KWSO News for Tues., Dec. 10, 2024

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Branch of Health & Human Services is hosting a job fair today 10am – 3pm at the old Warm Springs Elementary school cafeteria.  The goal of the event is to connect folks with employment and provide programs and businesses with workers.  There will be a raffle for door prizes for those who attend.

Yesterday the Oregon Department of Transportation held a meeting at Madras High School looking for input on safety issues on Highway 97 between Madras and Terrebonne.  That stretch includes the bridge over the Crooked River – it’s mostly singles lanes with some passing lanes.  According to the Bend Bulletin “From 2017 to 2021 there were 187 crashes in that stretch of highway.”  The safety study cost is two hundred thousand dollars and will be finalized in January.  Possible fixes include adding shoulder and centerline rumble strips, widening shoulders by 3 feet, and median treatments.  You can find draft concepts for solutions at the ODOT website.  https://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=U.S.97SafetyStudy

The CareStart Covid-19 home tests have expired in November. As of now, the FDA has not extended the expiration date. Please do not use these tests until further notice.  Free Covid-19 tests can be ordered online and mailed (at no charge) to your home.  Order free home tests from the USPS at https://special.usps.com/testkits.  The USPS website also provides a link to the list of tests with extended expiration dates if you wish to check whether the expiration date of any kit you have at home has been extended.  Additional information can be found at https://covidtests.gov/ including a phone number to help with ordering if needed.  You can also call 1-800-232-0233

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians regained ownership of 27 acres of their ancestral homelands at Cape Foulweather north of Newport in a significant  land purchase that capstones a multi-year collaboration to protect the land’s ecological, cultural and scenic values.  Funded by a $2.01 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the tribe completed the purchase from McKenzie River Trust in October 2024. In 2022, McKenzie River Trust acquired the land from an out-of-state developer, serving as a bridge owner until the tribe secured funding.  The area has long been a conservation priority. A coalition of partners — including the tribe, Lincoln County, The Nature Conservancy in Oregon, the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, and McKenzie River Trust — came together to secure the property, obtain funding and return the land to tribal ownership.  Cape Foulweather, a coastal headland featuring rocky shores, salt spray meadows, and spruce forests, holds both environmental and cultural value. The 27-acre parcel lies within the 1.1 million-acre Siletz Reservation, established by U.S. President Franklin Pierce on Nov. 9, 1855. Over the following decades, the tribe lost most of its reservation lands through forced land cessions, leaving the Cape Foulweather parcel as one of the few undeveloped areas. The return of this land marks the first oceanfront property the tribe has recovered since those historic losses.

The 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit was held yesterday.  President Biden was introduced by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.  The Departments of the Interior, Education and Health and Human Services (HHS) released a 10-year National Plan on Native Language Revitalization, which outlines a comprehensive, government-wide strategy to support the revitalization, protection, preservation and reclamation of Native languages. The plan, a joint effort of the agencies, charts a path to help address the United States government’s role in the loss of Native languages across the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaiʻi.  You can check out video from yesterday’s White House Tribal Nations Summit on the Department of Interior’s YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCCKDp_6DTY