OPB: Grand Ronde Tribes to remove descendants of treaty signer

Mia Prickett is one of 78 descendants of Chief Tumulth now facing disenrollment.

In 1855, Tumulth played an important role in the confederation’s founding as one of the signers of a key treaty with the U.S. government.

Prickett says in 1986 the enrollment committee determined her family met the eligibility requirements of the tribe’s constitution. She says it’s not clear why the committee is now reversing course.

“I can only think that they’re trying to skim down the numbers, that they’re trying to kick us quote unquote urban Indians out who, who don’t live on the reservation and this is the only way that they can do it,” said Prickett.