The center originally focused on hemp production, but those early crops also suffered from a saturated market, Steiner says. Now the center is focused on grant-funded projects to research the crop and figure out where there may still be untapped markets. The current, tribe-led project builds on a previous $10 million grant project to study the hemp market in the western U.S. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs has sold CBD products with the brand name Daminwa — a Kiksht word meaning “of all time” — since last summer. A referendum put before tribal members this spring that would allow the tribe to begin growing its own cannabis and open a dispensary didn’t get enough votes to move forward. But the tribe, which is part of OSU’s project, is still interested in exploring the potential role of hemp on the reservation, says Jim Souers, CEO of Warm Springs Economic Development Corporation. One potential use of hemp, for example, is as a building material called hempcrete — fiber compressed into bricks that are FINANCIAL SERVICES TAILORED TO YOU LEARN MORE AT: COLDSTREAM.COM Wealth Management Investment Advisory Endowments & Foundations Risk Management Leave behind the stress of managing your finances alone. We’re here to help achieve your financial goals. fire-retardant and mold-resistant. Souers says there is some interest in manufacturing hemp building materials on the reservation, but more research is needed. “We’re in the pre phase, the beta stage, whatever you want to call it, where we’ve got to create some samples that are meaningful enough for someone like OSU to determine that, yes, you have these distinct fibers, and give them maybe to a company or maybe a couple others, and see what they think,” Souers tells OB. According to Steiner, the first stage of the grant is to help develop a Native American-led intertribal manufacturing consortium. Down the road, the center will work with tribes to work out the details Souers alludes to — materials characteristics, configurations of manufacturing equipment and technology, as well as work on optimizing the quality of the product itself. The grant also includes a provision for making hemp production a part of education and workforce development. “The beginning spot is now following through with each of the tribes, and then creating this business consortium that combines them to the degree they want to be involved in that, and then moving the project forward from that place,” Steiner says. For her part, Richter says the Colville Tribe is working with universities to grow different varieties of hemp in smaller quantities to study how they do in the local climate. And she’s hopeful the OSU project will improve understanding of the barriers in the industry. “We did everything backward. We started growing a crop and had no home for it, and I don’t want people to experience that,” Richter says. “I think that hemp is an amazing crop and I think it’s incredibly versatile. I mean, I lost count of how many different ways it can be used — like, 25,000 different ways that it can be used. It’s kind of amazing, but at the same time, we’re not using it, and why not? Why aren’t we using it? Why don’t we have a clothing market? What are the barriers? My other big, big hope is that this grant will help highlight the barriers, and then we can figure out how to get around them.” “My … big hope is that this grant will help highlight the barriers, and then we can figure out how to get around them.” JACKIE RICHTER, CONSERVATION DISTRICT MANAGER FOR THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE COLVILLE RESERVATION 22
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