Category: News

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News

School is out for summer, but traditional teachings never stop in Tulalip. For the twenty-fourth consecutive year the committed Lushootseed staff, affectionately referred to as Language Warriors, organized a week full of fun, learning and interactive cultural lessons for community youth. 

During the 5-day stretch of July 8-12, the Pacific Northwest was pleasantly warm with the occasional overcast. Inside Don Hatch Youth Center the real radiating beams of sunshine could be found, created by 60 inspiring kids participating in week one of the 24^th Annual Lushootseed Day Camp.

Open to children age five to twelve with a desire to learn about their traditional lifeways and language of their ancestors, Lushootseed Camp provides invaluable cultural teachings through art, songs, technology, weaving and storytelling. Each year the Lushootseed Department teams up with a select number of vital community volunteers and culture bearers to hold two, one-week day camps in the summer.

“Our department gathered clams, harvested Devils Club and cedar bark just before camp started to help us all in experiencing the valuable lessons we wanted to pass on to the youth in various activities,” explained Lushootseed Teacher Natosha Gobin. “Originally we wanted to get the youth out in the lands where their ancestors gathered, but were unable to because of transportation costs as well as tides, but we did arrange for them to harvest marsh tea with the assistance of our Natural Resources colleagues.”

With the impressive turnout in camp participation came an equally impressive turnout in teenaged helpers to assist Lushootseed staff coordinate daily camp activities. There were 10+ summer youth workers, most who had been day camp participants themselves as kids, filling the role of group leaders.

Throughout the weeklong camp, youth participated in a variety of daily stations or activities. The following list is what each child accomplished on a near daily basis:

• Art – Tie-dye camp shirts, dreamcatchers, clam shells, Devil’s Club necklaces.

• Weaving – Cedar mat, Language Warrior necklace.

• Songs and Dances – Clamming Song, Berry Picking Song, Welcome Song, Kenny Moses Arrival Song.

• Traditional Teachings – Smudging, harvesting Devil’s Club, making Devil’s Club salve.

• Games – Various outdoor games incorporating Lushootseed, fishing and clamming concepts. 

• Language – Lushootseed alphabet and clamming terms.

• Technology – Children learned and practiced Lushootseed materials using handheld games, stories and videos on Tablets.

• Play – Lizzie’s Clam Digging.

Every station and daily lesson incorporated traditional teachings and Lushootseed verbiage. Using creative hands-on activities to keep the energetic youth focused, the Language Warriors made the most of their opportunities to teach the youngsters about tradition. From vibrant art creations to the proper cleaning and care of clam shells to working together as a community to problem solve, camp kids were learning while having fun.

Using tablets loaded with custom built software and the kids’ natural inclination for digital screens, Lushootseed techy Dave Sienko used videos and cartoons to teach tradition. 

“To focus on what is being taught specially at this year’s camp we utilized the ACORN (Acquisition Of Restored Native Speech) Language App developed by Southern Oregon University,” said Sienko. “This app allows us to gather the materials the teachers want taught and update it on the fly.  I also added several videos that fit with the focus of this year’s camp.

“It’s always amazing to witness how excited some of the students get when they are watching videos to learn about their ancestors, their relationship with nature, and animated traditional stories.”

A point of emphasis this year was to teach how Devil’s Club was traditionally used for a wide range of purposes. Several of the activity stations featured Devil’s Club as a fixture for arts and crafts, like necklace or bracelet adornments, or showcased its medicinal purposes. 

“Devils Club is a traditional medicine that is culturally, spiritually and physically healing,” shared Natosha as the kids lined up with peaked interest to help harvest the cool named plant. “It’s healing includes aiding in relief of sprains, arthritis, boils, muscle and joint pain, as well as cleansing.  Learning how to identify, harvest, process and create medicines with this sacred plant was a recent opportunity enjoyed by us teachers and we’re excited to pass on what we learned.”

The youth witnessed first-hand the transformation of Devil’s Club from its natural form by carefully assisting their teachers to shave off the Devil’s Club bark and process it into a healing salve. Many of the kids couldn’t help themselves and took in big whiffs of the freshly cut plant and its unique fragrance. 

“It smells like a tasty salad!” shouted super excited Rajalion Holland after treating her nose to a few smells of Devil’s Club bark. “Are we really going to use this to make medicine for owies and boo-boos?”

“Yes, we already turned it into medicine…a lot of it,” answered 9-year-old camper Rilla Jones. “We mixed Devil’s Club with melted bees wax and coconut oil, and poured it into tins so the liquid can dry. It becomes a medicine called a salve that heals your skin if you’re hurt.”

For this 24^th Annual Lushootseed Camp, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Krise was honored for her leadership and teachings she passed on to the Tulalip community. She’s remembered as one of the key people who helped preserve the Snohomish language. The work she did in the 1960s helped lay a foundation for the current generation of Lushootseed educators to learn, speak and teach their ancestral language. Her story “Lizzie’s Clam Digging” was chosen as the main lesson all teaching stations were built around in a week filled with learning and living a proud Coast Salish culture.

That culture was on full display during the closing ceremony for week one’s camp. Taking place at noon on Friday, July 12, the eager and understandably nervous young play-performers made their stage debut to a community audience of supportive family and friends. Different from previous years, instead of individual kids alternating lines and narration, this particular group performed as one unified voice. They stood up tall and narrated in unison the ten line Lushootseed story, “Lizzie’s Clam Digging.” 

Before and after their story rendition, the kids sang and drummed while performing several traditional songs unique to their Tulalip culture. Their sixty minutes of stage time allowed for plenty of reflection and, of course, photo opportunities. “Looking at all these young children here today, I’m very proud each of them for learning our language and keeping it alive,” said Herman Williams Sr. after witnessing the camp’s closing ceremony. “It’s our responsibility to encourage our young ones to build a new walk of life while knowing who they are and remembering where they come from.”

“It was a great honor to witness you all stand up with pride and sing those songs. You all did an amazing job. I got a chill in my body because I felt our ancestors smile,” added ceremonial witness CaryMichael Williams, great-great-grandson of Lizzie Krise. 

After the youth’s inspiring performance there was a large giveaway with hundreds of unique items handmade by the campers, including Devil’s Club beaded necklaces and tins of healing salve. Audience members left and right were taken aback by the gifts as they kept coming one after another from their enthusiastic creators. Closing the event was a buffet-style lunch featuring freshly baked Sockeye and an endless bounty of clams. 

Reflecting back on their week of Lushootseed Camp, two future leaders summed up their experiences and all they learned perfectly. “I liked all the activities and how they each taught us something about our culture,” said 10-year-old Sophia Quimby. “Every single station we’d go to would teach us a Lushootseed word. Having our teachers from school here made it easier to learn.”

 “The songs and dances were a lot of fun, too, because I enjoy doing those things,” added 11-year-old Katherine Velasquez. “I enjoyed all the traditional teachings that we got. My favorite parts of the week were doing tie-dye art and learning about Devil’s Club.” 

Learning about clam digging, harvesting from nature, creating medicines from traditional plants, creating vibrant cultural items, and learning Lushootseed words that can be used daily were primary goals of this year’s camp. From the sentiments expressed by the youth participants, it’s safe to say those goals were achieved.

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News

“Change can either mean good or bad,” expressed a local environmentalist to an audience of about sixty. “I know it’s only semantics, but I think we should start addressing it as it is, a climate crisis.”

A disruption of the food chain is currently occurring in the Pacific Northwest as sea level rise, pollution and ocean acidification are causing an alarming decrease in the salmon and orca populations. Climate change is not only affecting the Salish waters, but also threatening tribal ancestral lands as wildfires have unfortunately become a statewide yearly occurrence, and the recent increase of outdoor recreationalist are interfering with tribal spiritual and hunting practices. 

A recent report by Seattle Times states that due to the warm weather this past May, the statewide snowpack percentage is only at 58% of the normal average, while Snohomish County’s snowpack had the lowest percentage, measuring at 29%. As the snowpack melts, it delivers water into local streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries and bays. As a result of this year’s dry climate, the state is gearing up for a summertime drought and preparing for a series of wildfires. 

Climate change is inevitable and scientists are now reporting the world will feel the extreme effects of global warming sooner than anticipated. Several tribes are at the forefront, fighting to save Mother Earth and slow down the process of climate change by raising awareness, protesting big oil and energy companies, and dedicating their efforts to recover the once abundant salmon population. More often than not, the tribes are joined by a handful of environmental agencies who are fighting alongside for the same cause. 

This past January, the Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources department organized a daylong presentation for local outdoor recreational groups in an effort to establish a positive working relationship and also equip the groups with a basic knowledge of treaty rights. The event was such a success, they decided to host another workshop, on June 20 at the Hibulb Cultural Center (HCC), tailored to surrounding environmental organizations. 

“We have so many goals in common, so many projects that we should be working on together,” said Tulalip Natural Resources Environmental Liaison, Ryan Miller. “And one of the best ways to do that is to make people feel included, and I think people should be included, because it’s their treaty as much as it is ours. We’re not just talking about treaty rights for tribal members, we all had representation at the treaty signing. If you’re a citizen of the United States, you were represented by the territorial governor, Isaac Stevens, and as Indian people we also had our representation there. I want people to understand that we all have ownership over the treaty and we have a duty to uphold it, whether you’re a non-Indian person or a tribal member.”

Over sixty participants, from nearly forty organizations, attended the sold out presentation. Beginning their day in the HCC longhouse, the group was welcomed by Tulalip Chairwoman Teri Gobin, who offered a welcoming song. The group then proceeded to a classroom at the museum where they spent the day learning about the Point Elliot Treaty of 1855 and the significant value it holds for both tribal and non-tribal Washington State residents. 

To get a basic understanding of generational trauma, Tulalip Elder and Natural Resources Special Projects Manager, Patti Gobin, began the presentation by sharing a personal family story about her grandma, Celum Young, who was a first generation Tulalip boarding school student. Patti explained that because of years of forced assimilation, Celum struggled with her identity after enduring years of physical abuse for speaking her language and practicing her traditions while at the boarding school. As a direct result from the boarding schools, Patti admitted that her grandmother avoided teaching her children and grandchildren certain traditions in fear that they would be punished just as she was. Over time, Celum and other boarding school students inadvertently passed their boarding school traumas onto the next generation and many Native families still struggle with generational trauma to this day. 

Today, Patti and her family are very involved in the Tulalip culture, taking part and leading in a number of ceremonies and traditions, including stripping cedar every summer. 

“Stripping cedar is a very critical part of our culture for weaving and many other purposes,” Patti said. “As we were stripping cedar one day, we sang our songs to thank the cedar trees for letting us have portions of its life to become a part of our lives. As we’re doing this, all we could hear was, zoom. Motor bikes were going by throughout the whole day we were there. One young man stopped and asked, ‘what are you doing here, are you cutting all these trees down?’ I said no we are stripping cedar, it a traditional way of our life. He said, ‘oh’, strapped on his helmet and zoom, he took off.”

Patti shared this particular story to explain how the Tribe’s treaty rights are often violated in today’s society. The 1855 Treaty of Point Elliot is a formal agreement between the federal government and the people who make up the central and north Puget Sound tribes, including the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skykomish and other allied bands. As direct descendants of the Snohomish, the Tulalips ceded millions of acres of land, agreeing to move their people to the present day Tulalip reservation. In return, the Tribe retained their rights to fish in their usual and accustomed grounds as well as hunt and gather on open and unclaimed lands in order to continue practicing their traditional cultural lifeways.

Because of the change in the environment since the industrial revolution, the Tribe is diligently working to preserve the natural world as much as possible by spearheading a number of projects like the Qwuloolt Estuary project as well as the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Forest huckleberry restoration. The Tribe is also making strong efforts to continue teaching the next generations how to care for the land and the waterways at the annual Fish and Mountain Camps, so that the resources remain available for decades to come. 

“If we’re able to exercise treaty rights in a forest, that means it’s a healthy forest,” explained Ryan. “If we’re able to fish in the salt water, then we know that we have at least some good health there. What we’re really looking at is, are we protecting these places enough that they support treaty rights, and if we are, then we’re headed in the right direction. It’s when we get to these places where tribes don’t have access to the resources, like they had before, then we know somethings wrong because we’ve been accessing those resources for thousands of years.”

Ryan went into depth, explaining the Treaty of Point Elliot to the environmentalists while also briefly touching on the Boldt Decision. During his presentation he reaffirmed that the treaties are the supreme law of the land according to the US Constitution, and that the federal government has an obligation to uphold and support the ideals agreed upon between the state and tribal people. A major eye-opener for the participants was that the treaty not only applies to them, but they also have a role and a duty to support the treaties of the Coast Salish tribes as well. They learned how the treaty can help protect the environment and how a number of projects that would negatively affect our quality of life were ultimately shut down because they were in violation of tribal treaty rights. 

Natural Resources Senior Environmental Policy Analyst, Libby Nelson, also demonstrated an informational presentation, giving the group a look at how the increasing population of the state is attributing to climate change as well as affecting tribal hunting and gathering rights. 

“A lot of these organizations are going to support tribes, they just don’t necessarily know about treaty rights, they don’t know about tribal lifeways,” Libby stated. “At a time where there’s so much growth in this area, we need allies. We got a climate that is changing and there’s a lot happening to the environment right now, we need to be on the same page. We think there’s a lot more room for coming together through learning about who the tribes are and what treaty rights are all about. And understanding that, not only is it the right thing to do, but also treaty rights are a powerful tool for ensuring that we don’t diminish further resources that are out there for everybody.”

After a Q&A session, the Natural Resources department handed out a list of principles and asked the environmental organizations to consider adopting and incorporating them, as well as modifying them to meet their own personal mission and values. A local non-profit, Forterra, gave a little insight to the group on how their organization adopted the list of principles and have developed a strong relationship with the Tribe. Ryan also stated that one of the recreational groups from the first treaty rights event has also adopted the principles, while several others groups are working with their board members to commit to the principles as well. 

“I’m really hopeful that this is going to continue and expand, not only for us but for other tribes, and that it will have a real tangible impact on the relationships between our sovereign nations and governments, and also between our nations and all the non-governmental organizations that we partner with,” Ryan said. “One of the things we always want to be careful of and cognizant of is that this is Tulalip’s view, we only represent Tulalip, we do not represent other tribes. What we are trying to do is help create educational opportunities for these organizations and governments. We’re really hopeful that other tribes will pick up on this as well and that they’re going to push forward to do the same thing with the groups that work in their areas.” 

“There was a lot of amazing information, especially for non-natives who are interested in supporting sovereign nations here in the state,” expressed Jacob DeGuzman of the Seattle Parks and Recreation department. “It reinforced knowledge I did know, like treaties are the supreme law of the land, but also highlighted aspects that I didn’t know, one of those being that the treaties benefit all of us. Ryan stated that as a Washington resident or a citizen of the United States, we are legally obligated to uphold those treaties and advocate for them. It helped us gain a much more expanded perspective of the land and the people that are still here caring for it.” 

The Tulalip Natural Resources department is planning one more Understanding Treaty Rights event during the fall which will be specific to governmental entities of the Pacific Northwest. For more information, please contact Natural Resources at (360) 716-4480.