Warm Springs seat on the Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District board filled for the first time in decades

The Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District helps manage irrigation, soil erosion, water quality and other factors that impact the health of the county’s watersheds. It’s supposed to be overseen by a seven-member board, but until recently, one seat had remained vacant for more than 30 years.

Alysia Klick’ump was recently appointed to the board as an associate director for Zone 1, which covers the Warm Springs reservation. She joins us to talk about her role and the perspective she adds to the board as a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and a fly fishing guide.

Note: The following transcript was transcribed using AI tools and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. The Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District helps manage irrigation, water quality, and other factors that impact the health of the county’s watersheds. It is supposed to be overseen by a seven-member board, but until recently, one seat had been vacant for more than 30 years. It’s a seat for Zone 1, which covers the Warm Springs reservation. That seat finally has representation. Alysia Klick’ump was recently appointed to the board as an associate director for Zone 1. She is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and a fly fishing guide on the Deschutes River for Little Leaf Guide Service. She joins us now. It’s great to have you on the show.

Alysia Klick’ump: It’ukdi kadux. I said good morning to you. Well, I guess it’s good afternoon. So It’ukdi wigwa. Good day to you.

Miller: Good afternoon to you as well. You have now a position on the exact kind of board that I think Oregonians all over the state, probably people in many parts of the country, when they see it on their ballots, they may just say, I don’t know, I don’t even know what this does. I don’t know these people. I’m gonna skip it or I’ll just look in the voter’s guide right now and make some quick decisions. So can you first just remind us or tell us what a soil and water conservation district does?

Klick’ump: Well as you stated, they help manage the watershed in our area, and Jefferson County is a very big area. And Warm Springs Reservation is a part of Jefferson County. So along with the irrigation management, there’s a lot of management, ag fields up above Warm Springs and Madras and all through Central Oregon, Redmond, Bend, LaPine, etc. But it’s where they help the farmers and their own land and manage all this land and the soil, the health and the streams, the restoration. So that’s kind of where my perspective is coming from. I live and breathe the soil, water, and conservation as Indigenous and as an enrolled member of Warm Springs.

And stream restoration, the plants, it’s very vital for the river health. Clean, cool water for all of the plants that grow along the river system and all the species in the river system in every tributary throughout Oregon. So it’s a very big deal. It’s very vital, but it’s unfortunately a very underserved district or board, people will have no idea, like you said, when they see it on the ballot. But my hope is to bring some of the awareness and create more awareness about it and how vital it really is, especially in these times of drought.

Miller: When did you first get interested in your own soil and water conservation district?

Klick’ump: See, I would honestly have to say probably back when we started guiding in my business about 15 years ago. There’s been a lot of eyes opening because you’re out there every day. You’re one with the land, you’re one with the river, and you’re seeing things, and you’re feeling things, and you’re coming and adapting to these changes, whether it’s beneficial or not. So like the warmer temps in the river, the warmer everything, the low snowpack, the low rainfall that we’ve had, just that little bit of rain we had here in Central Oregon yesterday was a big blessing, and it was an answer to many prayers cause we need every drop of water right now.

Miller: How did you become what you are now, an associate director for Zone 1?

Klick’ump: That’s a pretty cool question. I’m really glad that you asked that because a lot of people are gonna continue to ask that question and that all it took was for me to initiate an email to the Soil Water Conservation Board secretary and say, “Hey, I’m a little interested. What’s going on? Is there any way that I could start helping? Is there a way I could get on board?” It took a little bit of interest, and I got on the email listing, and she said just start attending meetings and see what it’s about, and start picking the brains if you would like, or if you have an interest in being in the board, we could take it further.

And I attended two or three meetings, checked it out, took a lot of notes. And then there was a meeting for Jefferson Soil Water Conservation District in Madras, and I said, well, I may as well go attend it and check it out. And I was just watching and then taking many notes again and listening and observing, and I wanted to see what it was all about. And I simply asked the question of, why hasn’t this not been filled? Where is my representation for my people in Warm Springs? Where is the Confederated Tribes Warm Springs? Where’s Warm Springs in this? And all it took was that simple question, and they said, “You know what, this position hasn’t been filled in over 30 years.” And right then and there, they all voted me in and appointed me as an associate’s director based on my questioning of why it has not been filled.

And I was in utter shock and I had butterflies in my stomach because I couldn’t believe it was happening. I was like, “Whoa.” And just that quick, I got voted in and appointed as an associate’s director, and I was like, “Wow.” And so now I will be sitting and filling this as a year goes by, fill it as a year to show my interest in it, conservation, soil, water, land management, and keep learning and growing from there. But I just couldn’t believe it. I wish I would have done it a long time ago, if I would have known it would have been that simple to get on the board, and I’m the only woman on the board. It’s all men. So.

Miller: My understanding is that as an appointed member right now, as this associate member of the board, you don’t have voting power right now. What will it take for you to become a voting member?

Klick’ump: Not for a whole year. So I have to sit for a whole year to show the interest in the conservation and in the board, basically. And then that’s me demonstrating that I have my interest in it. And then it’ll take coming up with a conservation plan that is approved by the district. So, because I don’t own 10 acres of land, that’s another requirement, or you gotta manage 10 acres of land. So those are the requirements to be on the board. And if I do not come up with a conservation plan that is approved by the board, then I run for the campaign in 2028. And I’m ready and willing to do, cause I learned how to do all that cause I just graduated the Emerge program back in the end of May. So I’m all trained up and ready to go. I would have been running right now if I didn’t have to sit for a whole year as an associate’s director.

Miller: Can you tell us anything about your plan for the 10 acres that you will be managing to meet this requirement?

Klick’ump: I can’t cause that’s kind of spilling the beans of what I’m trying to do and what I need to get done. And it’s something that’s a work in progress right now. I definitely know where I’m gonna go and what needs to be done, but I just need to get it approved by the board. So I can’t in a sense, but I do want to, I’ll give a little hint of maybe removing some invasive plants in an area that I think is vital, and that could be just the beginning of something.

Miller: What perspective do you think you are now bringing to this board that has had no Native voice for more than 30 years? What knowledge or experience or perspective is now on the board because you’re there?

Klick’ump: I really feel like they’re gonna see more of a sense that Natives have always been stewards of the land since time immemorial, and it’s something that I really think that has been surpassed and just not really looked at seriously. So they’re going to see that we harvest our foods year-round, off of the land. And since our ancestors have, like right now, our huckleberries are coming in bloom, and they’re early, and all of our first foods are coming in early because of the low snowpack and the rainfall.

So it’s very vital, I think, that they see that people that are still living off the land in a sense, even just as a fishing guide service, the changes that we’ve adapted with. So I think I’m gonna bring a lot of different perspective that will help humanize Warm Springs in a good light, in a good realm, and keep the focus of that we all need to do something, that this climate change and everything that’s happening is a “we thing.” It’s not an “I thing,” it’s an “all of us thing” and it’s an “all of us problem,” and there needs to be more awareness created in that, that we need to come together in solidarity and work as one to get the job done cause there’s so much work to be had and this is passion. This is not a paid position, so this has to come from a place of heart and a place of passion.

So I really think it’s gonna help create awareness that we’re still here, that we still very much care, and that we still very much take care of the land. So even as my fishing guide service, we’ve donated in the past 15 years to many nonprofit organizations that do conservation and restoration projects. So, I think it’s gonna bring a lot. I’m gonna bring a lot, and it’s just a representation that has been overlooked and surpassed for too long. It’s long overdue. So I think I’m gonna bring a lot to it.

And with a lot being said, I always say water is life. Even each fish we catch, even every huckleberry we pick, every food we pick and harvest year-round and that we still utilize and sustain our bodies as one and it’s water. So Chuush iwa waq’ishwit, water is life, and that it’s under our treaty that helps us sustain this way of life. And we help take care of the land because of that. And so I hope to bring all that to the table and to just humanize because we’re still here.

Miller: We just have about 40 seconds left, but based on this low snowpack, what are you expecting on the reservation in Jefferson County as a whole over the next six months?

Klick’ump: Well, I know that we’re all farmers and everyone’s kind of trying to figure out… everyone’s trying to go to plan B or C and D because of this low water. We’re having to have our ceremonies really fast, we don’t normally pick huckleberries until August, but we have to have our huckleberry feast really quick and get out and start picking them before they dry up. So it’s gonna affect us all with the low snowpack, so do your rain dance people.

Miller: Amen. Alysia Klick’ump, it was great talking with you. Congratulations and thanks so much.

Klick’ump: Thank you for your time and the opportunity.

Miller: Alysia Klick’ump represents the Confederate Tribes of Warm Springs on the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District Board. She is the owner and a fly fishing guide at Little Leaf Guide Service.

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