding Your Roots” in 2006 under the title “African American Lives.” He invited prominent Black celebrities and traced their family trees into slavery.
When the paper trail ran out, they would use DNA to see which ethnic group they were from in Africa. Challenged by a viewer to open the show to non-Black celebrities, Gates agreed and the series was renamed “Faces of America,” which had to be changed again after the name was taken.
The show is PBS’s most-watched program on linear TV and the most-streamed non-drama program. Season 10 reached nearly 18 million people across linear and digital platforms and also received its first Emmy nomination.
Grant money from the nonprofit has also funded lesser-known food, history, music and other shows created by stations across
the country.
Documentarian Ken Burns, celebrated for creating the documentaries “The Civil War,” “Baseball” and “The Vietnam War”, told PBS NewsHour said the corporation accounted for about 20% of his films’ budgets. He said he would make it up but projects receiving 50% to 75% of their funding from the organization won’t.
Influence of shows
Children’s programing in the 1960s was made up of shows like “Captain Kangaroo,” ’’Romper Room” and the violent skirmishes between “Tom & Jerry.” “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” mostly
taught social skills.
“Sesame Street” was designed by education professionals and child psychologists to help low-income and minority students aged 2-5 overcome some of the deficiencies they had when entering school.
Social scientists had long noted white and higher income kids were often better prepared.
One of the most widely cited studies about the impact of “Sesame Street” compared households that got the show with those who didn’t.
It found that the children exposed to “Sesame Street” were 14% more likely to be enrolled in the correct grade level for their age at middle and high school.
Over the years, “Finding Your Roots” showed Natalie Morales discovering she’s related to one of the legendary pirates of the Caribbean and former “Saturday Night Live” star Andy Samberg finding his biological grandmother and grandfather.
It revealed that drag queen RuPaul and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker are cousins, as are actors Meryl Streep and Eva Longoria.
“The two subliminal messages of ’Finding Your Roots,’ which are needed more urgently today than ever, is that what has made America great is that we’re a nation of immigrants,” Gates told the AP. “And secondly, at the level of the genome, despite our apparent physical differences, we’re 99.99% the same.”
One of the control rooms at the Arizona PBS offices at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix is seen Friday, May 2, 2025. KATIE OYAN/AP
DNR finishes banding burrowing owl chicks for season
The aluminum bands, which have unique identification numbers, allow DNR employees to track the owls annually.
BY TRAVIS SNELL CTUIR
HERMISTON – A biologist with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s (CTUIR) Department of Natural Resources (DNR) concluded banding burrowing owl chicks for the nesting season on July 21 at the Umatilla Army Depot.
Visiting the last two nests for the season on the CTUIR’s land at the depot, Lindsay Chiono, DNR wildlife habitat ecologist-biologist, two Summer Youth Employment Program workers and a Whitman College biology student attached aluminum bands to the left legs of four chicks.
“That’s pretty average here as terms of nest productivity, and that productivity is driven by weather from year to year and the amount of vegetation and the effects on rodents and insects that are the main species that the owls feed on,” Chiono said.
The aluminum bands, which have unique identification numbers, go on the chicks’ left legs.
This help determines when the birds were banded because owls that are banded for the first time as adults get bands on the right leg.
Chiono said the bands allow DNR employees to annually track the owls.
“We might catch the owls we banded here today as the mother or father of another nest, and so we’ll know where it was banded in the first place from this long-term data study that’s been going on for about 17 years,” she said. “We’ve learned a lot about these owls such as how many eggs they produce year to year, do they maintain the same nest location from year to year or do they change locations. We also know that about 85% of the males that we catch here were born here, which means about 15% came from somewhere else.”
Chiono said DNR has conducted its burrowing owl project since 2008 that has included approximately 100 artificial burrow sites.
“This is a huge success story. We came from about four nesting pairs in 2008 to over a hundred now. So each year we produce about at least 400 nestlings, and so that’s been going on for quite a while now,” she said.
After arriving at the artificial nest structure, the banding procedure involves a makeshift plunger made of sponges and PVC pipe to gently push down any birds that may be in the structure’s tunnel back into the nest.
Leaving the plunger in the tunnel so chicks can’t escape, Chiono removes the back of the nest chamber to look for chicks.
When she finds a chick, she removes it and bands its left leg. She then weighs it and gives it a flea bath in diatomaceous earth.
burrowing owl chick runs back to its nest after being released on July 21 on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s land at the Umatilla Army Depot near Hermiston, Oregon. Department of Natural Resources has concluded banding the legs of burrowing owl chicks for this year’s nesting season.
“This is a huge success story. We came from about four nesting pairs in 2008 to over a hundred now. So each year we produce about at least 400 nestlings, and so that's been going on for quite a while now."
After removing the plunger from the burrow tunnel, the chick is released near the entrance so it can go back to the nest.
“The chicks at this state are only about 20 days old, and so we pull those out. They’re not real mobile yet. They can run around but they can’t fly yet, so they are pretty
manageable and calm,” she said.
When the owls reach about 40 days, Chiono said, they can fly but stay at the nest until about October before moving to another location to feed before migrating.
Chiono added that DNR has a migration study that involves putting trackers on some owls to
see where they migrate after the nesting season.
“So we’ve already learned quite a bit from that. For example, we’ve learned about how much area each of the owls is using for feeding,” she said. “We’ve also learned that some of the owls are migrating to central California. We had a few move over to western Oregon, which we didn’t expect last season, and then quite a few are staying here on the depot site the entire year long.”
A
Lindsay Chiono, Department of Natural Resources wildlife habitat ecologist-biologist, sticks a makeshift plunger into the tunnel of an artificial burrowing owl nest structure on July 21 on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s land at the Umatilla Army Depot near Hermiston, Oregon.
Lindsay Chiono, Department of Natural Resources wildlife habitat ecologist-biologist, hands a burrowing owl chick to Summer Youth Employment Program worker Demetri Brockie after removing it from its nest on July 21 on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s land at the Umatilla Army Depot near Hermiston, Oregon.
Lindsay Chiono, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wildlife habitat ecologist-biologist, bands the left leg of a burrowing owl chick while Lorelai Starr, a Whitman College biology undergraduate student, holds it. The aluminum band has a unique number that allows DNR employees to identify it later if they capture it. PHOTOS BY CTUiR
Lorelai Starr, a Whitman College biology undergraduate student, weighs a burrowing owl chick as Lindsay Chiono, Department of Natural Resources wildlife habitat ecologistbiologist, watches. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s Department of Natural Resources has been conducting a study on burrowing owls since 2008.
Impacts of Trump’s domestic policy bill for Oregon
BY AMELIA TEMPLETON, DIRK VANDERHART, MICHELLE WILEY AND COURTNEY SHERWOOD OPB
WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans have passed their domestic policy bill that makes sweeping changes to entitlement programs like Medicaid and SNAP, significantly increases funding for the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts and cuts funding for a number of environmental programs. It was signed in July by President Donald Trump.
A main provision of the bill would make most of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent. Independent reports show those tax breaks largely affected wealthy Americans, but the Trump administration claims low- and middle-income families will continue to save $10,000 per year if the cuts are extended.
In Oregon, the impacts of the legislation will be significant. An analysis of an earlier version of the bill found that the state would be disproportionately hit by the cuts to Medicaid, with more people likely to lose coverage and end up uninsured. The Senate’s version of the bill would also cut funds to the state’s timber counties, and could reshape how Oregonian students pay for college, as well as how they pay back student loans.
Monumental changes to the Oregon Health Plan
Among the most significant impacts of the bill are its changes to how states like Oregon administer and fund their Medicaid programs, including new eligibility requirements.
The bill requires adults 1964 to prove they are working or volunteering 80 hours a month to enroll in Medicaid or keep their coverage. Some groups — including parents of children aged 13 and under and people with certain disabilities or medical conditions — would be exempt.
The bill also mandates some Medicaid recipients, about 40% of OHP members, do more frequent eligibility checks to keep coverage.
The state health authority estimates that between 150,000 and 200,000 Oregonians could lose Medicaid coverage as a result of these requirements. That includes people who aren’t meeting the work rule, and those who will struggle to complete the new paperwork or online reporting requirements.
The more frequent eligibility checks required by the bill will cost upwards of $100 million for the state to implement and will require updates to technology systems and new administrative positions.
The work requirements take effect Dec. 31, 2026. States having difficulty meeting that deadline can request a two-year delay.
Limits Oregon pay for care
The bill places new restrictions on local taxes that states use to fund their Medicaid programs. This provision would cost Oregon an estimated $11.7 billion in lost federal and state revenue over 10 years, according to the state
“The proposed cuts threaten to take food off the table for Oregonians, place unsustainable financial burdens on the State, and risk the well-being of families and local economies.”
health authority.
States have historically been allowed to tax Medicaid providers, like hospitals, and then to use the revenue and the federal match to pay those same providers for Medicaid services. But states had to limit those taxes to 6% of patient revenue or under, to avoid triggering federal scrutiny.
The bill ratchets down that allowable provider tax over time to a maximum of 3.5% In Oregon, a 6% provider tax and the federal match provides about a quarter of total funding for the Oregon Health Plan.
The state would lose $872 million in the 2027-29 biennium, $1.94 billion in the 2029-31 biennium, and $8.86 billion between 2031-2035 after the full cut to the provider tax takes effect, according to an estimate from the Oregon Health Authority.
Backfilling that amount using state tax revenue would be extremely difficult. If legislators can’t figure out how to replace the provider tax with general fund revenue or another local source, Oregon could be forced to cut more people from Medicaid or reduce benefits.
Planned Parenthood ban
The bill imposes a one-year ban on state Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood and some other health care nonprofits that provide abortions.
Planned Parenthood is already barred from using federal dollars to pay for abortions, but has relied on Medicaid as a major payer for the other services it provides to low-income people.
Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette has said about 70% of its patients pay for services like pap smears and STI testing through Medicaid. The bill will strain Planned Parenthood’s finances and will make it likely some clinics will have to close.
Costs could go up for marketplace plans
For all that’s in the bill, one thing
to take food off the table for Oregonians, place unsustainable financial burdens on the State, and risk the well-being of families and local economies,”
Oregon DHS officials said in a fact sheet detailing the federal bill’s impacts. “This would leave tens of thousands of people in Oregon without food and create sharp disparities between states, undermining the promise of a national food program.”
The federal cuts come just days after Oregon lawmakers failed to pass several bills aimed at curbing hunger in the state during the legislative session. Lawmakers cited, in part, budget uncertainty due to cuts on the federal level.
Fewer funds for fight climate Oregon has been promised nearly $200 million in federal funds to fight climate change through the Inflation Reduction Act, a pillar of former President Joe Biden’s domestic policy agenda.
that isn’t: It doesn’t extend tax credits that have helped Americans afford health insurance that they buy on the marketplace through the Affordable Care Act.
Some subsidies for plans on the federal marketplace expire at the end of 2025. OHA officials said in a statement that if Congress doesn’t extend those credits, Oregon enrollees will pay an average of $960 more for insurance annually and could result in people dropping the coverage altogether.
Cuts to food assistance
The budget bill will slash federal aid that pays for food assistance to Oregonians. That’s almost certain to create major questions about whether the state will cut food assistance in coming years.
The bill would upend decades of precedent, during which the federal government fully funded its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Instead, the vast majority of states would be required to pick up some of the tab for their programs.
In Oregon, where one in six people access SNAP benefits every month, the price will be particularly steep.
The state’s SNAP “error rate” — the rate at which it over or underpays benefits — is among the highest in the country, at 14.06%. Under the Republican bill, that means Oregon will be required to pay for 15% of its SNAP costs. Under a last-minute change negotiated by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, high-errorrate states like Oregon can push cost sharing back by one year.
According to an analysis from Oregon Department of Human Services, the shift will contribute to $425 million in new yearly costs to the state beginning in 2028. But the other pieces of the bill will hike some costs sooner.
Oregon could choose to find the money to cover those costs, cut benefits or eliminate SNAP entirely.
“The proposed cuts threaten
But the Republican-backed budget bill seeks to eliminate much of the federal government’s involvement in climate change response. It stops federal tax credits for people buying electric vehicles or making homes energy efficient, and it restricts programs that seek to limit carbon emissions from industry. Tracking climate change could become more difficult; the bill claws back funding for greenhouse gas reporting programs.
Even Inflation Reduction Act renewable projects that are already in the works could be penalized, said U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, because the bill could cut off funding for anything not completed by 2027. “If somebody is building something and they will be done in 2028, they may lose that subsidy,” she said. “That feels absolutely illegal.”
“It’s the most anti-environment and anti-climate bill in history,” Lindsey Scholten, political director at the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, said.
Financial aid for higher ed
Also among the most significant impacts of the bill are changes to Pell Grants, the federal government’s largest form of financial aid for low-income college students. The bill adds $10.5 billion to the program, and expands Pell Grant eligibility to students in short-term job training programs.
However, it also includes a provision that eliminates the Grad PLUS loan program. This financial aid allowed students to borrow funds to cover their graduate programs, including housing and food expenses.
During the last school year, 400 graduate students at Portland State University used this loan to pay for their programs. That’s more than 8% of the school’s total enrolled graduate students.The bill also takes aim at federal protections for student loan borrowers, limiting the ability to pause student loan payments due to unemployment or financial hardship. And it eliminates a Biden-era plan that made payments more affordable and extended payment plans.
The bill also adds new fees for solar and wind projects on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land, and it introduces new taxes on the energy generated by those projects. Solar panels and wind turbines work to create clean electric power, at Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility in this May 24, 2022 file photo. KRISTYNA WENTZ-GRAFF/OPB
Bikers roar through reservation to raise awareness
BY CHRIS AADLAND
The CUJ
MISSION – Dozens of community members turned out on July 26 to watch a herd of motorcycles thunder through the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
But these weren’t rough and rowdy bikers. Instead of vests covered with patches and other adornments synonymous with infamous motorcycle outfits, these bikers wore ribbon skirts and vests with patches that had messages like “No More Stolen Sisters” and “Women Are Sacred.”
Instead of causing trouble, the all-female group of bikers, part of a group called the Medicine Wheel Riders, had stopped on the reservation on their way to the famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota to help raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.
The group was started in 2019 to help solve problems, like the issues surrounding the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis, facing tribal communities, said Tarah Weeks, one of Medicine Wheel Riders board members. They’ve even helped in searches
for missing Indigenous people.
The nonprofit, she said, is “comprised of Indigenous women, motorcyclists and allies that ride and raise awareness and raise funds for issues that affect our communities.”
“There are many of us. We have members from all over the country and beyond. We now have riders from Canada and Mexico,” Weeks, who was carrying small pictures of several Indigenous girls who had gone missing or been killed, said.
“We’re growing and getting bigger and bigger every year.”
When the group stopped for
the event, which was held at the Nixya’awii Community School, 19 riders from as far away as Wisconsin, Arizona and Hawaii had joined the group for the journey, she said. The group took off from Seattle, had stopped on the Yakama Nation and planned other visits to tribal communities on the way to Sturgis, where the organization holds its largest annual event. The event, attended by more than 50 community members, included speeches CTUIR Youth
CTUIR begins Umatilla language reading group for all willing to learn
BY TRAVIS SNELL CTUIR
MISSION – The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) initiated a trial Umatilla language reading group on July 15 for those interested in learning the language.
CTUIR’s Human Resources (HR) Training is conducting the classes from 3-4 p.m. on Tuesdays in the Nixyáawii Education Center at 46251 Naxš Wínataš on the Nixyáawii Governance Center campus.
“While the class won’t teach you how to speak the language, reading a language is a good way to supplement other language learning,” HR Training Coordinator Gretchen Kern said. “It’s a lowstress way to be exposed to more complicated language use, with no pressure to respond or even understand everything. It’s nice to see how speakers of the language phrase things and to learn from their words.”
Kern said the group, which is open to anyone willing to learn, reads
texts from the Umatilla Dictionary since they are already translated and the spelling and vocabulary (dialect) match the dictionary.
“So it’s easier to look words up and see how they fit together compared
to working with a text or recording from another source,” she said. She said the reading group started with the Pamáwaniča Tkʷátatma
Čná Tiičámpa (The Foods Named Themselves in This Land) from the
Umatilla Dictionary.
If participants have copies of the Umatilla Dictionary they are encouraged to bring them. If not, dictionaries are provided. Also provided are printouts with space for notes.
No prior language experience is needed, and participants can come and go as their schedules allow. Kern said during the classes participants can expect to:
• Learn to use the Umatilla Dictionary to find words,
• Become familiar with reading the alphabet,
• Look up individual words to see how they line up with the translated sentences,
• Be exposed to more Umatilla vocabulary and sentence structures and
• Engage in cultural appreciation through the content of the texts.
Only the Umatilla language will be used because there are already Umatilla texts published in the dictionary, they’re publicly
Dozens of community members turned out on July 26 to watch a group of all-female motorcyclists called Medicine Wheel Riders thunder through the Umatilla Indian Reservation as part of their effort to raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. CHRIS AADLAND/CUJ
Students of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), Umatilla language reading group look over their assignment on July 15 at the Nixyáawii Education Center in Mission, Oregon. Open to anyone, students read texts from the Umatilla Dictionary since the texts are already translated and the spelling and vocabulary (dialect) match the dictionary. JORDAN STEWART/CTUIR
Hunts for mini figurines provide break from grind
BY JORDAN STEWART
Special to The CUJ
MISSION – Brian Fullen’s playful initiative at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Nixyáawii Governance Center is helping brighten the days of his fellow employees.
Recognizing the power of surprise and delight, the Environmental Health & Safety specialist during his breaks strategically hides small colorful figurines inside and outside the building, hoping to bring smiles to co-workers and offering a break from the daily grind.
“I hide them in all parts of the building that most people can go into,” Fullen said. “I don’t go into private places or anything, but hallways, public areas, stairwells, basement, storage area. The walking path is where I might generally hide the ones that more people want and…it makes it a little bit harder to go and find them. But it also gets people out, gets them up from their desk and go walk outside around the building.”
He said the idea started this past fall at home thanks to a child he knows who enjoys searching for items. This led Fullen to buy tiny ducks and hide them for the child to find. Then in November he decided to bring them to work, hiding 200 around the governance center the first day.
“I just noticed everybody started looking around,” Fullen said. “I’ll go out here to the lobby and you’ll see people looking around and searching and looking in all the nooks and crannies, and I just noticed people started smiling. There’s an actual Facebook page on it now, and people will find them, and they post their finds, their treasures that they get. Or I post, like, if I’m hiding certain ones that day, I’ll take a picture, but there are other people hiding them in the building, too. It’s just kind of taken off like wildfire.”
With more employees have joined in hunting and hiding items, people are finding a variety of figurines
BIKERS
Leadership Council member
Johnny Goodrider and from tribal members about their experiences and lasting impact of having family members go missing or be killed, potential solutions to the high rates Indigenous people go missing or face physical and sexual violence, and the need to continue to raise awareness and pressure policymakers to address the problem.
The gathering also included drumming, a round dance, dinner and words from Medicine Wheel Riders about what they are trying to accomplish.
Weeks, who is Navajo and from Arizona, said she appreciated that the event included such an emphasis on younger tribal members, the next generations that will be tasked with building on efforts meant to fix problems in Indian Country.
such as chickens, rabbits, squids, dolphins, Bigfoots and Chewbaccas. Fullen said he’s also got more creative with his hiding, ensuring the search remains engaging.
“I was here at 6:30 this morning hiding figurines already, and there were people here at 6:45 already looking for figurines,” he said. “The most common place will be down in the main area, the main public lobby, but I try to hide them all over, inside and outside, to keep people guessing. Some people have really figured out my favorite spots, so I’m trying to change it up.”
To Fullen, the miniature figurines
aren’t just trinkets but moments of levity and opportunities to connect with colleagues in a fun informal setting. The hide-and-seek activity has fostered a sense of community and camaraderie within the government center, and Fullen recently upped the ante with the introduction of eggs, which come with a perk – free Dutch Brothers cards.
For Jessica Wright, Tribal Court office assistant, the search for figurines has become a welcome disruption to her routine, injecting some playfulness into her breaks.
“Well, I look for them because it’s fun,” she said. “It gives me some-
LEFT: Miniature figurines sit on top of the desk of Brian Fullen, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Environmental Health & Safety specialist, awaiting to be hidden somewhere in the Nixyáawii Governance Center. Fullen began hiding the trinkets in November and the imitative has boosted employee morale.
thing to do. It gets me out of the office, a good walkaround and it makes me laugh…I collect them. I definitely don’t keep two of the same ones, so if I have two of the same, I go and hide the other one.”
Overall, Fullen hopes the thrill of hunting or hiding the figurines just makes people smile.
“I just hope it makes their day. A lot of people love it, and there are a few people I know that can’t get out of their offices, so I’ll go to their office and say ‘here, pick one of these out. And it just makes them happy. It’s fun seeing everybody smiling, and it just brings up the morale.”
Shippentower said she wanted to host the riders to welcome them “to our home” and send “them in a good way on the rest of their journey.”
She said the riders also serve as an example for the CTUIR community, especially for youth tribal members, that they can contribute to solving problems in creative ways no matter what their interests or hobbies are.
And, Shippentower added, showing the community that there are woman pushing into spaces that they traditionally didn’t occupy to raise awareness of issues that often affect them is powerful for people to see.
“That’s one of the answers. That’s one of the ways of healing,” she said, adding that one of the ways of solving problems Indigenous people face is the younger generations “making those connections and making it their responsibility.”
Services and Tribal Tobacco Prevention Program.
The event was sponsored by Amkwaa Advocates, with support from the CTUIR Family Violence
Ampkwaa Advocates is a nonprofit organization, cochaired by tribal member Kola Shippentower, that was formed to support Indigenous communities and raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.
“Women being able to come in and show up like warriors and being just as strong, if not doing the work better, it speaks volumes,” she said. “Having likeminded women coming together to be able to build this awareness is something I think is key to being able to start resolving some of these issues that have been going on in Indian Country.”
Medicine Wheel Riders members hold hands in the Nixyáawii Community School gym. The group stopped on its way to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally to help raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. CHRIS AADLAND/CUJ
ABOVE: Brian Fullen, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Environmental Health & Safety specialist, sits at his desk, which is covered in miniature figurines that he hides around the Nixyáawii Governance Center with the hope they bring smiles to co-workers who find them. PHOTOS BY LEE GAVIN/ CTUIR
The Halluci Nation set for Sept. 20 WRC performance
PENDLETON – Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Eastern Oregon’s premier family and entertainment destination, has announced that internationally acclaimed band The Halluci Nation will perform at the property’s Rivers Event Center on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.
Formerly known as A Tribe Called Red, The Halluci Nation is recognized for its innovative fusion of traditional Indigenous music with electronic dance genres such as hip-hop, reggae and dubstep. Its distinctive sound celebrates the band’s heritage and highlights the modern-day experiences of Indigenous people. Comprised of Tim “2oolman” Hill and Ehren “Bear Witness” Thomas, both enrolled members of First Nations in Canada, the group has won three Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Awards, including Group of the Year in 2018.
In 2025, The Halluci Nation made history as the first independent Indigenous artists from North America to reach 100 million streams on Spotify. The band’s appearances at major festivals such as Coachella and collaborations
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available and they’ve already been approved by Umatilla speakers and the CTUIR to share.
Kern, who holds a Ph.D. in linguistics and has worked as a CTUIR linguist for more than three years, said she leads the group, but Umatilla speakers Fred Hill and Mildred Quaempts offer help with pronunciations and answer questions.
“I’m hoping that once it gets going, participants will be able to work as a group to look up words without a lot of teaching and that everyone will come up with different ways to read that work better for them,” she said. “My role should be to help decode the grammatical explanations in the dictionary, so people can understand grammar and the dictionary in a way that makes sense to them.”
Kern said with the summer reading group being a trial, the goal is to measure any interest in this method of appreciating a CTUIR language.
“If there’s interest in continuing or expanding the group, we can find a time and place and work something out for dictionaries. If people really are up for a challenge, we could see if we can find any shareable Walla Walla or Cayuse/Nez Perce texts to try to work through,” she said.
Brittney Eickstaedt, CTUIR Department of Children and Family Services administrative office manager, said she is taking the class for self-growth.
“I made a tough choice to stay at Pendleton High School when they first opened NCS (Nixyáawii
with the video game Fortnite have introduced new global audiences to the music of Canada’s First Nations and tribes throughout North America. For more information, visit thehallucination.com.
The performance is open to
guests 15 and older. A start time will be announced at a later date.
Tickets can be purchased at wildhorseresort.com, via the Wildhorse App, or in person at the Wildhorse Gift Shop.
Located just off I-84 at Exit 216
Community School) because I was afraid of the influences around me and what path I might take,” she said. “This relates because it was impactful to my exposure to
our culture. Not having things like Youth Council, and Culture Night to join in with, I feel like I lost out on opportunities to learn the language by not attending NCS.”
in Pendleton, Wildhorse Resort & Casino is owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. For more information, visit: wildhorseresort.com.
She said she looks forward to being in the Mission Longhouse and understanding what is being said during prayers and when elders share stories.
“I also look forward to being able to implement it into my daily life with my children, for small things at first, like numbers, colors, food names, then working up to full sentences,” Eickstaedt said.
She added it will take dedication and practice to learn the language, but looks forward to it.
“I enjoy learning new things and the teachers made it fun,” she said. “I appreciate Gretchen and the language teachers providing this opportunity. I feel it will be beneficial to those willing to put in the work.”
For those interested in attending, email training@ctuir.org or call 541-429-7195.
Umatilla Master Speakers Julie Burke and Fred Hill address students of the Umatilla language reading group on July 15 at the Nixyáawii Education Center in Mission, Oregon. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s Human Resources Department is offering the reading group this summer on a trial basis.
PHOTOS BY JORDAN STEWART/CTUIR
Wildhorse Resort & Casino has announced that internationally acclaimed band The Halluci Nation will perform at the property’s Rivers Event Center on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. COURTESY
Gretchen Kern, Human Resources Training coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), addresses the Umatilla language reading group on July 15 at the Nixyáawii Education Center in Mission, Oregon. Left is Umatilla Master Speaker Fred Hill who is helping students with pronunciation and questions.
Shown is a cover of the Umatilla Dictionary, which is used a guiding resource in the Umatilla language reading group. COURTESY
Wildhorse Resort & Casino hosts annual powwow
Nez Perce host Tamkaliks Celebration & Frienship Feast in July
Each July, the Nex Perce homeland becomes a place of reunion for descendants of the original inhabitants of waláwa, the Wallowa country.
Year after year, participants enjoy three days of song and dance, culminating in a walasit service and Friendship feast. Descendants, locals, and visitors attend together. There are many ways to be involved, contribute, and enjoy. Camping and dancer registration is free. Winners and drums are paid in cash. Big ticket raffle items include a buffalo hide and a Pendleton blanket each year. Food and craft vendors are plentiful. All the comforts of town are just a quick walk across the river.
The 33rd Annual Tamkaliks Celebration was held July 18-20.
PHOTOS BY AARON WORDEN/COURTESY
Whitman students collaborate with CTUIR STEM youth
BY DANELI ATILANO
The CUJ
MISSION—A collaborative visit to the CTUIR Native Plant Nursery brought together Whitman College students and K-8 youth from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Summer STEM program for a day of fun learning about native plants.
The visit marked the culmination of a summer-long partnership between Whitman’s HumanCentered Design Summer lab and the CTUIR STEM program. The seven Whitman students, guided by Dr. William Bares, spent the summer creating educational materials about plants, combining science, storytelling and interactive design to engage young learners.
During the visit, students from the Washington Elementary School’s STEM program, whose theme this year was centered on native plants, participated in activities designed by the Whitman students.
“The seven students in the Summer Design Lab created and offered activities including drawing and coloring native plants from live plants shared by Gail Redberg, played card and board games that taught about native plants, and modeled huckleberry plants in clay,” said Dr. Bares.
Prior to the visit, the STEM students created bee puppets, which were used by the Whitman class to produce digital animations that were used at the nursery to teach about pollination and plant
life cycles.
“A lot of what we’ve been doing has been instructional design,” said Summer Design Lab student, Gregory Wolfe. “So, thinking about like how do we design activities that are designed to be educational for appropriate grade levels.”
At the nursery, they were able to put an activity they designed into real life practice. They were
Tribe hires new BMCC liaison
BY CHRIS AADLAND
The CUJ
MISSION — The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) recently hired a new liaison to support tribal member students at Blue Mountain Community College (BMCC).
The CTUIR Education Department announced in July that it had selected Shaundeen Smith, a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation with experience working in education and language revitalization, to serve as the tribal navigator at the Pendleton-based community college.
Smith will serve as a liaison between the CTUIR and BMCC to foster a welcoming environment for tribal members and other Indigenous students, as well oversee BMCC’s annual powwow and be involved in its Native American advisory committee.
She’ll guide students with college readiness efforts and throughout the application process. And when they’re BMCC students, she’ll assist with scholarship applications or finding resources to help pay for college, accessing student services, and choosing classes and enrolling.
Smith replaces Annie Smith, who held a similar position for about 10 years, said CTUIR Higher Education Manager Lynette Minthorn. The position was formerly the Native American Higher Education coach and liaison.
In May, Smith graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She also has a bachelor’s degree from Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas.
After completing undergraduate studies, Smith worked for the Three Affiliated Tribes’ Culture & Language Department as a curriculum specialist.
Over seven years in that position, she said she developed an interest in incorporating tribal language and culture into everyday life and education, which is something she wants to work with the college to incorporate more of in the future.
As a first-generation college student, Smith said she didn’t have many resources to turn to with questions about the enrollment or financial aid processes, or for support from friends and family with higher education experiences.
Smith said she often was hesitant to ask for help when she had questions about navigating the college experience.
She said she hopes to be a familiar person who Native students at BMCC “feel that they can talk to, that they feel like they can trust,” as well as be a person who tribal students turn to with their questions or when they need guidance.
“My main goal is to help tribal members, Native Americans, anybody around here that are firstgeneration college students,” she said. “Since I feel like I know how they feel, it’s going to be easier to answer them.”
able to show the STEM students plant signs they had created that teach the Indigenous names and pronunciation of native plants.
The visit was part of a broader collaboration supported by CTUIR staff, including Gail Redberg, manager of the Tribal Native Plant Nursery and Wenix Red Elk, Public Outreach and Education Specialist for CTUIR’s Department of Natural
Resources. Both visited the classroom earlier in the summer to share knowledge about native plants, First Foods and Indigenous ecological traditions.
The collaboration helped youth explore the connections between plants, culture and science while giving Whitman students realworld experience in educational design.
Whitman College student Roman Di Giulio demonstrates plant signs created by the Whitman Human-Centered Design Summer lab to young STEM students from Washington Elementary School during their visit to the Tribal Native Plant Nursery. COURTESY
Whitman College Associate Professor of Computer Science Dr. William Bares teaches Washington Elementary School STEM program students how to use a digital animation created by Whitman’s Human-Centered Design Summer lab students. COURTESY
Summer Youth Program gives students work experience
From July 1 to Aug. 15, 42 students between the ages of 14 and 18 are working across 14 CTUIR programs and departments.
BY JORDAN STEWART
Special to The CUJ
MISSION — The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is helping local high school students gain real-world experience and explore future careers.
From July 1 to Aug. 15, 42 students between the ages of 14 and 18 are working across 14 programs and departments, including placements at Nixyáawii Governance, Cenger, Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center and Wildhorse Resort & Casino.
SYEP is housed within the CTUIR Education Department’s Higher
Education Program and is designed to reinforce Tribal priorities around youth empowerment, education, and workforce development. Youth employees receive paid, hands-on work experience while contributing to the Tribal community.
Rain. “I really like helping all the kids learn new things and helping them with the stuff they need. I can see in certain ways working in this field in the future.”
“I really like helping all the kids learn new things and helping them with the stuff they need.”
Tatum Rain, a 15-year-old from Pendleton High School, is spending her summer interning at Nixyáawii Community School. Initially, Rain hadn’t envisioned working with 3–5-yearolds, but she said she’s found the experience enjoyable.
“It’s been really fun,” shared
Oregon workforce, higher ed leaders hopeful for federal aid
BY TIFFANY CAMHI OPB
SALEM — Workforce Pell has a number of implementation steps ahead of it, but Oregon’s higher education and workforce leaders are enthusiastic about how it may help students and local economies.
“We’re just so excited to even be at the starting line,” Oregon Community College Association Executive Director Abby Lee said.
Workforce Pell expands federal financial aid to cover short-term, job-specific trainings. These programs include credentials and certificates that help people get entry-level positions in fields such as health care, construction and information technology.
Until now, this type of training has not been eligible for Pell grants — the federal government’s largest form of financial assistance for lowincome college students.
Workforce Pell was part of the budget reconciliation bill that President Donald Trump signed on July 4. It includes an initial set of eligibility and accountability guidelines for the grant, including rules governing program length as well as completion, job placement and earnings benchmarks.
Advocates, especially those with connections to community colleges, have pushed lawmakers to support Workforce Pell for more
than a decade.
Lee said the idea has had bipartisan support for years, but often stalled due to concerns over the quality and eligibility of these short-term programs.
Supporters of Workforce Pell believe it will expand opportunities for low-income students, especially those who are looking to gain skills and enter the workforce on a quicker timeline than what a twoor four-year degree offers.
More than 2,000 students were awarded a certificate or credential in a career and technical education program at Oregon’s community colleges in the 2023-24 school year, according to the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission. Nearly 900 more students got a non-credit workforce training certificate that same year. Under current law, those noncredit bearing programs would not be eligible for Workforce Pell.
At this point it’s unclear how many students could potentially benefit from the grant, but with funding coming online those numbers could balloon significantly.
Workforce Pell could be a boon for the state’s economy, helping industries with shortages fill jobs with credentialed workers in months — or even weeks — rather than years. Jobs in Oregon are projected to grow by 10% over the next nine years, states a 2024 report.
She added that the internship has shown her how much she enjoys helping people and has given her insight into the field of early childhood education. As Rain embraces her new role, her initial reservations have transformed into genuine enthusiasm, opening up potential career paths she hadn’t previously considered.
Sinaloa Eastwood, a 14-year-old student from Weston-McEwen High School, is spending her summer working in the kitchen at
Nixyáawii Community School. Through this experience, Eastwood discovered working in a kitchen is much harder than she had thought. She has learned the importance of hand washing, cooking, monitoring cooking temperatures, as well as keeping everything in the kitchen clean.
Her time in the kitchen has taught Eastwood useful skills she can apply to her personal life. While she has realized that being a chef might not be the career for her, she said it’s given her real-life experience and helped her learn to appreciate how much work kitchen staff do.
As SYEP continues through the summer, participants are gaining skills in responsibility, teamwork, and professionalism — all while supporting Tribal departments and exploring new career paths.
Youth employees in the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Summer Youth Employment Program gather for a photo after orientation. The program places tribal students ages 14 to 18 in paid internships across CTUIR departments to build job skills and explore future careers. SAMMANTHA MCCLOUD/CTUIR
NCS leaders asks BOT to help fill budget gaps
Nixyáawii Community School is funded primarily by the state of Oregon based on the number of students it enrolls, about $10,000 per student. But the school is facing a smaller incoming freshman class from Pendleton Schools.
BY CHRIS AADLAND
The CUJ
MISSION — Nixya’awii Community School (NCS) leaders are seeking a financial boost from tribal leaders to avoid staff layoffs amid projected enrollment declines and resulting budget shortfalls.
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) charter high school made the request during a July 10 presentation to the Board of Trustees (BOT).
The meeting with tribal leaders was an annual recap of the previous school year.
During the meeting, NCS Principal Ryan Heinrich shared updates on enrollment, student demographics, attendance, graduation rates, sports team performance, grant awards, student achievements, and new programs and classes, including construction and business.
But most of the discussion between tribal leaders and Henrich centered on the budget challenges school officials say they will likely contend with in the coming years, unless tribal leaders step in.
“We’re balanced for this year,” Heinrich said. “But moving
forward, we’re not unless we get a huge bump in kids, which I’m not seeing.”
To balance the budget through the initial stages of the school year, Heinrich said the school trimmed about $97,000 in expenses by cutting classroom supply budgets, postponing the purchase of a
their own financial challenges due to flat or declining government budgets and uncertainty around federal funding.
“I appreciate the work that you guys have put in in trimming because we’re all going to have to start tightening our belts because its’ going to be crazy the next four years,” said BOT Treasurer Raymond Huesties.
Still, several board members suggested they would like to consider a formal request for additional funding from NCS in the
“Moving forward, there will undoubtedly be cuts to staff and programs without extra funding. It’s come to a crossroad where we’ve got to ask for some more funding.”
school vehicle, and deciding to not pay junior varsity and third-team sports coaches.
Still, he told the BOT that he couldn’t guarantee that more drastic cutbacks could be avoided for the full year, and in future years, if more money isn’t found.
And since teacher and staff layoffs would be based on seniority, Heinrich said at least a couple tribal members who work at the school would likely be the first to lose their jobs.
The BOT didn’t take any action on the request, and Heinrich didn’t suggest a dollar amount that tribal leaders could provide to cover budget shortfalls.
CTUIR leaders are also facing
Kotek’s exectuive order bans cellphones during school hours
BY NATALIE PATE OPB
SALEM – Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed an executive order on July 2 prohibiting student cellphone use during the school day in all of Oregon’s K-12 public schools after a bill meant to do the same thing died in the 2025 legislative session.
House Bill 2251 would have required all Oregon school districts to ban students from using cellphones from the start to the end of the school day. There were some exceptions, such as for students with disabilities who use cellphones to access education.
Proponents of such a ban argue that cellphones in the classroom are, at best, a distraction. At worst, they say the devices aid bullying and mental health problems.
“Oregon’s schools should be a place where students find belonging, support, and the joy of learning something new,” Kotek said in a statement about the executive order. “The research is clear: cell phone use can create a trifecta of consequences for our young people – mental health issues, safety in school, and distraction from learning.”
Among the opposing voices were some school district leaders. They argued schools should set their own limits on phone use and expressed concern that the bill would create a mandate
they didn’t have the resources to enforce. Yondr pouches used in schools such as Grant High School in Portland to secure phones throughout the school day are estimated to cost $25 to $30 per student.
Some parents also were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to reach their children in the event of an emergency.
Under the executive order, districts’ policies must clarify how personal electronic devices will be stored during the school day.
The policies also have to spell out how school personnel should respond if a student violates the ban. School administrators cannot punish the student in a way that forces them to lose more instructional time, such as a suspension or expulsion.
Model policies from schools that already have prohibitions in place will be made available, according to the governor’s office, but districts will have some flexibility on the specifics of their policies.
The order allows exceptions, including if cellphones are needed for medical reasons or to support students with disabilities whose individualized education program calls for use of the devices.
All Oregon school districts must adopt a policy by Oct. 31, according to the executive order. The policies must be in full effect no later than Jan. 1.
coming months, after enrollment and final state funding figures are confirmed.
The members seemed inclined to support a proposed payment to the school.
“I’m pretty sure that the tribe can cover this,” Huesties said. “I want to find a way to keep our teachers on.”
Enrollment decline strains budget
NCS is funded primarily by the state of Oregon based on the number of students it enrolls, about $10,000 per student.
The CTUIR also provides some funding to the school and has pledged to cover $300,000 of NCS’s
approximately $1.5 million budget for the upcoming school year.
In recent years, the tribe has covered about 28% of the school’s expenses – though the CTUIR’s share of NCS’s budget has decreased from highs of between 38% and 51% at points more than a decade ago, according to NCS officials.
This year, a smaller incoming freshman class from the Pendleton School District means fewer students for NCS and less state funding.
Meanwhile, staff salaries and costs for new programs, such as in-school behavioral support and career training, have increased. Those newer services, and the staff that support them, would be the first to go in the event of further cuts, Heinrich said.
In addition, extra state funding given to NCS during the COVID-19 era has been spent or expired, Heinrich added.
The school’s budget for the coming year is based on a projected enrollment of 75 students.
However, only 13 to 15 freshmen are expected to enroll, while 25 seniors graduated last year, which could bring total enrollment below the 75-student threshold and prompt midyear layoffs.
“Moving forward, there will undoubtedly be cuts to staff and programs without extra funding,” he said. “It’s come to a crossroad where we’ve got to ask for some more funding.”
KAYAK officials honor its employees and clients while reaffirming its services are holding strong unlike some transit services in Oregon.
BY TRAVIS SNELL CTUIR
MISSION – To most people, July 16 is a normal day. But to those with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s (CTUIR) KAYAK Public Transit, it is a day to celebrate National Rural Transit Day.
Observed on July 16 annually since 2019, the day was established by the National Rural Transit Assistance Program to focus on what transit agencies do to recognize passengers and staff.
“It’s a great day for us to recognize our riders, to recognize support from the community,”
KAYAK Public Transit General Manager Shawn Brown said. “We will be recognizing our drivers, and as the drivers come through on their regular schedule through the transit hub here, we will have a cooling station for them and just let them take a break and know that they are appreciated and recognized.”
Brown said not only do rural transit agencies honor the day nationally, but the CTUIR Board of Trustees also passed a resolution earlier this year recognizing National Rural Transit Day not only for this year but in years going forward.
He added KAYAK officials posted about the day’s importance on its Facebook page so passengers could acknowledge the service and drivers.
Owned and operated by CTUIR since 2001, KAYAK provides free commuter bus routes, which primarily connect outlying areas with a central city through a bus service. They are the Hopper, Arrow and Whistler routes. It also offers free fixed routes, which are fixed schedules along specific routes with vehicles stopping to pick up and deliver passengers at specific locations. Those routes consist of the HART, Metro and Tripper buses.
KAYAK also offers American Disability Act (ADA) paratransit services, which are reserved for qualifying people with disabilities
“But for the time being, KAYAK is solid. We’re able to know that our funds are coming and make adjustments to pay our bills in the meantime.”
unable to use a fixed route due to a disabling condition as defined by the ADA.
Paratransit is available within the same areas served by fixed routes and is available to origins and destinations within a width of three-quarters of a mile on each side of a fixed route.
All buses operate Monday through Friday. For suggestions, comments or questions about the schedule, call the dispatch line at 541-429-7519 from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Telecommunications are available for hearing impaired at 1-800-7352900.
For more information on commuter, fixed and paratransit routes, visit https://ctuir.org/ departments/tribal-planningoffice/kayak-public-transit/busschedules/
“I would say in addition to that we also have routes that service the housing areas within the (Umatilla Indian) reservation,” Brown said.
“We also provide a connection into downtown Pendleton so that as we have people that need to move into Pendleton for doctors’ appointments or shopping that we provide a good regular service for that.”
However, as KAYAK’s ridership numbers were peaking in 2019,
agencies are hoping to avoid a legislative pothole that could affect services and jobs.
Brown said the Oregon Legislature failed to pass a transit bill this year, forcing some transit agencies to notify employees of layoffs and service cuts.
“That is not an immediate issue for KAYAK, and in fact, the good news is that some of the things are being fixed,” he said. “It was a combination of state legislative differences and our federal dollars, which also come through the state, were held up because of language that was included where the federal government was requiring states to participate in immigration enforcement.”
Brown said with an injunction on the immigration requirement, federal dollars are being released.
He said as KAYAK waits for the federal funds to come in, he may have to shift funds around within KAYAK’s budget but that was within the agency’s capability.
the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and ridership fell considerably.
“The good news is that our numbers are on the rise,” Brown said. “Over the last two years we’ve consistently been increasing in numbers, and including the quarterly numbers that are just in, if we continue on that same growth curve, we will match the pre-COVID numbers within two years.”
And with numbers rebounding, KAYAK and other state transit
“What remains to be seen is what the (Oregon) Legislature is going to do going forward,” he said. “The state of Oregon needs a transit bill that moves significant portions of all transit agencies’ budgets to them, and the absence of that bill could in the next biennium provide some cuts that nobody wants to look at across the board. But for the time being, KAYAK is solid. We’re able to know that our funds are coming and make adjustments to pay our bills in the meantime.”
A KAYAK Public Transit employee services a KAYAK vehicle at the transit agency’s hub at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Nixyáawii Governance Center in Mission. KAYAK is celebrating National Rural Transit Day on July 16 to recognize its employees and riders. PHOTOS BY CTUIR
A KAYAK Public Transit employee inspects the outside of a KAYAK bus at the transit agency’s hub at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Nixyáawii Governance Center in Mission. KAYAK is celebrating National Rural Transit Day on Wednesday, July 16 to recognize its employees and riders.
Health of US kids has declined since 2007, new study
BY MARIA GODOY OPB
When Dr. Christopher Forrest began his career in pediatrics some 25 years ago, he says it was pretty uncommon to see children come in with chronic conditions. Nowadays, he says anecdotally, more children come into the hospital and even primary care practices with chronic disease.
“They just seem to be sicker. And it turns out they are,” said Forrest, a professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
In a new study in the journal JAMA, Forrest and his colleagues report that the health of America’s children has worsened across several key indicators since 2007.
They found that a U.S. child was 15% to 20% more likely to have a chronic condition in 2023 than a child in 2011. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, sleep apnea and obesity all increased, as did rates of autism, behavioral problems, developmental delays and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Reports of problems such as poor sleep, limited physical activity, early-onset menstruation and loneliness also rose.
“I think the overall message is that children’s health in the United States has been declining for almost two decades,” Forrest said. He said the researchers consulted eight comprehensive data sets, including nationally representative surveys and
millions of electronic pediatric health records.
The researchers also looked at mortality rates for American infants, young children and teenagers and compared them to their peers in other high-income countries over time. Forrest said that back in the 1960s, “the chance that a child was going to die in the United States was the same as European nations.” But that’s no longer the case, he says.
“What we found is that from 2010 to 2023, kids in the United States were 80% more likely to die,” he said.
Among infants, these disparities in mortality were driven largely by sudden unexpected infant death and prematurity. In older children and adolescents, the gap was fueled by gun violence, motorvehicle crashes and substance
New ‘Little’ food pantries help alleviate hunger
BY CHRIS AADLAND THE CUJ
MISSION — A food pantry recently opened on the Umatilla Indian Reservation (UIR) will make it so needy community members will have zero-barrier access to food whenever needed.
Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center announced on July 22 that UIR community members dealing with food insecurity can now turn to two small wooden structures, which are covered in culturally relevant artwork, for free nonperishable food items.
The food pantry boxes are at the July Grounds’ Veterans Memorial and Lucky 7 bus stop.
While there are other resources community members can turn to for food assistance, barriers like eligibility requirements can make it difficult to access some services, Yellowhawk stated in a press release. Other factors, like limited or uncertain future funding levels for assistance programs, can add to the difficulty.
To ensure access to food, Yellowhawk Resource Coordinator Mariah Watchman brainstormed the zero-barrier food pantries, securing grant funding for the project “The Little Free Food Pantry” from the Umatilla Local Community Health Partnership. “With cuts to vital programs via
federal funding and agency time constraints, along with inflation and the cost of loving, these times can be trying and difficult,” Watchman said. “Countless hours of planning and behind-the-scenes work have gone into bringing this project to life for our community.”
Community members are welcome to donate undamaged and non-perishable food items to help stock the pantries.
The goal, Watchman said, is for the project to have “community taking care of community.”
The food pantry boxes will be unattended, but never closed, meaning community members who need it can stop by to grab items whenever they need help.
However, warm weather that leads to internal pantry temperatures higher than 95 degrees will result in the food being temporarily removed to avoid it spoiling. In that case, those with immediate food assistance needs can call 541-240-8703.
The two pantries are within the view of Umatilla Tribal Police Department surveillance. Also, anyone who witnesses vandalism or suspicious behavior near the pantries should contact UTPD.
“This is a great example of collaboration across CTUIR entities, working towards a common goal for our community,” Yellowhawk stated.
abuse.
“In 2020, firearm mortality overtook motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death in U.S. youth,” the authors write.
Dr. Frederick Rivara is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. He co-wrote an editorial that accompanies the new study in JAMA. He said health care coverage is one major reason why American kids seem to fare worse than their peers in other rich nations. He notes that unlike Canada or the United Kingdom, the U.S. does not offer universal health care coverage.
“And now that’s going to get worse with kids being removed from Medicaid,” Rivara said, because of cuts to the Medicaid program for low-income Americans that were included in the tax and spending bill President
Trump signed into law.
According to the Pew Research Center, an estimated 41% of all U.S. children were enrolled in Medicaid as of January.
“While the administration’s Make America Healthy Again movement is drawing welcome attention to chronic diseases and important root causes such as ultraprocessed foods, it is pursuing other policies that will work against the health interests of children,” Rivara and his co-authors wrote. That includes massive budget cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, including to injury prevention programs and the elimination of the Safe to Sleep campaign for babies, aimed at reducing incidents of sudden infant death syndrome, and initiatives that question the safety of childhood vaccines.
Cree Enright Tribal CTUIR Recruiter Support Team
Darren
The number of kids with chronic diseases has risen in the last two decades. LJUBAPHOTO
State pentathlon champ headed to 2026 USA Games
BY RAYMOND FOX SPECIAL TO THE CUJ
PENDLETON — Saint Schimmel, a Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) member and graduate of Nixyáawii Community School (NCS), is officially a state champion.
Schimmel won gold in the pentathlon at the Oregon Special Olympics, earning him a spot at the 2026 USA Games, a national stage that will host more than 3,000 elite athletes from across the country.
The pentathlon is a demanding five-event competition that includes the long jump, high jump, 100-meter dash, 800-meter run and shot put. For Schimmel, his journey wasn’t just about athleticism. It was about family, determination and community pride.
Local readers may recognize Schimmel from his high school days, where he left his mark in multiple sports. He helped Nixyáawii’s basketball team win a state championship and made history as the school’s first crosscountry state qualifier.
His path to the Special Olympics wasn’t typical. Schimmel practiced only once a week with his regional team of athletes from Pendleton and Hermiston. At the regional championship in La Grande, he defeated the reigning state champion by winning two events and earning the highest overall
point total.
Despite stunning the competition, Schimmel and his family knew that if he wanted to win at state, it was going to take more. To prepare his mother, father, sister and brother all helped him with six focused training sessions in just two weeks. The training focused on sharpening technique, improving form and most importantly, strengthening his mindset.
Together, they built not only an athlete ready to compete, but a young man grounded in confidence, culture and heart.
Coached by his dad and sister, Schimmel delivered an outstanding performance at Oregon State University’s track in Corvallis. He won four of five events, set personal records in each and finished with a 400-point margin victory.
Now, his focus has shifted towards the 2026 USA Games, where he will proudly represent on the national stage, not only Oregon and his Hermiston-Pendleton team, but also the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
As an athlete from the disabled community, Schimmel carries with him a powerful reminder that individuals with disabilities have talents, dreams, needs and voices that deserve to be seen and supported. His journey is not just about medals, but about visibility, inclusion and the continued push for equity.
Free youth golf clinics return Aug. 12 with Epson women’s tour
MISSION – The Wildhorse Resort & Casino (WRC) will host two free youth golf clinics in August, offering local kids a chance to learn from professionals with support from Wells Fargo Bank.
The clinics are part of a series of activities for the 2025 Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic. The two halfday clinics, featuring instruction from rising stars of women’s professional golf, will be held Tuesday, Aug. 12, covering swing fundamentals, chipping, putting, etiquette and basic rules. Each session is limited to the first 50 registered youth golfers, with a waitlist available. Participants are encouraged to bring their clubs, if possible.
The morning session will run from 10 a.m. to noon at the Wildhorse Resort Golf Course, while the afternoon session will run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Golf Course at Birch Creek. Registration forms can be found at https://wildhorseresort.com/ epson-youth-golf-clinic-wrc/
“As our fourth year of hosting the tournament and these clinics approaches, it is cultivating these impactful experiences for tribal and local youths that becomes more and more central to the broader vision of growing the game of golf in our region,” said WRC CEO Gary E. George.
Wells Fargo is sponsoring this year’s youth clinics.
“We’re proud to support an opportunity that introduces young players to the game and creates lasting memories alongside professional golfers,” said Sean Kimball, Wells Fargo executive director of the gaming division and relationship manager.
The 2025 Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic is scheduled for Aug. 1517 at the Wildhorse Golf Course, situated on the WRC property.
The tournament will feature more than 140 professional golfers from around the world, competing in a three-day tournament as part of the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card, a season-long points competition for LPGA Tour membership.
General admission tickets are $12 and cover all three competition days. WRC Club Wild members can receive free admission by visiting the players’ desk during the tournament week. Children aged 15 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic tickets can be purchased online at https://www.wildhorseresort. com/2025-epson-tour-page/.
The golf tournament’s success relies on more than 125 volunteers. Individuals interested in volunteering are encouraged to sign up at https://www. wildhorseresort.com/2025-epsonvolunteer-registration/.
Saint Schimmel, a Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) member will represent the CTUIR and Oregon at the 2026 USA Games after winning the Oregon Special Olympics. COURTESY
Yellowhawk holds annual Scholarship Golf Scramble
Fifth annual Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center Scholarship Golf Scramble Winners
First: Pepsi – Dan Mooney, Eddie Unck, Jay Babbit, Dearl Nunes
Second: Umatilla Local Community Health Partnership – Troy and Tom Rodriguez, Cole Sazue, Kyle McGuire
Third: Arrowhead Travel Plaza – Mark Mesteth, Kanim MosesConner, Adrienne Wolf, Marcus Conner
Gross:
First: Wildhorse Resort & Casino – Jeremy, Josh and John Barkley, Louie Quaempts
Second: Team Powaukee – Easton and Kris Powaukee, Nathan Som, Isaiah Moses
Third: Banner Bank – Ryan Munsey, Casey Waddell, Sam Tsiatsos, Derek Primus
MISSION — Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Eastern Oregon’s premier family and entertainment destination, has announced that three professionals have received sponsor exemptions to compete in the 2025 Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic. The tournament, part of the Epson Tour, the official qualifying tour of the LPGA, will take place Aug. 15–17 at Wildhorse Golf Course, located on the resort grounds.
The allowance of three sponsor exemptions enables Wildhorse Resort & Casino to select professionals based on their outstanding performances, combined with potential fan interest, to play in the tournament.
· Selanée Henderson Pendleton, of Philomath, Oregon, played at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), where she was inducted into the UCI Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023. She was runnerup on Golf Channel’s “Big Break Atlantis” in 2012 and was named the 2006 Big West Conference women’s golf athlete of the year. A descendant of the Walla Walla Tribe, Henderson Pendleton’s maternal grandmother was born on the reservation.
· Maisie Filler, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, played collegiate golf at the University of Florida and reached No. 1 in the NCAA rankings in February 2024. She was named a 2024 second-team
All-American by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) and earned first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) honors. Filler is also a four-time SEC Golfer of the Week.
· Lauren Beaudreau, from Lemont, Illinois, competed at the University of Notre Dame and was recognized as a 2024 WGCA All-American honorable mention. She was selected to the 2024 AllAtlantic Coast Conference (ACC) women’s golf team and was named ACC Golfer of the Month in March 2024 (co-selection). Beaudreau claimed an individual win at the 2024 NCAA Division I East Lansing Regional.
“We’re grateful to offer sponsor exemptions to these tremendously accomplished professionals, each representing different regions of the country and helping to shine a spotlight on Eastern Oregon,” said Gary E. George, CEO of Wildhorse Resort & Casino. “It’s especially gratifying to welcome Selanée Henderson Pendleton to our tournament as a descendant of our Tribe.”
The 2025 Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic is scheduled for Aug. 15–17 at Wildhorse Golf Course, situated on the Wildhorse Resort & Casino property. The tournament will feature more than 140 professional golfers from around the world, competing in a threeday tournament as part of the
Epson Tour’s Race for the Card, a season-long points competition for LPGA Tour membership. General admission tickets are $12 and cover all three competition days. Wildhorse Resort & Casino Club Wild members can receive free admission by visiting the player’s desk during the tournament week. Children aged 15 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic tickets can be purchased online by visiting wildhorseresort. com/2025-epson-tour-page.
The success of this golf tournament relies on more than 150 volunteers who perform duties integral to the operation of a professional sporting event. Individuals interested in volunteering are encouraged to sign up here: wildhorseresort. com/2025-epson-volunteerregistration.
The Epson Tour is the qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour and enters its 45th competitive season in 2025. With the support of entitlement partner Seiko Epson Corporation, the Tour’s mission is to prepare the world’s best female professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour. In the last decade, the Epson Tour has grown from 15 tournaments and $1.6 million in prize money to $5 million awarded across 20 events in 2025.
Global solidarity at the mouth of the Klamath
BY JARRETTE WERK
UNDERSCORE NATIVE NEWS
In her home country of Chile, 15-year-old Ianka Purran has a front-row seat to the deterioration of her home river, the Biobío, which is suffering from the impacts of dams.
When Purran, Mapuche Pewenche, heard about a historic descent being planned for the newly free-flowing Klamath River in the United States, she jumped at the opportunity to join the journey, with the hopes of returning home with knowledge and tools for her own community to one day use in resuscitating the Biobío, the second largest river in Chile.
“Seeing the work that these people have done for more than 100 years to get the dams removed has been really inspiring,” Purran said via translator during the recent 310-mile descent of the Klamath that she completed along with 120 other kayakers, including Indigenous youth from around the world.
Listening to the Klamath people speak to the different groups from different parts of the world about their fight and ultimate triumph to free the Klamath River was “powerful,” said Carly Lloyd, translator for Kayakimün, the kayaking school initiative that brought Purran and others from Chile and Bolivia to witness and participate in the descent.
“To share that they can do it, too, even though they are still having dams being built, or these proposals to fight — it’s possible,” Lloyd said. “It feels really, really powerful to bring these people to the dam removal sites and show them what it looks like to take out a dam.”
The historic first descent was organized by Paddle Tribal Waters, a program under the nonprofit Ríos to Rivers, and was years in the making, including the participating youth traveling to rivers around the world, from South America to Africa, where they learned not only the whitewater skills needed for the Klamath descent, rooted in an Indigenous-based curriculum, but also firsthand the similar ways that colonization’s impacts on river systems echo across the globe.
After completing the monthlong Klamath journey in early July, Indigenous youth, tribal leaders and global allies from river basins in Chile, Bolivia, New Zealand, China and the U.S. gathered for the Global Free Rivers Symposium and signed the inaugural Klamath River Accord, demanding the removal of existing dams and an end to the building of new ones worldwide.
In a room at The Historic Requa Inn that overlooks the Klamath River, one by one, they etched their names into history. Through the window, a view of the mouth of the Klamath River stretched out below, where the river meets the ocean, free and unobstructed, at last.
Addressing global problems by returning home Danielle Frank, 21, Hoopa tribal member and Yurok descendant,
played a lead role in organizing the first descent of the newly freeflowing Klamath River, which had been blocked by dams for over a century. Frank, who serves as the Director of Development and Community Relations for Ríos to Rivers and sits on the nonprofit’s board of directors, helped bring together over 120 people from four continents to celebrate the liberation of the river and to strategize for a dam-free future — all while paddling down her community’s lifeline, the Klamath River, in the wake of the largest dam removal and river restoration project in history.
“My family is what turned me into the person that I am,” Frank told Underscore Native News.
Frank’s traditional Hoopa name means “Abalone Eyes,” because she was born with bright green eyes, the color of the abalone shell. But she says that everyone back home just calls her “Ducky,” because she loved the water so much as a little girl.
Growing up on the Hoopa Valley Reservation, the largest reservation in California, Frank was raised by strong Indigenous activists like her father. Her family instilled in her a deep commitment to fighting for clean water and healthy river systems. She attended her first protest at 7 years old with her father. By 10, she was speaking to crowds at dam removal protests in Salem, Oregon. In middle school, she rallied her friends to get permission slips so they could travel to Sacramento, California to provide public comment on water issues. Frank later founded the Hoopa Valley High School Water Protectors Club.
At 17, after high school graduation, Frank moved to Sacramento, where she attended college and continued her work in public policy.
“There was this stigma that you
had to leave to figure out how to do something good,” Frank said. “I kind of believed that at the time, because I didn’t know if I could do anything good here, which is crazy, because there was so much good around me. But I thought that existed everywhere in the world.”
Frank continued to advocate for the water, fish and river people back home while in Sacramento, making the 10-hour roundtrip drive back to the Hoopa Valley Reservation as often as possible. In the summer of 2022, a few community members approached her about an idea to get Indigenous youth out on the water, which turned into Paddle Tribal Waters, a two-and-a-half-week kayak and river advocacy training program for 15 Indigenous youth from the Klamath Basin.
Those few weeks with the first Paddle Tribal Waters cohort inspired Frank to return home. She called her grandparents and told them that she didn’t think she belonged in the city anymore. She hasn’t looked back since.
“Paddle Tribal Waters brought me back home,” Frank said.
“When I met Paddle Tribal Waters,” she continued, “I wasn’t exactly sure what my role in the community was going to be, and then it quickly showed me exactly what I was supposed to be doing.”
In January of last year, the first two cohorts came together for a semester-long kayak training and academic program, developed in partnership with World Class Kayak Academy. The intensive program played a crucial role in equipping students with the skills needed to take part in the Klamath descent. Frank emphasized the importance of reconnecting Indigenous communities with the river and healing generational trauma through cultural and environmental restoration efforts.
“Getting kids connected to their
rivers and being able to be in relationship with the river and the river’s people, especially the young people, was exactly what I was supposed to do with my life. And that’s what Paddle Tribal Waters taught me,” Frank said. “This has been my whole life for years now, and completing it feels insane. It feels like I really got to give back to my community who has done nothing but pour into me since before the day that I was born.”
‘The answer to my ancestors’ prayers’
While preparing to embark on the final stretch of the 310-milelong Klamath journey, Kimora VanPelt, a 20-year-old Hoopa Valley citizen, said words couldn’t describe the significance of the moment, especially for the elders.
“We get to have our culture back, our food back, and we don’t have to worry about that as much anymore,” she said.
“This moment, this right here, is something our people have been waiting for,” said 15-year old Tasia Linwood. “This moment has been prayed for — it’s amazing to be a part of that.”
Linwood, enrolled Karuk and Okanagan, Ojibwe, and a Wampanoag descendant, was among the dozens of Indigenous youth from Klamath River Basin tribes who realized their ancestors’ prayers by descending the freeflowing Klamath River from source to sea. Youth ranging in ages from 13 to 20 represented the Klamath, Yurok, Karuk, Quartz Valley, Hoopa Valley, Warm Springs, and Tohono O’odham Nations.
“It feels great for me to be able to be the answer to my ancestors’ prayers,” said 16-year-old Hoopa tribal citizen Julian To:-Nikya:w Rogers during an interview on the second to last day of the month-
Preparing for this historic moment came with sacrifices. For 15-year-old To’nehwa’n Jayden Dauz from the Hoopa Valley Nation, that meant leaving family behind to travel across the world to train. During the community celebration, his youngest sister was glued to him. “I spent so much time away from my siblings and family, and it’s to the point where every time I go home, my youngest sister just hops on me and doesn’t stay off me,” Dauz said. “The old me would have been like, it’s annoying, because I was around her all the time. But now it’s like, ‘Dang, I really miss spending time with my family.’”
PHOTOS BY JARRETTE WERK/UNDERSCORE NATIVE NEWS
long journey.
“I’ve had a lot of time to myself just thinking,” Rogers said. “I’ve been on this flat water, and I’ve just been alone with my thoughts, and I’ve been in places where I’ve touched rocks that maybe nobody has touched in hundreds of years. I’ve been thinking of my ancestors. I’ve had a lot of family members that have been fighting for these dams, and they aren’t here today, but I’m proud and I’m thankful that they were there and they were fighting for [dam removal]. So for me, I’m super proud to say that I’ve done it. I’m super thankful for them — the people before me.”
Salmon returning to headwaters
For the past three years, youth have had the opportunity to train and learn how to navigate whitewater with kayak instructors from Paddle Tribal Waters. Many students didn’t know what a hardshell kayak was prior to joining the program. They also traveled to different communities and rivers around the world, in addition to learning an Indigenousbased curriculum.
Rogers, his 18-year-old brother ‘A:de’ts-Nikya:w Rogers and their 15-year-old cousin To’nehwa’n Jayden Dauz, all Hoopa Valley citizens, were the only three youth kayakers cleared to complete every section of the 310-mile river descent. In addition, they also kayaked a section of the Trinity River, one of the main tributaries of the Klamath River.
“I didn’t think hard shell kayaking was gonna get me this far in life and give me this many opportunities,” Dauz said.
The World Class Kayak Academy, which organized the international training in far-flung places like Africa, offers high school students the opportunity to continue their education while traveling the globe, paddling iconic rivers and immersing themselves in diverse cultures.
Dauz and Ruby Williams participated in two separate 13week programs in Africa and Canada this past fall. Even though they were thousands of miles and oceans away from everyone and everything they had ever known, they were that little slice of home for each other through it all.
“Me and Ruby have been kayaking together for two years now, and I’ve kayaked with her the most out of anybody here,” Dauz said. “I love hanging out with [her], because we’re so connected and we know each other.”
Williams, Quartz Valley citizen and Karuk person, celebrated her 18th birthday on the second day of the month-long descent.
“June 13. I’ll remember it forever,” Williams said with an exhausted chuckle. “Now that was the hardest birthday. We just paddled for a whole day straight, 20 miles.”
Williams grew up hearing that the Klamath River was “disgusting” and that she should never swim in it. But now, after completing the descent down the river, she has seen firsthand how much has changed since the last dam was
removed.
She recalled the stories her grandfather used to tell — about what the river once looked like, how the salmon runs were abundant, and how beautiful it all used to be before she was born. Then she remembered growing up and seeing how sick the river had become.
But since the dams have been removed, what was once a river choked with toxic algae is now returning to its original “steelhead green” color, Williams said.
“It looks beautiful,” Williams added. “It looks like it always should have been — and how it needs to be.”
A few months ago, while scouting the route, Williams and Dauz were surprised to see juvenile salmon swimming alongside them, already making their way back to the headwaters.
“I saw salmon above where Iron Gate Dam used to be, and they’re not loading them into trucks. I saw that guy swim all the way up,” Williams said. “He knew his way after all these years.”
‘The work is far from done’
Kayaking through the stretch of river where the Iron Gate Dam once stood was emotional for Frank.
“I wish my dad could see this,” Frank said. “My dad was a very important person to me my whole life. He passed away in 2021 when things were a final ‘yes’ for the dam removal.”
Frank remembers sitting with her father and sharing the news that the dams were going to come down. But he never got to see it.
“That’s kind of what I was thinking about coming through Iron Gate, not just my dad, but all the people who fought for dam removal, who were not there physically to be part of this monumental moment,” Frank said. “And so it made me just very grateful that I’m alive to see this.”
Frank at first felt a hole with the absence of all those who came before, who fought for this moment.
“Then I turned around and I saw the kids, and I was like, ‘Oh, the hole’s filled. There’s good people who are seeing this. There’s a reason the water waited for this moment, and it’s because of these guys,’” she said. “And so it was a really emotional moment for me, and I felt very grateful to be part of this family that gets to help heal our river and part of this community.”
There will always be water wars if society continues to be guided by a colonialistic and capitalistic mindset, Frank said.
But the descent was an opportunity for the youth of the Klamath Basin and beyond to talk to the river, talk to the people and talk to the world — to remind them that rivers are central to their being.
“Dreams come true and hard things happen,” Frank said. “We brought all these other Indigenous people out here to dream with us about what our future looks like because the dams are out.”
“The work is far from done,” she added. “Actually, it just started, and we have decades of restoration to be done.”
IN REMEMBERANCE
Chief William H. “Bill” Burke
October 18, 1930 – May 28, 2025
His family would like to thank everyone who came to help us prepare for his funeral, we cannot tell you how much we appreciate you! Also, all that came to pray and sing with us on his last days in the hospital, THANK YOU!!!
Bill Burke family
“God be with you till we meet again.”
BE PREPARED FOR A WILDFIRE
May 2018
FEMA V-1013/
May 2018
A wildfire is an unplanned fire that burns in a natural area such as a forest, grassland, or prairie.
as a forest, grassland, or prairie.
Often caused by humans or lightning
Often caused by humans or lightning
Can cause flooding or create problems with transportation, gas, power, and communications.
Can cause flooding or create problems with transportation, gas, power, and communications.
Can damage your property. Set up defense zones to protect your home.
Can damage your property. Set up defense zones to protect your home.
ARE UNDER A WILDFIRE
Can happen anywhere, anytime. Risk increases with little rain and high winds.
Can happen anywhere, anytime. Risk increases with little rain and high winds.
IF YOU ARE UNDER A WILDFIRE WARNING, GET TO SAFETY RIGHT AWAY
IF YOU ARE UNDER A WILDFIRE WARNING, GET TO SAFETY RIGHT AWAY
Leave if told to do so.
Leave if told to do so.
If trapped, call 911.
If trapped, call 911.
Listen for emergency information and alerts.
Listen for emergency information and alerts.
Use an N95 mask to keep particles out of the air you breathe.
Use an N95 mask to keep particles out of the air you breathe.
CTUIR Office of Air Quality
Summer Air News Update Open Burning is Prohibited
The CTUIR Office of Air Quality recommends regularly changing HVAC and furnace filters. During smoke events, check if MERV 13-rated filters can be used. If they are not suitable, consider using a HEPA filtration system or a box fan equipped with a MERV 13 or higher filter. A message from the Tribal Fire Dept: "Please ensure that your home has a defensible perimeter during fire season"
For Agricultural or Forestry Permit Holders, please call the Office of Air Quality at 541429-7080 to discuss & plan Fall 2025 burning schedules or update your 2025 permits.
For Local and/or National Air Quality status, visit: AirNow.gov
Cultural & Ceremonial burning
For Ceremonial Burning, please contact Public Safety @ 541-278-0550 to inform them of and obtain a verbal permit to complete any religious or subsistence burning.
