Elders of Warm Springs Tribes protest plan to close resort

Friday, July 20, 2018

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are planning to close a resort on the reservation in Oregon and elders aren't happy about it.

According to tribal leaders, the Kah-Nee-Ta Resort and Spa is not sustainable. Nearly 150 employees will be laid off, as soon as September 5, according to documents sent to the state.

"All your hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed," a July 6 message to employees read.

Elder have noticed too. They will stage a protest on Saturday in hopes of getting the tribe to reverse course, The Bend Bulletin reported.

“The people were the last to know it was going to close here,” Mike Clements, the president of the tribe's Elder Council, told The Bulletin. “The closure, we think, is unnecessary. We want to push on our leaders to consider these other options we have as a tribe.”

The tribe has been warning of financial issues at Kah-Nee-Ta since last fall. A firm called Accent Ventures, doing business as AV Northwest, came on board in hopes of securing financing to keep the resort up and running.

Talks are ongoing, Spilyay Tymoo, which is the tribe's newspaper, reported. And despite the looming lay-offs, the council has not yet officially determined what will happen to Kah-Nee-Ta.

“Kah-Nee-Ta has been a financial drain on the tribes for years,” Jim Manion, the chairman of the resort's board of directors, told Spilyay Tymoo. “We have to come up with a model that is selfsustaining.”

Kah-Nee-Ta features a hotel, spa, pool, water park and recreational vehicle park. It once offered gaming but the tribe moved operations to the Indian Head Casino at a different location.

"It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve the tourism community for over 5 decades," a post on on Facebook read. "We extend our heartfelt appreciation to the generations of families who visited our Resort."