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The Cherokee Nation Seed Bank has faced issues this year due to weather.

The Cherokee Nation Seed Bank has faced issues this year due to weather.

The Cherokee Nation Resource Committee met Aug. 15 and heard updates on several programs under the Secretary of Natural Resources Office.

The committee heard reports from Management Resources, Real Estate Services, and the Secretary of Natural Resources and Environmental Programs, Chad Harsha.

Harsha announced the release of the second annual draw hunt application for the public.

“We are doing a little bit different this year based on, you know, kind of doing a pilot program last year. This year we're going to have one youth, one elder, one veteran and then two open to any Cherokee Citizen,” said Harsha. “We’re also not going to limit it by residency of any kind.”

Harsha said the draw hunt last year was limited to individuals with a compact hunting and fishing license, with the exception of one at-large event. However, the hunting and fishing compact between the state of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation was not extended past 2021, so Harsha said therewas “no reason, as we see it, to be selective” based on residency this year.

“So we anticipate there's going to be quite a bit more applications, and we look forward to getting a more diverse group in on all of these different hunts,” said Harsha.

This online application was made available on Aug. 16, with a deadline of Sept. 16. The 2022 hunt will take place on the Sequoyah Hunting Preserve.

With the expansion of the Wildlife Conservation department, Harsha said the staff has been engaging more in wildlife management within the CN reservation.

“We recently conducted an electrofishing survey at a small lake that we have in Stilwell, and we're also promoting collaboration with other tribes trying to try to get this program more visible and some of the more substantive pieces of it — a broader application for the program as it continues to expand,” said Harsha.

Harsha said the CN Seed Bank has faced issues due to the recent “irregular” weather pattern.

“It's taken a pretty substantial hit to our seed bank,” said Harsha. “We don't know the full impact of it, but we do anticipate there's going to be quite a bit less offerings whenever we do our distribution.”

Harsha updated the committee on the CN’s electric vehicle program. He said the planning design for two solar canopies – one at the Vinita Welcome Center and one at the Hard Rock Casino – has been completed.

“We've moved into the procurement and preliminary construction phase, so we hope to have that move in pretty full swing by the end of this year,” said Harsha. “We've also moved into procurement within Will Rogers Downs to replace three water trucks, a box truck, a dump truck, and hopefully electrify the entirety of their operations.”

Altogether, Harsha said this is about a $4 million investment that his team intends to roll out over the next year.

Harsha talked about the Rancher Relief Program, which opened for applications last week. He said this program had $1 million for the first 2,000 applicants.

“We reached that number yesterday afternoon and we're now in the process of processing those applications so we can get the funds distributed as soon as possible,” said Harsha.

District 15 Councilor Danny Callison asked if more funds might be made available in the future to reopen the application. Harsha said the initial plan was to leave the program at 2,000 applicants.

“I would say that, of course, we always evaluate programs as as funding permits. In my view, it took almost a week to get 2,000 folks to apply, and in my mind, it seems like maybe we've hit the number, because when you have some of these other programs, overnight you'll have remarkable amounts of applications,” said Harsha. “So I think the fact that it took a week to get 10,000 folks interested in it, maybe we've hit that sweet spot, but we'll look through that after we process all the applications and have a better understanding of feedback on the program.”

The next meeting of the Resource Committee is tentatively scheduled for Monday, Sept. 12 at 2 p.m.

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