Voice spring 2018

Spring

2018

(Voice) Of the Pend Oreille River Valley

A supplement publication of the Newport and Gem State Miner Newspapers

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Editor’s Note The Inland Northwest is steeped in a rich history that has no beginning and no end. As the Coeur d’Alene Tribe puts it so eloquently, the Native American tribes’ sovereignty comes from the Creator, inherited since the beginning of time.

We wanted to explore that history, from five tribes that make up the Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho region: Coeur d’Alene, Spokane, Colville, Kootenai and the Kalispels, who call Pend Oreille County home.

We wanted to hear these stories from the tribes themselves, so the words in this publication come from their voices, letting us in on their past, which in many cases is painful, and the future. All of these tribes are making big impacts on our communities, supporting community programs, improving the economy and protecting the environment.

We’ve learned a lot in assembling these pages, and we hope our readers do too. We want to thank those five tribes for their efforts in telling their stories, and for all they do in our region for all of us.

There’s a lot of lessons to be learned from the Kalispels, the Colvilles, the Spokanes, Coeur d’Alenes and Kootenais; lessons from our collective past, lessons in what they are trying to do for our futures.

-MCN

INDEX KOOTENAI TRIBE OF IDAHO Page 4

SPOKANE TRIBE Page 8

KALISPEL TRIBE OF INDIANS Page 14

COEUR D’ALENE TRIBE Page 18

CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE COLVILLE RESERVATION Page 22

Voice PUBLISHED: May 2018 PUBLISHER: Michelle Nedved WRITERS & EDITORS: Sophia Aldous and Don Gronning DESIGN: Brad Thew ADVERTISING: Lindsay Guscott, Cindy Boober and Micki Brass

Spring Voice

VOICE is published quarterly as a supplement to The Newport Miner and Gem State Miner, 421 S. Spokane, Newport WA 99156.

TELEPHONE: 509-447-2433 E-MAIL: minernews@povn.com FAX: 509-447-9222 Reproduction of articles & photographs is prohibited without permission of the publisher.

See all issues at The Miner Online: www.pendoreillerivervalley.com

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Kootenai Tribe of Idaho celebrating triumphs Fishery, casino

COURTESY PHOTO|VALLEY STUDIO

The Kootenai Tribe collects a toll in this 1974 photo as part of its efforts to pressure the federal government to recognize the tribe. It worked and the tribe’s 12.5 acre-reservation was recognized. It has since grown to about 2,500 acres.

BY CLARA DUNNINGTON

The Kootenai People have resided in their traditional lands that spanned from southern British Columbia to northwest Montana and north Idaho since time immemorial. Throughout the changing face of civilization, they have had their fair share of setbacks but can also celebrate many triumphs.

After not attending the signing of the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 and the commission of the U.S.Canadian border, the individual bands of the Tribe were separated into the current reservation system.

The remaining band that was living in Idaho was left landless until the enactment of the Dawes Act of 1887. Ultimately, Kootenai band members were allotted lands in their family names to learn to farm and maintain the lands according to the new way of life.

LOST ALLOTMENTS During the first part of the new century, there

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were many language barriers and as the years passed, many families lost their allotments by unfair negotiations and practices to non-native farmers.

The Canadian heirs, separated by the international border also posed an issue that left many of the allotments in fractionated ownership along with non-Indian owners. Over the years, the fractionated ownership has left a standing problem in the Tribe’s mission to continue to establish a more comprehensive land base.

The Kootenai people, landless and neglected by the U.S. Government had dwindled down to 67 members by 1965. The housing was inadequate and dilapidated to below poverty level. Due to the nearly uninhabitable living conditions at the Indian mission, elders were in extremely poor health.

Alcoholism was rampant and contributed to the deteriorated emotional and physical health of both the elders and the younger generation. The effects of alcoholism left young children without parents,

grandparents or other extended family and the young mothers were encouraged to send their children away to boarding schools. In the worst cases, children were removed by the state welfare system and put into foster care or children’s homes and adopted out.

Traditional family value systems were lost in the shuffle and this led to cultural identity loss as they were often never to return to their families and homes for many years.

TRIBE DECLARE WAR

By September of 1974, only a handful of surviving elders remained. With one elder on the Tribal Council along with a young leadership, change needed to be made due to the continued neglect of the federal government in their trust responsibilities to the Tribe and war was declared by the Kootenai CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Spring Voice

Kootenai Tribe bringing back once plentiful fish

Kootenai River white sturgeon and burbot (also known as ling, the only freshwater cod) are at the top the Kootenai River food web.

Both fish were once plentiful in the Kootenai River and were part of a culturally important Tribal fishery and a well-loved recreational fishery.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Kootenai sturgeon as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1994.

In 1988, long before Kootenai sturgeon were listed, the Kootenai Tribe began work to restore the population. In 1992, the Tribe released the first hatchery-reared sturgeon from the Kootenai Tribal Hatchery near Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

The remarkable fish can live as long as 100 years and females don’t reach reproductive age until they

FROM PAGE 4

Tribal members in Idaho as an effort to force the government’s promise of assistance.

After a month of strained negotiations and meetings with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Congressional representatives, tensions were relieved

by Senate Bill 634, signed by President Ford, that deeded the Kootenai Tribe a small land base of 12.5 acres and federal recognition as a Tribe along with funding to build up the community with new roads, adequate Tribal housing and a Community Center.

From 1976 to 1978 Tribal members were able to demolish the decrepit housing and rebuild modern adequate housing complete with electricity and water and continued to plan for future generations. By 1985, through hard work, perseverance and determination, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho broke ground on the Kootenai River Inn. This would be the cornerstone of their future endeavors including more housing, education funding, jobs and a larger land base.

Spring Voice

are in their 30s.

Lower Kootenai burbot once had multiple populations in Idaho, Montana, and British CoCONTINUED ON PAGE 6

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCLUDES HATCHERY, CASINO In 1991, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho opened the Kootenai Tribal Sturgeon Hatchery, a project to act as a stopgap of non-recruitment of sturgeon spawning activities, a problem caused by the diking system and the building of the Libby Dam in 1972. Although the sturgeon is still listed as an endangered species, the efforts of the Tribe and their hatchery has not gone unnoticed, and in the tireless hard work to recover the sturgeon the Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Project has come to light bringing with it new ideas and innovations that have had widespread recognition on an international level. In 1996, the Kootenai Tribe signed a gaming compact with the State of Idaho and Indian Tribal Gaming was introduced and another Tribal enterprise was born, allowing for more job and educational opportunities for both Tribal members and the surrounding community as the relationship between the Tribe and the non-native community had greatly

improved along relationships with state, federal and other agencies.

TRIBE PARTNERS WITH COUNTY, CITY With drastically reduced racial tensions, a partnership was created in 2001 with the Tribe, the City of Bonners Ferry and Boundary County to form the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative.

KVRI is a collaborative forum bringing together key players including government agencies and local community members to develop common ground and areas of agreement for natural resource management. The work of KVRI involves improvements to wildlife habitat, water quality, and creating a forest landscape that is diverse and resilient … and capable of providing products to maintain community economic viability.

In 2015, the Kootenai Tribe opened a second hatchery dedicated to the recovery the burbot species, another casualty of the Libby Dam and other limiting factors. Working with the University of Idaho, the Kootenai Tribe

continues to be successful in its fishery and wildlife programs.

The Kootenai Tribe has taken the lead in efforts to revive the endangered Selkirk caribou and grizzly bear recovery efforts. As stewards of the land, we have been able to succeed in keeping our covenant with our creator.

HEALTH CLINIC, WELLNESS CENTER FORMED The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho has been able to build up our community by constructing a Health Clinic for the Tribal community, as well as a Community Wellness Center.

The Tribe is proud to be one of the largest employers in Boundary County, and through the success of our gaming endeavors we have been able to make substantial financial contributions to the surrounding schools as well as continue to support higher education for its own tribal youth.

Through self-determination, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho will continue to work towards better health, higher education, and financial security for generations to come.

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A youngster concentrates on netting burbot, a fish that the Kootenai Tribe is bringing back from the brink of extinction.

FROM PAGE 5

lumbia but are now functionally extinct, meaning without intervention there aren’t enough fish left to avoid extinction.

The Tribe is working to reestablish this local population using brood stock from Moyie Lake in Canada.

In 2005, the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative completed a Burbot Conservation Strategy, which incorporated a multilateral conservation agreement to protect and restore native burbot. The Tribe and their partners have worked for many years to identify and develop methods to culture burbot – something that hadn’t been successfully done anywhere.

The Tribe now has two hatcheries. The Kootenai Tribal Hatchery, where Kootenai sturgeon are raised, is located near tribal headquarters near Bonners Ferry.

The Twin Rivers Sturgeon and Burbot Hatchery is located at the confluence of the Moyie and Kootenai rivers and produces both sturgeon and burbot.

The Kootenai Tribe’s conservation aquaculture program is the cornerstone of an integrated Tribal effort to restore healthy, self-sustaining populations of both of these iconic fish.

The program is a central component of an international effort to coordinate transboundary recovery of these two species. This program is one piece of an integrated effort to restore ecosystem functions in the Kootenai River basin.

The Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Program (KRHRP) is a large-scale, ecosystem-based habitat restoration program to restore and maintain Kootenai River habitat conditions that support all life stages of Endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon, burbot and other native fish. The KRHRP is being implemented in a 55-mile section of the Kootenai River in Idaho.

Funding for the KRHRP comes primarily from the Bonneville Power Administration through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program.

Spring Voice

COURTESY PHOTO|KOOTENAI TRIBE

The Kootenai Tribal Council today. The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho is divided into three districts based on family groups. Members of the Kootenai Tribal Council are selected from the districts from which they are members. Elected officials serve a four-year term. Pictured are Velma Bahe, Ron Abraham, Kym Cooper, Gary Aitken, Jr., Angela Cooper, Desire Aitken, and Dianne David (not pictured Rex Aitken and Jennifer Porter).

Spring Voice

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Stickgame traditional game of chance

The Native American tradition of gaming has a long history and is much broader than people realize.

The origin of stickgame started out as a traditional game of chance. We’ve been gamblers since time immemorial. Men had separate games from the women. This was due to the medicine that was attached to the game.

Twenty-one sticks were played and the game sometimes lasted for days. In the 1950s the game was illegal if done at the home of individuals that played the game for their enjoyment. Tribal and

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local police would come into the homes and arrest everyone for gambling. Sometimes people of religion would try to stop it due to their views on gambling. But the Spokane people were strong in their traditions that held on to the game.

When people would arrive at a tribal celebration, you could hear the stickgame and know who was playing by the songs they were singing. Now days when you arrive at the celebration you don’t know who is playing because the CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Spring Voice

Remembering Spokane Tribal Ancestors

BY WARREN SEYLER SPOKANE TRIBAL MEMBER

The Spokanes, Coeur d’Alene, Yakamas, Palouse and other scattered bands of the plateau were in the midst of a war, doing battle against the U.S. military. Up until May 1858, the Spokanes were considered a friendly group of people. But faced with losing their homelands, fishing sites and being pushed to another part of the country, they took up arms.

On Sept. 1, 1858, the Battle of Four Lakes had begun. On Sept. 5, the Battle on Spokane Plains takes place. Warriors were fighting for our land and country, willing to give up their lives for what they believed in, taught to them by their ancestors. In July of that same summer a leader spoke of how far they would go to save all that they knew, “Let father and son fall together, it will be dark, too dark to see.”

September 23, 1858: 1858 was a year of war and turmoil for the Spokane and other local tribes. After the battles of Steptoe, Four Lakes and Spokane plains, and following the Horse Slaughter of 900 horses (mostly Coeur d’Alene) and the Coeur d’Alenes signing a peace treaty at the Cataldo Mission with Colonel Wright – the Spokanes, too, were forced to a sign a peace treaty at Hangman Creek. This took place on Sept. 23, 1858. This peace treaty was signed by Spokanes including Chiefs Polotkin, Garry and Skulhault.

It was at this place were Yakama War Chief Qualchan was hung (who Qualchan golf course is named after). Today a monument can be found on this site, telling of six warriors being hung on one occasion.

Later in an interview a soldier claims there were as many as 27 warriors hung following the Horse Slaughter.

Tribal people for the past 160 years have kept a story and song alive in remembrance of this time in our history. The Hangman song and story has been passed down from generation to generation.

Spring Voice

BPA celebrates 25-year anniversary of Spokane Tribal Hatchery On Wednesday, June 29, 2016, the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Bonneville Power Administration signed a new agreement that promises BPA ratepayer support of the Spokane Tribal hatchery for another 25 years. The agreement also includes funding for hatchery modernizations and improvements.

BPA began funding the Spokane Tribe of Indians hatchery in 1990, in part, for the environmental impacts of Grand Coulee Dam. Completed in 1939, Grand Coulee flooded the Spokane Tribe’s ancestral homelands and blocked salmon from migrating to the tribe’s traditional fishing sites.

The operation of Grand Coulee has also negatively affected resident fish populations, such as trout.

The Spokane Tribe of Indians has taken a leadership role in bringing fish back to the river, developing a restoration and enhancement program for Lake Roosevelt that includes a fish hatchery for rainbow trout and kokanee salmon.

“Historically, the Spokane Tribe was known as a river and fishing people, culturally defined, in part, by the bounty of salmon that returned annually to tribal fishery grounds,”

says Tim Peone, Spokane Tribal member and Hatchery manager.

“The hatchery program is meant to be more than just a fish production facility, it provides a remembrance and pathway for tribal members to reconnect with the river and its fisheries.”

Today, the Spokane Tribe manages the hatchery in coordination with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sherman Creek Hatchery and the Lake Roosevelt Rainbow Trout Net Pen Rearing Project.

“We realize the hatchery doesn’t bring back what was lost 80 years ago, but BPA is committed to protecting and improving conditions for the area’s resident fish populations,” says Lorri Bodi, BPA’s vice president of Environment, Fish and Wildlife. “We want to help preserve and fortify tribal culture and the indigenous knowledge that enriches our entire region.”

Annually, the hatchery produces approximately 100,000 kokanee salmon and 750,000 rainbow trout for release into Lake Roosevelt. Additionally, the hatchery also proCONTINUED ON PAGE 11

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Stickgame is fun

No two ways about it, stickgame is fun, as a look at these women’s faces show. Stickgame is characterized by singing and of course, gambling. Money and items are wagered.

FROM PAGE 8

people borrow songs due to loss of our Elders Culture. The Elders received this song from their medicine by going into the hills or however the song came to them. There are similarities between many of the games played in different regions. Game rules changed from tribe to tribe and the materials that the games were made of varied from region to region, reflecting the differences in available resources. The purpose of the games also changed depending on the tribe and the region. Some games were played by specific people or were played

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at specific times of the year, while some were related to religious activities, ceremonies, or festivals.

Stick game is a guessing game, played with a striped bone and a plain bone. One team member hides the bones behind his or her back, mixes them up, then brings the bones out, one each held in closed hands. A person from the other side tries to guess the striped bone. If the person guesses right, their side gets the point. If they guess wrong, the other side gets the point.

Spring Voice

Spokane Salish taught in public school

BY DEVON J. PEONE

The Spokane Tribal Language Program currently has three teachers in the Wellpinit School District. Here the Language Program is teaching students from K-12.

We currently are on second year with our “Back To The Heart Immersion School.” In this school we have four teachers with nine children ages 3 to 6. They attend school, Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. These students are able to teach and learn their culture and language in an immersion setting.

Our Head Start Program has more than 50 students that range in ages 3 to 5. One of the teachers from the STOI Language program will teach Monday through Thursday. We also hold afternoon classes throughout the

week at Ford, Wellpinit, and West End for whoever else wants to learn. Adults and the youth are welcomed.

The Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS) is a tool that is used to measure the status of a language in terms of endangerment or development. A rating of 8-9 means the language is classified as a dying language, with the child-bearing generation no longer able to transmit the language to the next generation, since the only fluent users are above that age. Revitalization efforts need to develop mechanisms outside the home in order to transmit the language.

About 13 percent, or 922 of the 7,097 known living languages in the world fall into this category.

With our language being an 8 on the GIDS Scale, it has made this time

more critical than ever to do what we can to save our language. If we don’t do something now, we would see our language die.

However, with the help of our speaking Elders, dedicated teachers, hardworking trainees and passionate youth we will see a day where many Tribal and non-Tribal members speak Spokane Salish.

I personally do not want to wit-

ness where there is a time when are no more elders speaking and no new learners. Our language is very healing, and often leads us into more of our cultural ways. I am proud to be a Spokane Tribal Member who is learning, speaking, and saving our language. With the help from our Elders and our youth, I am confident that our language will continue to be spoken for many years to come.

FROM PAGE 9

duces 6,000 rainbow trout yearlings for annual release into inland lakes on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The tribal hatchery consists of 44 indoor-outdoor raceways and employs five full-time and four seasonal employees.

Artifacts, photos and reading panes chronicling historical fisheries, tribal subsistence and the cultural significance of the river are on display at the Spokane Tribal Hatchery – open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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VISION STATEMENT

The Kalispel Tribe of Indians is rich in heritage. Our traditions have taught us cultural pride, and working together continues the advancement of our people. Our children are raised in a caring environment and grow up to lead responsible and productive lives.

The Kalispel people are highly educated with the Kalispel and Cusick schools preparing community members to attend institutions of higher learning. Working with both children and adults, the system provides a well-rounded education that includes tribal history and culture. With community members involved in leadership at all levels, students are assisted and encouraged to pursue individual and community goals.

We are highly successful business people who have expanded our land base to help create ample housing opportunities and meaningful employment for our people, many of whom are self-employed. The Kalispel Tribe lives in harmony with nature and is a recognized leader in wildlife habitats and fish hatcheries.

The Kalispel Tribe of Indians is the center for complete health care. At the heart of the operation are beliefs that a healthy and active lifestyle brings a long, prosperous life.

COURTESY PHOTO|KALISPEL TRIBE OF INDIANS

Two young Kalispels enjoy riding horses.

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Spring Voice

K

CURRENT DEMOGRAPHICS The Kalispel Indian Reservation is located in Usk, Wash., in Pend Oreille

County.

Location: 55 miles north of Spokane, along 10 miles of the Pend Oreille River and 40 acres of trust land in Airway Heights.

More than 460 members.

Approximately 40 percent of current membership is under age 18 and the smallest percentage of members is the Tribal elders.

Tribal Residence: 1/3 live on the Reservation, 1/3 live in Spokane, 1/3 live throughout the rest of the United States.

BUSINESS ENTERPRISES When it comes to business endeavors, the spirit of mutual benefit directs

our strategy to choose ventures that positively impact not only the Tribe, but also the surrounding community. Our various business enterprises allows us the opportunity to provide living wage jobs to close to 2,000 people and contribute millions back to our local economy.

Kalispel Tribal Government (Usk, WA) Crossroads Family Restaurant (Cusick, WA) Kalispel Tribal Economic Authority (Airway Heights, WA) Kalispel Development Company (Airway Heights, WA) Northern Quest Resort & Casino (Airway Heights, WA) Kalispel Golf and Country Club (Spokane, WA) Kalispel Linen Services (Airway Heights, WA) Two Fatburger franchises (Northern Quest Resort & Casino, and 5-Mile location) Two Chevron fuel stations and convenience stores (Airway Heights, WA) Kalispel Tribal Utilities (Airway Heights, WA)

CHARITABLE GIVING The Kalispel Tribe believes in being a strong community partner and strives

to achieve that through our commitment to supporting our neighbors. The Kalispel Charitable Fund was established to support the work of the numerous non-profit organizations of Spokane and Pend Oreille counties. Over the past decade, the Kalispel Tribe has donated more than $15 million to over 300 area charities.

LANGUAGE PRESERVATION The traditions and language are what make the Kalispel people who they

are today. The language ties the tribe to the land, their relations, and their past. At the beginning of the millennium, with only a handful of Tribal elders who could speak fluent Salish, they were in danger of losing the native language. They developed the Kalispel Language Program in an effort to reclaim and preserve our Salish Language, as well as create a new generation of native language speakers. Over the last several years, they have continued to strengthen and expand the program, and are beginning to see their efforts pay off. Before, Salish was only spoken at cultural events, such as funerals, wakes, memorials, and gatherings, and it was only spoken by elders. Now, it can be heard throughout the community. Through the Language Program, a new generation of Salish speakers has given life to a part of Kalispel culture that was once in danger of extinction.

GOVERNMENT The Kalispel Business Council, consisting of five Tribal Members, is a self-

governing entity which oversees services, programs, business endeavors and is the policy-making body of the Tribe with legislative authority. Council members are democratically elected by the tribal membership and serve three-year terms. The Kalispel have enjoyed stable government for generations, as exemplified by our current chairman, Glen Nenema, who has held the Chairmanship for over 38 years and is the longest-serving Tribal Chair in the country.

Kalispel Tribe Spring Voice

CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

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A River And A People In history and in experience, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians can be considered unique in its dealings with the white man. The Kalispels say they have been perhaps more cordial and hospitable than most Indian tribes, accepting and even requesting religious figures to come among them to live and teach. On the other hand, the Kalispels have been more isolated and neglected in its relationship with the Federal Government.

In fact, while most other tribes were established on reservations in the late 1800s, the Kalispels, for all practical purposes, had no relationships with the federal government until 1914 when their reservation was finally established along the Pend Oreille River some 50 or more years after what historians call the “reservation period.”

Like other tribes, the Kalispels have been profoundly influenced by their environment, the greatest cultural influence seem to have come from the environment created by the Pend Oreille River which they call “ntxwe”, a Kalispel word which, it is said, symbolically reduces all other streams to an inferior status.

The traditional homeland of the Kalispel surrounding “ntxwe” was vast and abundant. It included the mountains, river, lakes and prairies that stretch like several entwined strands of green, blue and silver beads from the Pend Oreille Lake to where Paradise, Mont., now stands and northwestward across northeastern Washington to the mouth of the Salmo River, just over the international border in British Columbia. It was “ntxwe”, the Pend Orielle River, which bound together one end of the Kalispel country to the other, some 200 miles in length.

It was from this river that Kalispel culture arose.

Here the Kalispel people built winter villages and established summer root digging camps. In the mountain masses that flanked the river they hunted deer, caribou and bear and trapped many kinds of smaller animals.

In the thickets on the prairies and in the low hills beside this river the Kalispel gathered their summer and fall berries for drying. From the Pend Oreille and its smaller tributary streams and in the lakes that drained into the river, they took fish with spears and basket trap weirs.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Kalispel History During the mid to late 19th century, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians worked to preserve their culture and way of life in the midst of increasing white settlement in the area. Roman Catholic priests began working with the Tribe in 1844.

In 1855, the Upper Kalispel Tribe ceded its lands and moved to the Jocko Reservation in Montana at the request of the U.S. Government.

The Lower Kalispel Tribe, ancestors of today’s Kalispel members, refused to give up ancestral lands and continued to work toward an agreement that would allow the Tribe to remain on its homeland.

During the late 1800s, while most other tribes were going through the process of having reservations established, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians had almost no relationship with the federal government. Congress did propose a treaty in 1872 that would have encompassed more than a million acres of land, but the terms were poor and the Tribe refused to sign it. By 1874, Congress had stopped establishing treaties with tribes altogether, leaving the Kalispel Tribe with no legal protection.

By 1875, the Tribal population had shrunk to only 395 people.

From 1880 to 1910, as more white settlers moved into Kalispel terri-

tory, the Tribe witnessed its land disappearing but could do nothing to prevent it. Many of the white settlers filed claims under the Homestead Act in order to “legally” obtain land which was rightfully home for much of the Tribe. This time period also introduced the widespread use of alcohol, which many consider to be a fundamental source of the breakdown of the family unit.

For generations, Kalispel members remained trapped in a subsistence environment. In 1965, only a couple of homes on the reservation had running water and there was only one telephone for the Tribe.

The average annual income for a Tribal member was approximately $1,400. The Kalispel Tribe of Indians has faced several challenges associated with life in remote rural areas, such as unemployment, inadequate housing, limited economic opportunities, and prejudice.

With most of the land on the Reservation unsuitable for development, the Tribe has had to develop innovative ways to create opportunity for Tribal members. The Tribe’s pioneering spirit, combined with sheer determination, resiliency and community cohesiveness, has allowed the Tribe to overcome many difficult circumstances.

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COURTESY PHOTO|KALISPEL TRIBE OF INDIANS

Kalispels fishing.

Tribal Leadership The Kalispel Business Council is a self-governing entity which oversees services, programs, business endeavors and is the policy-making body of the Tribe with legislative authority.

Consisting of five Tribal members, council members are democratically elected by the tribal membership and serve three-year terms.

A hallmark of Kalispel governance is stability of leadership. The current Chairman, Glen Nenema, has held his position for more than 38 years and is the longest-serving Tribal Chair in the country.

“My heart is and always has been at home on our land with our people,” Nenema says. “Many of the things our Tribe has accomplished happened over many years. Things take time, vision and patience, and leaders need

consistency in order to make things happen.”

The majority of current council members have also served several consecutive terms, further bolstering council’s ability to move the Tribe forward. Under Chairman Nenema’s and council’s leadership, the Tribe has experienced significant economic expansion and community development over the last two decades. The driver behind these endeavors was, and continues to be, the vision of creating a safe, healthy, and prosperous community.

Current Business Council Glen Nenema – Chairman Raymond Pierre III – Vice Chairman Darren Holmes – Secretary Betty Jo Piengkham – Member Curt Holmes – Member

FROM PAGE 15

SOVEREIGNTY Inherent sovereignty provides the foundation for the Tribe’s ability to make its

own laws and be governed by those laws. It is the right of Tribes to protect their members and Reservation lands and maintain ownership of resources that were established in the treaties and by executive orders of the U.S. Government.

Sovereignty status transcends boundaries and property lines. This unique status enables a Tribe to enter into business and economic development endeavors as determined by tribal governments. Indian tribes existed as sovereign governments long before Europeans settled in North America. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently recognized the concept of tribal sovereignty ever since the 1831 case of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia.

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COURTESY ILLUSTRATION|COEUR D’ALENE TRIBE

Coeur d’Alene villages established along rivers The homeland is still home. The place “where the old ones walked” includes almost 5,000,000 acres of what is now north Idaho, eastern Washington and western Montana.

The “old ones” were extremely wealthy from an Indian perspective, with everything they needed close at hand.

Unlike the tribes of the plains, the Coeur d’Alenes and their neighbors, the Spokanes, the Kootenai, the Kalispel, the bands of the Colville Confederated Tribes and the Kootenai-Salish, or Flatheads, were not nomadic. Coeur d’Alene Indian villages were established along the Coeur d’Alene, St. Joe, Clark

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Fork and Spokane Rivers. The homeland included numerous and permanent sites on the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene, Lake Pend Oreille and Hayden Lake.

These tribes traded among themselves and with dozens of tribes far away on the Pacific coast. Ancient trade routes connected the Coeur d’Alenes with the Nez Perce, the Shoshones and the Bannocks to the south and southeast.

To the east were the tribes of the Great Plains and the vast herds of buffalo. With the coming of horses, young Coeur d’Alene men journeyed east to hunt buffalo. These journeys, however, were not necessary for survival. They were viewed as adventures,

and even rites of passage, for youth who would emerge into manhood and into leadership roles.

All ancient tribal trade routes and paths remain today. In fact, those very same routes are still used all across the country. Today, however, we call those tribal routes “Interstate highways.”

The first white people to encounter the Coeur d’Alenes were French trappers and traders. It was one of these Frenchmen who found the tribe to be vastly experienced and skilled at trading, thus the name “Coeur d’Alene,” meaning “heart of the awl.”

The nickname stuck. One Frenchman described the tribe as “the greatest traders in the world.”

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Coeur d’Alene name comes from tribe’s trading skills The Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe has a current enrollment of more than 2,190 members. The tribe has sovereign authority on a reservation covering 345,000 acres of mountains, lakes, timber and farmland, spanning the western edge of the northern Rocky Mountains and the abundant Palouse country.

The Tribe, like all tribes in America, has a government based on executive, legislative and judicial branches. The tribal council has seven members and operates on a parliamentary system, with members elected by tribal vote and the chairman elected by vote on the council. Although he or she would serve as chief executive, the chairman has one vote on the council and does not have veto power.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe and all federally recognized tribes in the United States are sovereign in their own lands.

That Sovereignty is inherent in the U.S. Constitution, meaning that tribes were recognized as sovereign before the constitution was written. Tribes and the U.S. government have a long series of treaties or executive orders establishing reservations and tribal rights and authorities. Tribal treaty-making also existed with the British, French, Dutch, and Spanish governments before the birth of the United States as an independent nation.

As elected officials, members of this or any tribal council have a unique governing experience. Their responsibilities include maintaining a government-to-government relationship with federal and state governments. The tribal government also must deal with elected officials from city and county governments within the reservation.

Tribal council members meet with members of congress, members of the cabinet, governors and even the president of the United States, resolving issues and conducting gov-

ernment business. However, members of the tribal council must, first and foremost, respond to the needs and issues of tribal membership. Their duties and responsibilities range from their contributions to federal policy and laws to resolving even intra-family disputes on the reservation.

The name, “Coeur d’Alene” was given to the tribe in the late 18th or early 19th century by French traders and trappers. In French, it means “Heart of the Awl,” referring to the sharpness of the trading skills exhibited by tribal members in their dealings with visitors.

In the ancient tribal language, members call themselves, “Schitsu’umsh,” meaning “The Discovered People” or “Those Who Are Found Here.”

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe employs about 1,000 people in 16 departments of government or in tribal enterprises. Employees answer to their supervisors or department heads.

Department heads answer to the Director of Administration, who answers to the council.

Tribal enterprises include The Coeur d’Alene Casino/ Hotel operation north of Worley, Idaho. Tribal gaming employs about 500 and generates about $20 million in profits annually, funding programs and creating economic development and diversity.

The tribal farm covers about 6,000 acres and produces wheat, barley, peas, lentils, and canola. The tribe also operates the Benewah Automotive Center, the Benewah Market, and Ace Hardware.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe Wellness Center, Phase III of the Benewah Medical Center, opened in July of 1998. The center, a $5 million facility that covers 43,000 square feet,

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Environment The old ones walked here. Those yet unborn will walk here, too.

From a tribal perspective, the Coeur d’Alene presence here on the reservation and within the ancient homeland has lasted from the beginning of time. Every tribal member knows and feels the link to generations past. The culture and traditions have developed and been passed on for thousands of years – in the same place. In modern Indians, you see the faces of their ancestors.

TRIBE HAS LEADERSHIP ROLE IN ENVIRONMENT

In the early summer of 1991 the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council took a stand. Council members fought back tears as they decided to file a lawsuit and force restoration of the Coeur d’Alene watershed, including the Coeur d’Alene River and its tributaries, Lake Coeur d’Alene, the so-called lateral or chain lakes nearby and portions of the Spokane River.

The Creator owns the lake, but He put the Coeur d’Alenes here to take care of it.

They shed tears for the lake, the river, and the monumental task ahead. It would mean years of struggle over ownership and over terrible environmental damage.

Thus began the Coeur d’Alene Basin Restoration Project and the largest natural resource damage lawsuit in American History.

Over a 100-year period the mining industry in Idaho’s Silver Valley dumped 72 million tons of mine waste into the Coeur d’Alene watershed. The state of Idaho, meanwhile, looked the other way. As mining and smelting operations grew, they produced billions of dollars in silver, lead and zinc. In the process, natural life in the Coeur d’Alene River

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‘We do what we do for the future of this lake and for the future of this region. We do it not just for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, but for everybody.’

The late Henry SiJohn

Tribal elder, councilmember

was wiped out. In 1929, as the river flowed milky-white with mine waste, a Coeur d’Alene newspaper reporter described a river trip to the Silver Valley a “Up the River of Muck and into the Valley of Death.”

Today, the Silver Valley is the nation’s second largest Superfund site. The natural resource damages, however, extend upstream and far downstream from the 21-square mile “box” that is now under Superfund.

The Superfund cleanup is expected to cost $200 million. The tribe’s natural resource damage assessment for the river, its tributaries, the

lateral lakes and Lake Coeur d’Alene totals over $1 billion.

The tribe, working with the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Geological Survey, has taken the leading role in cleanup efforts and the leading role toward responsible stewardship of the basin.

The tribe took its case to court not only with a plea for environmental stewardship, but also with detailed and peer-reviewed science. The issue has become the Interior Department’s number one priority for

cleanup.

The Justice Department followed the tribe’s lead and the United States government filed suit against the mines and Union Pacific Railroad in the spring of 1996, echoing almost verbatim the tribe’s 1991 lawsuit.

Union Pacific has since settled.

As the tribe works to create a basin cleanup, it also works to resolve ownership of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

A lawsuit filed in October of 1991 against the state of Idaho would enable the tribe to take the state into court and eventually prevent the state from interfering with tribal jurisdiction over Lake Coeur d’Alene, which is the heart of the tribe’s homeland and reservation.

Tribal leadership is convinced by recent history and environmental neglect that the Coeur d’Alene Tribe is the last best hope for the future health of the lake and, therefore, the economy of the region.

In these lawsuits, the tribe is applying its sovereignty and its commitment to environmental restoration.

“If we control the lake, we can clean it up,” said the late Henry SiJohn, a tribal elder who served as a tribal council member and the council’s environmental liaison. “We do what we do for the future of this lake and for the future of this region. We do it not just for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, but for everybody.”

The tribe’s quest to resolve ownership was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001.

The U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the Tribe has always been the owner of the lower one-third of Lake Coeur d’Alene and other related waters.

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Sovereignty inherent for tribes, recognized in U.S. Constitution The most frequent and common questions regarding Indian tribal sovereignty in America include these: Where did tribes get their sovereignty? How did tribes keep their sovereignty? How long have tribes had their sovereignty?

The answers: From the Creator who put them here. They inherited it. Since the beginning of time.

Answers to these questions have been around far longer than the questions themselves. Tribal sovereignty flows through American history in a timeless river, without beginning or end. The reality here is that tribes have always been sovereign, a fact recognized in the actions and laws of early European explorers, a fact recognized as exploration became settlement, and a fact recognized as settlement evolved through colonial and into national government.

The Sovereignty of Indian tribes is inherent. That means it existed since time immemorial, and is recognized as such in the Constitution of the United States.

States and tribes have equal legal and constitutional status in their dealings with the federal government.

Most commonly known of the government-to-government relationships between the United States and Indian nations is the power of Congress to make treaties. The relationship extends to existing reservations, some created

by Congress and others by Executive Order of the President. This governmentto-government relationship also exists between tribes and states, and is often reflected in tribal-state compacts, the equivalents of treaties.

A vast number of tribes in America have been relocated away from their original homelands. Idaho tribes, however, are truly the original Idaho. While tragedies of war and near genocide existed here, tribes remain on reservation lands that represent small portions of their original homelands. These tribes, the Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai, Nez Perce, Northwestern Band Shoshoni Nation, Shoshone-Bannock and ShoshonePaiute, maintain jurisdictional and

sovereign authority over their lands, upheld in decisions by the Idaho Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.

Tribal sovereignty remains an American doctrine, with extensive, fundamental powers held by tribal governments. Tribes have the power to establish their own form of government, not necessarily patterned after the federal government. Tribal governments, because they are constitutionally sovereign, are not subject to the requirements of separation of powers or even the establishment of religion, although these principles are almost universal in tribal constitutions. The Indian Reorganization Act points out that tribal sovereignty is inherent and therefore even farther reaching that the Act itself.

Tribal sovereignty also includes the power to determine membership, police power, power to administer justice, power to exclude persons from the reservation (although not unlimited or to the point of denying legal access), power to charter businesses and regulate their activity, power to levy taxes, and sovereign immunity. This sovereign immunity means tribes cannot be sued without the expressed written consent of tribal governments. State governments are also protected by this immunity within the 11th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The origins of this sovereignty are historical, cultural, and legal. Through treaties and executive orders, tribes have a legal underpinning in the ongoing and difficult effort to keep their cultures, traditions, languages, customs and jurisdictions alive.

Tribes and tribal governments remain committed to the preservation of their heritage and to controlling their destinies. Tribal members often say they have a commitment to the preservation and control because of their commitment to future generations, because

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FROM PAGE 19

completes an overall medical operation that is nationally award winning and has evolved to be a national model for both Indian health care and rural health care. The Benewah Medical Center, with phase I opening in 1990, has grown to serve 10,000 patients. It provides services to Indians and non-Indians.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe has its own tribal school, with a new $5 million facility, which opened in 1997. The tribe’s Department of Education provides programs for adults, including a college degree program in cooperation with Idaho’s Lewis and Clark State College. The Language Department offers classes in the Schitsu’umsh language, teaching tribal members, staff and anyone interested to maintain ancient traditions and culture.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe has been in this homeland for many thousands of years. The original homeland spans almost five million acres, stretching from Montana in the east to the Spokane River Valley in present day Washington, from near the Canadian border in the north to near the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers in north Idaho. Tribal traditions include a respect and reverence for natural law, and creates a powerful voice for responsible environmental stewardship.

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The Reservation of the Colvilles The Reservation, located in north central Washington, lies in a physiographic province called the Okanogan Highlands. The reservation is located in the southeastern section of Okanogan County and the southern half of Ferry County, but there are pieces of trust land located in Chelan County. A period of compression and uplifting formed the present mountains; however, glacial erosion shaped much of the land to its present form.

Elevation of the Reservation lands generally increases from South to North and from West to East.

Elevations range from 790 feet at the mouth of the Okanogan River to 6,774 feet at the Summit of Moses Mountain. Average elevation of the Reservation is above 3,000 feet.

Summers, on the plains, are sunny, warm and dry with some hot days.

During four or five months, in the lower elevations extreme highs may be 100°F, while, in the higher elevations one or two months may reach above 90°F. In winter, minimum temperatures of -10° to -20°F are common although a few stations report -25° to -30°F. Normally, precipitation is light in the summer and heaviest in the winter.

Valleys and lowlands receive an average of 10 to 14 inches of precipitation; in the mountains, precipitation increases with elevation where 25 to 30 inches per year can be expected on the higher ridges, with the majority occurring as snow.

Growing seasons vary from over 180 days in the Southwest to less than 80 days in the forested highlands.

The most abundant soil parent materials found on the Reservation are produced by glaciation, water laid glacial out wash or alluvium and lacustrine sediments are the only materials of major agricultural importance.

Most of the soils that are suitable for cultivation occur on the level to undulating alluvial and out wash terraces and in isolated upland areas.

The major vegetative cover is divided into two groups: forest and steppe.

Forest areas range from open forested grasslands to dense coniferous forests.

Dominant species in forested areas are Ponderosa Pine, Douglas Fir, Lodge Pole Pine, and Western Larch.

A number of sub shrubs and roots are as important to Tribal gatherings today as they were in years past.

COURTESY MAP|CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE COLVILLE RESERVATION

Twelve Bands compose the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation: Chelan, Chief Joseph Band of Nez Perce, Colville, Eniat, Lakes Methow, Moses-Columbia, Nespelem, Okanogan, Palus, San Poil, Wenatchi. Total Size: 1.4 Million Acres (2,100 Square Miles).

Tribal Enrollment Total: 9,500 (as of 2015).

Colville nation comprised of 12 aboriginal tribes of Indians The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is a Sovereign Nation.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is a federally recognized American Indian Tribe. Today, more than 9,365 descendants of 12 aboriginal tribes of Indians are enrolled in the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

The tribes, commonly known by English and French names, are: the Colville, the Nespelem, the Sanpoil, the Lake, the Palus, the Wenatchi (Wenatchee), the Chelan, the Entiat, the Methow, the southern Okanogan, the Moses Columbia and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph’s Bands.

Prior to the influx of Canadians and Europeans in the mid-1850s the ancestors of the 12 aboriginal tribes were nomadic, following the seasons of nature and their sources of food. Their aboriginal territories were grouped primarily around waterways such as the Columbia River, the Sanpoil River, the Okanogan River, the Snake River and the Wallowa River. Many tribal ancestors traveled throughout their aboriginal territories and other areas in the Northwest (including Canada), gathering with other native peoples for traditional activities such as food harvesting, feasting, trading, and celebrations that included sports and gambling. Their lives were tied to the cycles of nature both spiritually and traditionally.

The Colville Indian Reservation was established

by Presidential Executive Order in 1872 and was originally twice as large as it is today.

The Colville Indian Reservation land base covers

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1.4 million acres or 2,100 square miles located in North Central Washington, primarily in Okanogan and Ferry counties. The reservation consists of tribally owned lands held in federal trust status for the Confederated Tribes, land owned by individual Colville tribal members, most of which is held in federal trust status, and land owned by others, described as fee property and taxable by counties. Colville Reservation lands are diverse with natural resources including standing timber, streams, rivers, lakes, minerals, varied terrain, native plants and wildlife. The Colville Indian Reservation is occupied by over 5,000 residents, both Colville tribal members and their families and other non-Colville members, living either in small communities or in rural settings. Approximately 50 percent of the Confederated Colville Tribes’ membership live on or adjacent to the reservation.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation are governed by the Colville Business Council. From its administrative headquarters located at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Agency at Nespelem, the Colville Business Council oversees a diverse, multi-million dollar administration that employees from 800 to 1,200 individuals in permanent, part- time and seasonal positions.

The Confederated Tribes operates on a yearly budget, which is financed primarily from revenues generated from the sale of the Tribes’ timber products and from other sources including federal,

state and private contributions.

The Confederated Tribes adheres to Colville Tribal Member Preference. Both Colville tribal members and non-Colville members are employed throughout its extensive governmental operation.

This governmental operation provides a variety of services for Colville tribal members living on the reservation and elsewhere, and for the management of reservation natural resources.

In addition, the Confederated Tribes have chartered its own corporation, the Colville Tribal Enterprise Corporation (CTEC), which oversees several enterprise divisions including a gaming division and three casinos. The Corporation employs several hundred permanent and part-time employees. The work force is composed primarily of Colville tribal members and non-tribal members from the communities where the enterprises are located. Numerous chronic situations affect the daily lives of Colville tribal members such as high unemployment on the Colville Indian Reservation and lack of employment opportunities for much of the available labor force.

Individuals and families suffer from the effects of extensive drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and crime.

In many instances, Colville Indian families are living below the national poverty standards year CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Spring Voice

Ceremony of Tears In 1940, the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam, Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (also called Lake Roosevelt), was filling. Eventually, the rising water would cover Kettle Falls more than 100 miles upriver, erasing one of the two great Indian fishing sites on the Columbia. The other, Celilo Falls, similarly disappeared under the reservoir behind The Dalles Dam in 1957.

At Kettle Falls, where David Thompson watched Indians fish for salmon in 1807, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, descendants of the fishers Thompson encountered, hosted a three-day gathering in 1940 to eulogize the impending loss of the historic falls. Appropriately, the event was called the “Ceremony of Tears.” U.S. Senator Clarence Dill, D-Wash., a longtime supporter of Grand Coulee Dam, was a featured speaker at the event on June 16, 1940.

The war in Europe was intensifying, Hitler had invaded Poland, and Dill believed the power from the big dam would be instrumental in the war effort.

“We can build more airplanes and tanks and can train more pilots for national defense than any other nation or combination of nations, and the quicker we do it the better,” he said. “We know now that the only thing in this world which Hitler will respect is more force than he controls.”

Dill also acknowledged the terrible impact the dam would have on Indians by wiping out their historic fishery at Kettle Falls, but he hoped that in the loss of the fishery the Indians would realize some benefit from the power the dam would produce.

“The Indians have fished here for thousands of years,” he said. “They love this spot above all others on their reservation because it is a source of both food and of beauty. We should see to it that the electricity which the great dam at Grand Coulee produces shall be delivered to all the people without profit, so that the Indians of future generations, as well as the white men, will find the change made here a great benefit to the people.”

Considering the finality of the rising water and the life-altering impact the loss of the fishery would have on the tribes, the Ceremony of Tears was, in some respects, a pretty lively event. A reporter for the Spokesman-Review newspaper of Spokane estimated the attendance at 1,000. Chiefs of the San Poil, Colville and other bands spoke. There was a carnival, a dance at an outdoor pavilion featuring an all-Indian band and a Saturday night smoker where Indian and white boxers challenged each other.

But according to a story in the Spokesman-Review of June 18, 1940, there was a “more serious side” of the event at which the chiefs “told of their sadness of the passing of the falls, and some thought the government should reimburse them for their loss.”

According to the story, “It was a sad farewell to many Indians, who for years have visited the falls each year to catch the salmon going to the headwaters of the Columbia River to spawn. Far into the night the Indians joined in the merrymaking with the whites by attending the carnival nearby and the modern dancing. Many of the Indians were born in this vicinity and have watched the progress of the country.”

In retrospect, the Ceremony of Tears marked a historic cultural shift as well as the elimination of salmon fisheries at Kettle Falls and at other less prolific locations on the upper Columbia, in the United States and British Columbia, that had existed for thousands of years. By 1940, the dam was solidly in place and salmon could not pass. Soon the great falls would be drowned by the great dam, whose reservoir would provide water for a large-scale irrigation project on the adjacent Columbia Plateau, and whose electricity would make aluminum for about onethird of the airplanes built in the United States during World War II. Some at Kettle Falls were preparing for the future, like an Indian from British Columbia who remarked to the Spokesman-Review reporter that after the ceremony he would return home “to enlist in the British Army to fight the Germans, as he did

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People depend on newspapers.

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FROM PAGE 23

in the last war.”

For others, the events in Europe might as well have been taking place on the moon. On June 17, the Spokesman-Review reported: Six Indian chiefs of the Colville tribe experienced another innovation in their tribal customs when they used a loud speaker to address their people.

Each chief spoke into the microphone, as did the interpreter who repeated their remarks, and all seemed to enjoy hearing their voices carried far through the pines, among which their teepees stand for the last time.

Kettle Falls slipped beneath the rising waters of Lake Roosevelt on July 5, 1941.

Until 1946, salmon and steelhead continued to appear at the base of Grand Coulee Dam, trying to get upriver to spawn. After 1946, none was seen at the dam again.

Kettle Falls remains under water to this day, with the exception of occasional periods in the spring when the reservoir is drawn down to its lowest level.

Then, for a few days or weeks, the tallest rocks of the falls peek above the surface. The water swirls lazily around these remnants, leaving patterns on the surface that dissipate quickly.

FROM PAGE 22

FROM PAGE 21

after year and depend on the Confederated Tribes and other welfare systems to survive.

Colville Indian Reservation communities lack adequate, affordable housing, home water systems and even electricity.

Safe, usable roadways throughout the reservation are lacking as well as facilities such as modern health clinics and youth shelters.

Confederated Tribes strive to protect and enhance the quality of life for Colville tribal members and at the same time, govern as a sovereign nation.

of their connection with the land, and because of their connections to their ancestors buried in it. These are moral obligations supported by indisputable legal and constitutional authority.

Tribes were here many thousands of years before there was a United States or an Idaho. Tribes were here and took part in the development and protection of the United States and Idaho. Tribes will be here even if the day comes when there is neither a United States nor an Idaho.

As one tribal elder explained, “We are here because this is where the Creator put us. This is where we will always be.”

Kalispel Tribe Charitable Fund

The Kalispel Tribe believes in being a strong community partner and strives to achieve that through its commitment to supporting its neighbors. In this spirit, the Charitable Fund was established to support the work of the numerous non-profit organizations of Spokane and Pend Oreille counties. Over the past few decades, the Kalispel Tribe has donated more than $18 million to more than 300 local charities.

The Tribe focuses its charitable giving in the areas of education, healthcare, arts and culture, social services and environmental conservation.

The donations made a real impact, as these recipients explain.

Newport Hospital and Health Services Foundation “The Kalispel Tribe Charitable Fund has assisted the Newport Hospital and Health Services Foundation in giving back to children in Pend Oreille County through the weekly Healthy Kids Snack Bags program. Since 2012, the Tribe’s

COURTESY PHOTO|KALISPEL TRIBE OF INDIANS

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

A historic photo of Kalispel tribal members.

Dam Safety The summer months are near and we want you to be safe when you are out enjoying activities on the water. Water areas near a dam pose serious hidden dangers to boaters and swimmers. Water discharge and turbines can be very hazardous. Follow these safety tips to keep safe when on the water this summer:

• Always wear a lifejacket when on the water.

• Never play, swim or anchor a boat near a dam.

• Watch for overhead cables and power lines.

• Obey all warning and closure signs.

• Never cross the boater safety cable near a dam.

PEND OREILLE PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT 447-3137 • 242-3137 • 446-3137 • www.popud.org

QUALITY SERVICE AT LOW COST Spring Voice

Courtesy photo|Deborah Graham

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FROM PAGE 25

support for this program of $14,000 has provided well over 2,300 of the weekly snack bags for more than 190 children.

Children receive three healthy snacks a day for seven days each week. That’s a healthy grain, a protein, a whole fresh fruit, and a container of 100 percent fruit juice for every day of the week. This program is unique because it provides more than just one weekend’s worth of food like other snack programs. The teachers and counselors at each school determine who receives the snack bags and consider a variety of factors when deciding which child might need the extra food.

Due to successful fundraising, the NHHS Foundation provides snack bags to elementary school children in Newport, Oldtown, Priest River, Priest Lake, the Kalispel Career Training Center, and Cusick. Since the Foundation expanded the deliveries, the overall fundraising goal has been sustainability.

Support from Tribe has also earned the Foundation grant application credibility, resulting in additional funding from other grantors. The Kalispel Tribe is a respected key partner in Pend Oreille County and truly demonstrates kindness and generosity in their

daily interactions, at local community gatherings, and within business relationships.” -Jenny Smith, Marketing and Foundation Director Cusick Food Bank “In 2015, the food bank received funding from the Tribe to assist families in need in Cusick. The award enabled us to purchase a new large-capacity freezer, remodel the food staging area, purchase milk, and purchase hams for the Christmas boxes. The award also included gas cards to support trips into Spokane to pick up food donated by 2nd Harvest Food Bank.

The food bank is volunteer-ran out of the basement of the Pend Oreille Bible Church and serves approximately 62 families each week. In March 2016 alone, we distributed more than 12,494 pounds of food.”

-Gloria Williams, Cusick Food Bank Director YWCA “The impact of the Kalispel Tribe of Indians charitable giving on the women and children served by the YWCA of Spokane has been extraordinary.

Annually, the YWCA provides services to nearly 16,000 women and children experiencing domestic violence, homelessness and unemployment.

“Our long-term partnership with the Tribe has enabled us to complete the main facility where our

agency provides services, including the creation of a new home for the Spokane Family Justice Center.

“The Tribe’s support was also key in helping us renovate our 100-year-old Safe Shelter for victims of domestic violence. The renovation created private, more autonomous living spaces, reducing the stress of communal living inherent in a shelter environment.

“Most importantly the Tribe’s ongoing support has given us the ability to sustain the counseling, legal, shelter, and job-readiness services that so many women have come to rely on in moving from what is often the most traumatic moment in their life to a new life of hope, healing, and security.”

-Regina Malveaux, CEO Meals on Wheels “We are humbled by the tremendous support that the Kalispel Tribe and Northern Quest Casino have extended to our seniors over the many years of our partnership. From donating over $101,600 (which equates to over 29,000 meals) to in-kind donations for our fundraisers, to having eloquent testimonials from your leaders, without your support we could not provide the services needed to allow elders to remain in their homes.”

-Mollie Dalpae, Executive Director

Strengthening and Building our Community Economic development When it comes to doing business, the Kalispel Tribe believes in doing so in a way where everyone benefits. A core philosophy of our diversification strategy is to choose sustainable ventures that positively impact not only the Tribe, but also the surrounding

community.

Over the last decade, the Tribe, under the oversight of the Kalispel Tribal Economic Authority (KTEA), has expanded its enterprises to include Northern Quest Resort & Casino, two Fatburger franchise restaurants, two Chevron fuel stations and convenience

stores, the Kalispel Golf and Country Club, Crossroads Restaurant, the Camas Center for Community Wellness, and Kalispel Linen Services, a commercial laundry facility.

Direct Impact Direct impact is tied to jobs, sales, etc., that are directly created by the Tribe and its entities.

The Tribe and its various entities directly provide close to 2,000 livingwage jobs in Spokane and Pend Oreille counties. The Tribe is the top employer in Pend Oreille County and is in the top five employers for Spokane County.

The Tribe provides a payroll of approximately $4.2 million per month ($50 million annually).

Approximately 80 percent of our employees are non-tribal.

The Tribe and its various entities spend roughly $4.4 million per month ($52.7 million annually) on the purchase of goods and services. A large portion of these purchases are made through local or locally affiliated businesses.

Since 2000, the Tribe has donated more than $15 million to more than

300 non-profits in Spokane and Pend Oreille counties in the areas of education, healthcare, arts and culture, social services, and environmental conservation.

Workforce development Historically, Pend Oreille County has had above average unemployment rates, hovering between 11.5 percent and 13.9 percent. Recognizing the need to prepare well-trained, educated people to the local workforce, the Kalispel Tribe and community partners have collaborated to develop strategies to help youth and adults obtain vocational training needed to acquire living wage jobs in the community.

The Tribe invests roughly $2.2 million annually in education and workforce development.

The Tribe operates the Kalispel Career Training Center in Usk, Washington, which provides career and technical education for youth and adults.

The Tribe is a partner in the new Pend Oreille Skills Center in Newport, which provides training for high school students in the field of automotive technology.

509-447-3144

Call Mary Ann or one of our Experienced Realtors

VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITE

nwprorealestate.com 301 N Union Ave Newport, WA 99156 FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL RAY 360-770-1180 WWW.NEWPORTRODEO.WEEBLY.COM Paid for by Newport Hotel/Motel Tax

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SELLING PEND OREILLE RIVER VALLEY’S HOMES FOR OVER 50 YEARS Spring Voice

FROM PAGE 16

On this river, the Kalispels traveled daily in the conduct of their commercial and social lives and it was here they became “A People” or a “Nation of People,” spiritually and culturally. They gave every mountain, lake, spring, and prairie its Kalispel name. In the mountains beside the river they sought their guardian spirits. As Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce once said, “The earth and myself are of one mind,” and used that phrase to indicate his philosophic belief about the relationship between man and the environment.

Surely the Kalispel would say “The river and we are of one mind,” for even today they are known as “The People of the Oreille,” and they have withstood unimagined hardships to maintain their lives in harmony with “ntxwe”.

Along with being expert hunters and gatherers, the Kalispel were skillful river paddlers with the canoe as the symbol of their unique identity. The Tribe’s artful craftsmanship created a sturgeon-nosed canoe design that easily navigated the waters of the lakes, streams and rivers throughout Eastern Washington, North Idaho, Western Montana and into Canada.

The Pend Oreille River is the lifeblood of the tribe. From the fish they ate to their creation stories, the essence of the Kalispel people comes from the river.

Today, the Kalispel Culture Department aims to enhance and perpetuate the strong traditions of our Kalispel people through our customs and ways of life.

They educate their young people about early life of the Tribe, which includes their aboriginal hunting and fishing areas and indigenous lands.

Bark Canoe: Original Transportation Besides utilizing the river for a major source of food, it was also an essential means of travel. The Kalispels continually traveled from bank to bank of the Pend Oreille River in sturgeon-nosed canoes constructed of a cedar frame and a pine bark covering. The sturgeon-nosed canoes are a unique part of the Kalispel cultural heritage, due to the fact that only the Kalispels and two other tribes in the world used this type of canoe.

With an average length of about 16 feet, the sturgeon-nosed canoe was considered an extremely valuable possession.

Every Kalispel family owned its own canoe. Sitting on his heels on a cedar splint mat, a man or sometime two men, and occasionally women, paddled the craft with cedar paddles. The paddle with shifted from side to side after every few strokes. The Kalispel were skillful canoe people.

The canoe was an especially prized and valuable possession of a Kalispel family. Because it served so many important purposes, it was an essential element in the Kalispel way of life. It is not surprising that some men were very reluctant to lend their canoe, even to other careful persons.

Today it represents an important piece of Kalispel history.

Winter Mat Lodge: The Earliest Shelter A typical winter village was com-

prised of a few round tipis and several long lodges. The tipis were large enough in size to house one or two families and the exterior was covered with skins, bark or mats. The tule-mate lodge, or long lodge, served exclusively for winter dwelling purposes and was large enough to house several families. The lodge was 12 feet or more in width and 50 feet or more in length. Long winter evenings were a time of sharing memories of the past as well as the present.

Other tribal members spent the evenings repairing clothes, making tools, snowshoes and other gear necessary for survival.

Winter Deer Drive: Hunting Expertise The Winter Deer Drive was an event in which the Tribe took part once a year in the middle of winter. Almost the entire village would participate in this tradition with the goal of replenishing the winter food supply. Men, women and children would remain on the hunt for three to four weeks. Meat procurement enabled the Tribe to use this food source year round. The hunt required great skill and knowledge of the terrain and habits of the animals, and was an essential source of food. Unfortunately, as the number of settlers increased, the animal population dwindled.

Camas Digging Camps: A Time to Come Together In the floodplain of the Pend Oreille River, camas root grew in abundance and provided a vital staple for the Kalispels’ diet. Every June the Kalispels would spread out over the land and cultivate this nutritious onion-like root. Today,

archaeologists are continuously finding artifacts including camas ovens, which are earthen ovens used for cooking and drying the camas. Gathering roots and other food was a time for families and friends to be together and to nurture relationships with neighboring tribes.

Fish Weir: The Earliest Technology The Kalispel Tribe demonstrated innovative skill by catching fish with hook and line, spears, harpoons, nets and even the bow and arrow. However, one of the most effective methods for catching char, trout, whitefish, suckers and squawfish was by using basket traps set into brush weirs. The weirs were used during summer, spring and fall months to catch a large quantity of fish that were dried and used during the harshest winter months. Assembling the weir was a creative task that demonstrated their ability to adjust to the physical environment using innovative technology.

Stick Games: Recreation and Leisure In the summer months, after gathering food for the winter, the Kalispels would invite relatives and friends from the Spokane, Colville, Coeur d’Alene and Kutenai tribes to join in games and recreation. Among the most popular was the stick game, which would often be accompanied by a property wager and a great deal of excitement. Other recreation included contests of throwing stakes, racing horses, diving and tossing beaver-tooth or bone dice. Most importantly, this was a time of coming together in summer camps along the Pend Oreille River.

A n n r i a v e e Y r sary 0 0 1

C e o l i u e n r t O y Fair d n eP Est. 1918

Fun for the Whole Herd

Thursday, August 16 Sunday August 19th

Thursday gates open at 12 noon to 9 p.m.

Friday - Saturday 7:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Sunday 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Admission

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Fresh Hot Apple Pie Contest Monster Cookie Contest Decorated Cupcake Contest

Rodeo Rodeo Dance Huckleberry Dessert Contest Spinning Demos Car Show Horse Western Games Market Animal Sales

Church Services Rodeo

13 years and older - $7.00 4-12 years - $2.00 3 years and younger - free

Some events and items at the fair

Antique Tractors & Machinery Demonstrations throughout the fair. Entertainment through the fair by Dave King, Professor Bamboozle, Scotia Road Band, Skookum Creek Music Co., & Hay and Pony Rides Spring Voice

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TURNING 200 YEARS INTO 2,000 JOBS. Helping our neighbors just as we help our own has been at the core of Kalispel culture for centuries. It’s how we’ve become one of the largest employers in Spokane and Pend Oreille Counties. We provide more than 2,000 jobs which put millions of dollars into our local economies every year. We’ve also given $18 million to local charities in support of education, healthcare, arts, social services and environmental conservation. Now, as we look to the future, we see even greater growth ahead for our people, land and the community. kalispeltribe.com