[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S815-S816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                     RECOGNIZING THE KLAMATH TRIBES

 Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, the Klamath Tribes in Oregon have 
a saying: ``We help each other; We will live good.'' These words are 
neither hollow nor trivial to the members of these Tribes. They live 
them each and every day and never more so than when disaster strikes. 
When the Two Four Two Fire raged through the Chiloquin Ranger District 
of the Fremont-Winema National Forest last September, scorching over 
14,000 acres, destroying homes and traditional hunting and fishing 
sites, members of the Tribes rallied together, opening their doors, 
their hearts, and their wallets to help their fellow Oregonians in a 
time of great need.
  They brought those eight words--``We help each other; We will live 
good''--to life.
  When emergency personnel needed a large, open area to establish an 
evacuation shelter for all those who had to

[[Page S816]]

flee their homes ahead of the inferno, the Tribes immediately offered 
up the parking lot the Kla-Mo-Ya Casino for their use.
  When the firefighters tasked with containing the fire needed a 
massive open space to stage their ample equipment, those same expansive 
parking lots were readily provided to them.
  At the same time, the doors of their hotel were thrown open to anyone 
displaced by the fire, to Tribal and non-Tribal members alike who were 
in need of shelter. In the middle of a pandemic, with all manner of 
precautions in place to keep folks healthy and safe, that was no easy 
feat, but they did it, all while also welcoming the Red Cross inside to 
set up a response center, as well.
  As the forests burned around it, the Kla-Mo-Ya Casino stood there 
like the eye of a hurricane. It became a center of help and healing, of 
safety and shelter. Had they just done those things, the Klamath Tribes 
would have already gone far above and beyond to support Tribal members 
and community members alike. They didn't stop, however, with providing 
the use of their hotel and its facilities to first responders and to 
those in need.
  No. Klamath Tribal Behavioral Health went out and provided assistance 
and services to anyone who had been affected and displaced, free of 
charge. Whether they were Tribal members or not, it didn't matter. 
Those who needed help were able to get it. They helped feed the 
firefighters risking their lives fighting the infernos, emergency 
volunteers helping others, and even evacuees.
  And even now, some 5 months after the worst of the fire's carnage, 
the Klamath Tribes are still doing what they can to help those whose 
lives were turned upside down by it. A GoFundMe account has been set up 
to help any family who lost their home or their property to the Two 
Four Two Fire rebuild and start to get back up on their feet again. The 
distribution of the money raised by the account is still a work in 
progress. The Tribes are fine-tuning the priority system and how folks 
will apply for it. But once all of that is worked out, this is going to 
be a tremendous help to so many of our friends and neighbors who have 
endured such heartbreak and hardship.
  ``We help each other; We will live good.'' There is no question that 
the members of the Klamath Tribes have helped those in need across 
southern Oregon through an unimaginably difficult time. We are all 
deeply grateful for everything they have done, both during the Two Four 
Two Fire and afterward. And we will all be better off as a State and as 
a community because of their kindness and generosity of spirit.

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