Two community-focused initiatives from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are drawing attention this week — one addressing health and family caregiving, the other a multi-year effort to restore a culturally significant fish species to Oregon rivers.
Dementia Education for Warm Springs Caregivers
The Warm Springs Community Health Program recently hosted a free educational session on dementia and physical therapy, aimed at supporting local caregivers who are often navigating difficult health challenges largely on their own.
Medical social worker Shawnetta Yahtin organized the event, describing it as an effort to address both the practical challenges of memory loss and the stigma that can surround it in tight-knit communities.
"It is important to get your brain health checked, and it is okay to ask questions." — Shawnetta Yahtin, Warm Springs Community Health Program
Yahtin noted that residents seeking cognitive assessments or resource guides can contact her directly through the Warm Springs Community Health Program at (541) 553-2352, extension 6288. The program can help connect community members with appropriate services and support networks.
Caregiver support has become an increasingly important topic in rural communities like Warm Springs, where family members often bear the full weight of elder care without nearby specialist resources. Events like this one aim to build awareness and reduce the sense of isolation many caregivers feel.
Tribal Biologists Work to Restore Pacific Lamprey
On the environmental front, tribal biologists working with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) are making progress on a long-term effort to bring Pacific lamprey back to Oregon waterways where the species once thrived.
Biologists Aldwin Keo and Courtney Golts are leading translocation efforts — physically moving lamprey above impassable dams to restore populations in rivers including Coyote Creek and the Long Tom River. The work is part of a broader tribal initiative to recover a species that holds deep cultural significance in tribal traditions and has been in decline for decades.
Pacific lamprey have lived in Pacific Northwest rivers for thousands of years and are considered a traditional food and ceremonial species by many tribal nations in the region. Dam construction in the 20th century blocked their migration routes, dramatically reducing populations throughout the Columbia River Basin.
The CRITFC-led translocation program is one of several tribal-led salmon and native fish restoration efforts currently underway across the Pacific Northwest. For the Warm Springs Tribe, restoring lamprey is not just an ecological project — it is a matter of cultural continuity and treaty rights.
Warm Springs and City of Bend: A New Dialogue
Also in tribal news: earlier this month, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the City of Bend held a joint meeting to discuss shared interests and regional cooperation. Tribal leadership struck a notably direct tone about expectations going forward.
"We have sat at many tables over the years. What matters is what happens after we leave them. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs will measure this relationship by what is done, not by what is said."
The meeting signals a growing effort to build more substantive government-to-government relationships between tribal nations and Oregon municipalities — a trend that community advocates across the region say is long overdue.