Umatilla: Clover Island in Kennewick getting new art - Bronze sculptures of two members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation gathering tule reeds will join the other artwork on Kennewick's Clover Island.

Umatilla: Mariah Watchman: Native Supermodel in the Making - Since her appearance on Tyra Banks’ show America’s Next Top Model, Mariah Watchman has become a household name and inspiration for Native women throughout Indian country. Watchman grew up in a variety of locations, but counts the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation as her home.

Umatilla: Walla Walla tribe, Port of Kennewick show mutual respect - A buffalo hide drum bearing a painted portrait of Walla Walla Chief Yellow Bird was presented to Port of Kennewick officials Tuesday as a symbol of friendship and cooperation. Carl Sampson of the Walla Walla tribe, which is part of the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla, painted the two-foot diameter drum with a likeness of the 19th century chief as a gift.

Umatilla: Tribe Hopes To Restore Hanford's Natural Plants - The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) have recently built two high-tech greenhouses and a field experiment station to cultivate plants native to the area around Hanford. The facilities will allow them to do research and sprout seeds to revegetate formerly contaminated areas, like the Hanford Site and the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon.

Umatilla: Possible plans to launch a hatchery spring chinook program in the Touchet River - State Fish and Wildlife and tribal fish managers are deciding on bringing hatchery spring chinook to the Touchet River. That proposal to reintroduce hatchery spring chinook salmon and possible future salmon fisheries to the Touchet River are the topic of a 7 p.m. March 15 public meeting at the Seneca Labor Camp Activities Building on Green Giant Camp Road, east of the Highway 12 overpass at the east end of Dayton. State Fish and Wildlife and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation will take questions and comments.

Umatilla-Warm Springs-Yakama: Horse slaughter plant planned for eastern Oregon after change in national rules - A horse slaughter and processing plant -- which could be among the first in the country in five years -- may open in Hermiston within a year. Private investors and Northwest tribes are likely to underwrite the proposed 20,000-square-foot operation that would employ 100 people and slaughter 25,000 horses a year, Duquette said. No Northwest tribal councils have signed off on the project yet, but the tribes are bowed by crushing numbers of ownerless horses on the reservations. Examples: An estimated 6,000 horses roam the 640,000-acre Warm Springs Indian Reservation near Madras; up to 15,000 horses range across the 1.4 million-acre Yakama Indian Reservation in central Washington and 350 horses roam the 178,000-acre Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton.

Umatilla: Reservation a power in local economy - Les Minthorn started working in the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation government in the 1970s. Since then the reservation has grown, like a spider building its web, to become one of the largest employers in Umatilla County.

Umatilla: DQ locating at new Reservation retail center on 331 - Dairy Queen is coming to a small retail center under construction on Highway 331 in the Coyote Business Park of the Combined Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Umatilla: Pendleton resident Mariah Watchman competes on 'America's Next Top Model' - For one of her first competitions in the new cycle of "America's Next Top Model," former Pendleton resident Mariah Watchman, who grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, had to don the costume of an American icon. Producers chose for her to portray Pocahontas. Watchman's future plans include launching her own clothing line (called N8TV) and visiting Indian reservations to participate in youth leadership workshops.

Umatilla: Police arrest Mission couple on drug charges - Umatilla Tribal Police arrested a wife and husband Saturday in Mission on multiple felony drug-related charges, Police Chief Tim Addleman said. Lillian Elizabeth Nomee, 48, and William Anthony Surface, 45, have been charged with one count each of criminal activity in drugs, dangerous drugs and criminal drug possession under laws of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The couple are in the Umatilla County Jail in Pendleton.

Umatilla: Four named to Umatilla County wolf committee - The Umatilla County commissioners created a Wolf Depredation Advisory Committee and named four members Thursday, the first step in compensating ranchers who may lose livestock to preying wolves. Appointed were Helix rancher Ryan Raymond, president of the Umatilla County Cattlemen’s Association, Hermiston veterinarian Dr. Tom Pitzer, County Commission Chairman Larry Givens and Carl Scheeler, wildlife program manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Department of Natural Resources. A fifth slot remains open.

Umatilla: Tribes say no to large wind farms - Decision makers, including the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s Board of Trustees, have said "no" to wind farms on tribal land.

Umatilla: Oregon research station to help restore Hanford land to natural state - A new research station will be melding traditional tribal knowledge with Western science to help restore hundreds of acres of Hanford land to its natural state. The field station in Mission, Ore., about five miles east of Pendleton, features two geodesic dome research greenhouses and is the result of a collaboration of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Department of Energy.

Umatilla: Cayuse Technology to hire 300th employee Monday - When it hires its next group of 25 employees, Cayuse Technologies’ work force will pass the 300 mark, the company announced last week. The company, owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation with headquarters on the reservation, started in 2006.

Umatilla: American Indians Offer Programs for Horses That Treat the Sacred Animals as a Way of Life - On November 18, President Obama approved the lifting of a congressional ban on domestic horsemeat inspections. In doing so, he raised the possibility that horses could be legally slaughtered for human consumption in the U.S. for the first time in years. But in Indian country, there is little that is viewed as humane about horse butchering. Indeed, so keenly felt are Native views on horses that they raise important questions of long-term relationships with animals who remain indispensable to the Indian way of life. Witness the efforts of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, which has a representative on the Northwest Tribal Horse Coalition. The Umatillas are using adoption and auction to reduce a herd of 307 to 100 on 147,000 acres. They are also researching youth programs and a partnership with a local community college. The tribe uses the PZP vaccine to prevent reproduction. Still, manager Gordy Schumacher of the Department of Natural Resources’ Range, Ag & Forestry Program acknowledges that he will probably have to find homes for 50 horses every year.

Umatilla: Tribes only want wolves that are self-directed - Wolves have a special place in American Indian culture, including the tribes on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said Bobbie Conner, director of Tamastslikt Cultural Institute. The CTUIR has a wolf policy, but not a wolf plan. Its policy reflects how the CTUIR wildlife commission has worked closely with state and federal parties on the wolf issue. In a nutshell, the policy states the tribes support wolves moving into Oregon and tribal lands on their own rather than being reintroduced.

Umatilla: EO Forum features tribal member - Bobbie Conner of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation will make a presentation at the upcoming East Oregonian Forum. Conner will speak on the topic of "Native American Pre- and Post- Contact Cultural Issues" during the Tuesday, Jan. 10, event at Blue Mountain Community College. The EO Forum will take place in Room ST-200 at 2411 N.W. Carden Ave., Pendleton.

Umatilla: For Some Tribes, New Year's Foods Provide A Sacred Link To The Past - Around the world last night, revelers marked the start of the new year. But in the Northwest corner of the U.S., some Native American tribes began their celebrations early. On Dec. 20, just before the winter solstice, tribes in Eastern Oregon held a ceremony called kimtee inmewit, a welcoming of the new foods. "This goes back to when the world was new. The first food that was created was the salmon — we call it nusux," says Armand Minthorn, the spiritual leader of the tribes that live on the Umatilla Reservation, on the dry side of Oregon.

Umatilla: Port of Kennewick seeks artist for project - The Port of Kennewick is seeking an artist, or team of artists, to create the fourth phase in a series of art elements as part of an improvement plan for Clover Island. The project will be a traditional outdoor sculpture honoring the tribal culture of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, which used the area as a winter camp decades ago.

Umatilla: Tribes formulate wolf policy - Like the state and federal governments, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is preparing for the return of wolves to the Eastern Oregon landscape. The confederated tribes have a wolf policy, but not a wolf plan. Its policy reflects how its wildlife commission has worked closely with state and federal parties on the wolf issue. In a nutshell, the policy states the tribes support wolves moving into Oregon and tribal lands on their own rather than being reintroduced.

Umatilla: Tribes welcome wolves back as important part of culture - Like the state and federal governments, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is preparing for the return of wolves to Eastern Oregon. Wolves have a special place in American Indian culture, including the tribes on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said Bobbie Conner, director of Tamastslikt Cultural Institute.

Umatilla: Winter Solstice Is The New Year For Some Northwest Native Americans - In the Northwest, some Native Americans celebrate New Year earlier than the rest of the Western world. In fact, tribal new year is tomorrow night, December 20. The Umatilla tribes of eastern Oregon hold their ceremony just before the winter solstice.

Umatilla: Because UofL Women's basketball is the best bargain in town - The women provide far more than $8 worth of entertainment — not to mention lots of story lines. Start with the ball-handling skills of sophomore guard Shoni Schimmel. A member of the Umatilla tribe in Oregon, Shoni is the subject of the documentary Off the Rez. This season, her sister Jude — three inches shorter but as fierce as Shoni is wily — joins the team.

Umatilla: Schimmels shine, and Louisville pulls away from Pilots - It might as well have been a home game for Louisville, which improved to 10-2. Most of the 3,211 people in attendance were pro-Cardinals. Hundreds of Native Americans from the Umatilla Indian Reservation – where Shoni and Jude grew up – made the drive from Mission to Portland.

Umatilla: Bill would return control of chemical depot to locals - Communities near a former Army chemical weapons depot in Eastern Oregon would regain the right to develop the property under a bill making its way through Congress. Officials from Umatilla and Morrow counties, two Eastern Oregon ports and the Tribes were on the committee that developed the final plan that would give 7,400 acres to the National Guard for training and storage, and about 5,600 acres would become a refuge to protect sage-steppe habitat.

Umatilla: Depot Closure Plans Might Soon Be Back In the Hands Of Locals - A congressional rescue looks like it will put plans to repurpose the Umatilla Chemical Depot back on track. All the chemical weapons at the 20,000 acre Army post in northeast Oregon have been destroyed.

Umatilla: Mid-Columbia agencies win Wildhorse grants - This year, the community benefit fund established by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation has awarded about $570,000.

Umatilla: U.S. Fish And Wildlife Bows Out Of Depot Plan - Tribe had worked closely with the service to ensure the land be set aside to benefit sensitive species.

Umatilla-Yakama: Elk Hunt On Hanford Reach Controversial With Tribes

Umatilla: Tribal court has official independent status

Umatilla: U. of Louisville Basketball Star Shoni Schimmel Returns From Two Game Suspension

Umatilla: Dam On Umatilla May Be On The Way Out

Umatilla: Most trustees on CTUIR board keep their seats

Colville-Umatilla: Seeking: Ric Gendron’s lost paintings

Umatilla: Native Eyes Film Showcase

Umatilla: Expressions of gratitude in Milton-Freewater for American military on Veterans Day

Umatilla: 'People were complex 12,000 years ago'

Umatilla: Northwest natives were fishers, not hunter-gatherers

Umatilla: Gorge commission faces a daunting transition

Umatilla: AV Concepts Impresses Thousands with Projection Mapping for Wildhorse Resort & Casino

Umatilla: Names Board To Consider Requests To Change The Name

Protesters' voice heard at forum

State Board Looks to Replace More 'Squaw' Names

Debate on jobs heats up tribal forum

Protesters camp outside tribal building

One man’s vision saved by another's

Ceremony commemorates tribal leader Dick

A wreath in remembrance

Ecotrust ceremony to recognize tribal leaders