BY LINDSEY X. WATCHMAN, General Council Chair T’ac leeheype oykalo himiyuume kaa laawtiwama (good day relatives and friends). At the Elders’ listening session held on October 20, 2023, at Wildhorse, Mr. Richard Sam asked a question about the Board’s recent decision to expand alcohol sales on the Umatilla Reservation…specifically at Arrowhead Truck Plaza. Mr. Sam stated he was unaware of…
Category: Opinion
From Pendleton to Line 3 in Climate Solidarity
Guest Column by Colleen Sanders and Jessi Pedersen These last several months have been a marathon of challenges for everyone; as the Covid-19 pandemic still continues, record-setting “heat bubbles” have scorched the Pacific Northwest, even as the skies have been choked with smoke from local and regional wildfires burning through a historic drought. It would be foolish for us to…
Conserving groundwater key to drought response
By John Barkley of the Department of Natural Resources While the western United States is alit with mega forest fires exacerbated by extreme drought and record-setting high temperatures, water resources are precariously evaporating and dwindling, threatening our environment and economy. Over one million acres are on fire; some close to home in our aboriginal lands that can have devastating impacts…
Guest column: Remembering elite firefighters killed in the line of fire
This fire related story begins decades before I was born in August of 1963. During the late 1940s-60s, my grandfather, the late Walter Gene Pond, became a supervisor of fire crews for the BIA, after he served four tours in the Phillipines during World War II. Thereafter, my father Ron Pond picked up the fire torch to become the first…
Brigham: An update from the Chair of the Board of Trustees
First would like to let everyone know that the BOT wants to congratulate all of our students who graduated in 2021 including Head Start, 8th graders, high school and college/university students. 2020/2021 was a very difficult school year but when we saw you graduating you sure made us all very proud. On June 18th the BOT had lunch with about…
Willamette Falls is a Part of Our Heritage for Many Reasons
By The CTUIR Board of Trustees The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) has a long history of traditional use of Willamette Falls and the surrounding region, a history spanning from time immemorial to today. Willamette Falls was and is an inter-tribal fishery utilized by tribes throughout the Pacific Northwest, including but not limited to the CTUIR, the…
Message to Tribal members, ‘RE: Absentee Ballots’
Hello Tribal Members, we are entering another CTUIR election season. The Tribal Election is on November 9, 2021. All Board of Trustees Officer and At-Large positions and all General Council Officer positions will be on the ballot. Candidates seeking these positions must pick up nomination petitions from the Election Commission and submit those completed petitions by August 31, 2021. Tribal…
Retrospect: One year later after having low spirits
Looking back in the journal I kept for 2020, it is surreal how much I was hurt last year from July to November. Last year, I tested positive for Coronavirus days after the Fourth of July. It is still hard to pinpoint how or when I contracted the sickness, but I know it was before the start of July. There…
Coyote Stories: R.I.P. DMX
If you’re from an Indian reservation and were born between the 1970s and 90s, there’s a good chance DMX’s music played a big part in your life. Earl Simmons — also known as DMX — was one of the most prevalent storytellers of my generation. Tragically, he passed away on April 9 at age 50. Most of my 35 years…
Uniquely Umatilla: Prayer Power in the Rotunda
NPR and a iHeartRadio were silently and then loudly conflicting as I attempted to get a miniature sound bar working in my new office on March 22. As I resolved the issue that morning, I heard an overpowering sound in the distance. There was a bell, a few booming voices and a slow migration to a small circle in the…