1st Lt. Theresa M. Chrystal — California National Guard
HOOPA, Calif. – Landslides are a force of nature. But that hasn’t stopped California and Indiana National Guard members from helping the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe put up a fight. For the past few months, soldiers and airmen from California and Indiana have joined the Hoopa people to work together on an engineering project designed to mitigate the degradation of a major landslide in northern California.
The project, operation Winter Eagle, began in October and produced major results before concluding in early December. ”We got done above and beyond what we planned on getting done this year,” Hoopa civil engineer Cody Smith said. ”Our estimate right now is that with [the National Guard’s] help, we removed a total of 40,000 cubic yards off that slide face …” These are numbers that well exceeded the tribe’s original goal for the year of about 18,000 cubic yards.
The project is one of many conducted by the California Civil-Military Innovative Readiness Training team. Approximately 20 soldiers and four individuals from the Hoopa’s Tribal Roads Department worked alongside one another to stabilize a hillside which had given way in August 2003, blocking residents and denying emergency personnel a critical passageway. Although the Hoopa Tribe conducted mitigation measures, the affected area increased 300 percent and magnified the tribe’s need for assistance. Former IRT commander Maj. Ken Shedarowich had built a strong relationship with the Hoopa community while his troops provided medical and dental services for tribal members. Upon learning of the Bald Hill slide situation, he asked how the California National Guard could assist.
On Dec. 11, Brig. Gen. Kevin G. Ellsworth, director of the state’s Joint Staff, visited the reservation to view the work of the IRT and Tribal Roads Department. At the site of the slide, the visit began with a moving prayer offered in the Hupa language by tribal elder and Sergeant-at-Arms Billy Carpenter. Carpenter is a veteran of the Korean War and was glad to have the Army there with the tribe.
”We are all one. We’re not different from one another,” Carpenter said as he began. ”Usually when we call on the Creator … the rest of the day is a good one.”
Tribal Roads Department Director Jacque Hostler said several agencies and Rep. Mike Thompson, Calif., have supported the project. The tribe continues to lobby for more federal funds to fix the road permanently which could require moving another 100,000 cubic yards of material. Although the project is not expected to be complete until 2010, Hostler praised the National Guard for their help and said they could at least see a light at the end of the tunnel.
”Having you all here is a lifelong dream to see the art of accomplishing with us hand-in-hand the mitigation of Bald Hill slide,” she said. ”It’s not a small matter that the Guard came at the final hours and provided the funding and support we needed.”