Walk into the Warm Springs Fire and Safety Building now, and the first thing you notice is the light. It’s bright — actually bright — in a way that matters both for staff treating patients and for patients who are already anxious about being there.

“When the new lighting came in, it completely made it brighter,” said Fire Chief Scott Spaulding of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. “The crews can see the patients better and the patient can see the crew better.”

That improvement is one of more than 40 energy upgrade projects completed on the Warm Springs Reservation over the past two years through a partnership between the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Energy Trust of Oregon. The initiative represents a significant investment in reservation infrastructure — both in dollars and in daily quality of life for residents.

Buildings Upgraded, Costs Cut

The partnership has invested more than $90,000 in two flagship projects alone: the Warm Springs Fire and Safety Building and the High Lookee Lodge, a 26-year-old elder care facility. Together, those two buildings are projected to save $13,800 annually in energy costs following the upgrades.

The Fire and Safety Building serves a dual purpose — it houses a fire station and functions as a medical clinic for community members. Before the upgrades, outdated lighting left the facility dim, contributing to anxiety for patients and making clinical work more difficult. The new system changed that immediately.

“They come in — I think the warmth, the feeling of the building helps out with patient care,” Spaulding said. “I think it’s all around a better experience.”

At High Lookee Lodge, director Fay Hurtado echoed those sentiments, noting that better lighting has been especially meaningful for elders with impaired vision. “The elders were able to see,” she said simply. “Dim light is sometimes hard on some that can’t see very well. So the upgrades brought a lot of light to our facility.”

Unique Needs of a Reservation Community

Energy Trust of Oregon’s tribal government stakeholder relations representative, Carina Miller, said the Warm Springs partnership has required the nonprofit to adapt its approach to a uniquely situated community.

“This is a reservation and so it’s a very unique community,” Miller said. “We need to be able to anticipate for higher energy needs and some of these things that are going to impact our communities regardless. But here in rural Oregon, on the reservations, there are different and unique needs that ETO is learning how to fill those gaps.”

Tribal lands operate with different legal and operational frameworks than counties or cities, and energy planning on the reservation includes both efficiency improvements and energy enterprise operations — including power the tribe sells to surrounding communities through Warm Springs Power & Water.

An Early Phase of a Longer Partnership

Both Energy Trust and tribal officials describe the current work as just a beginning. The 40-plus completed projects represent an initial phase, and both sides have expressed hope for expanding the partnership to additional buildings and homes across the reservation in coming years.

For more information about Energy Trust of Oregon’s tribal and rural programs, visit energytrust.org.