Ranger district shows Indian students options in natural resources careers
SVECA and Chemawa
students join others at
Detroit Ranger Station
the role Native people play in living in
balance with the natural world.
He also emphasized the Tribe’s
interest in encouraging American Indian
youth to pursue careers that allow them
to care for the land in the traditions of
their Elders.
DETROIT, Ore. - Native Tribes
that inhabit Western Oregon initiated a
human-landscape relationship that contin
ues to help guide management of public
lands in the National Forest System today.
Students rotated between five career
stations that included natural resources,
archaeology and cultural resources,
recreation and wilderness management,
forestry and fire management.
On April 6, the Detroit Ranger Station
hosted a special event to acknowledge the
shared responsibilities of the agency and
Tribal governments in promoting a land
ethic for today’s youth.
The fourth bi-annual American Indian
Student Education Enhancement Day
( AI-SEED) was designed to inspire Tribal
youth to think about pursuing careers in
natural resource management. The event
was attended by approximately 40 high
school and Job Corps students from Che
mawa Indian School, Siletz Valley Early
College Academy (SVECA), Willamina
High School, Connections Academy, Angell
Job Corps and Timberlake Job Corps.
Tribal youth leaders and Elders also
participated in the event.
Bud Lane, Tribal Council vice-
chairman for the Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians, provided an invocation.
He then offered a Tribal perspective on
Grady McMahan, Detroit district
ranger, and Steve Bobb, Grand Ronde
Tribal Council member, closed the event
with words of support for the students.
Students also received a certificate of par
ticipation from the Willamette National
Forest and a small gift courtesy of the
Tribal Councils that supported the event.
Through everyone’s efforts, it’s hoped
that seeds of appreciation for natural
resources and the continuation of tradi
tional practices used in caring for the land
were planted with the students and that
those seeds will continue to grow as they
pursue various career paths.
The Willamette National Forest,
Detroit Ranger District extends special
thanks to the Siletz, Warm Springs and
Grand Ronde Tribes for their contribu
tions to AI-SEED.
The stations featured presentations
by both Tribal and Forest Service natu
ral resource professionals. Presenters
described the roles and responsibilities
related to their professions and high
lighted the various types of employment
opportunities available with the agency
and Tribal governments, including sea
sonal and permanent positions, co-op pro
grams, internships and apprenticeships.
Students had the opportunity to sit
inside the cab of a fire engine, use forest
measurement equipment and learn about
traditional materials used in making
baskets, clothing and tools. Participants
later enjoyed a lunch sponsored by the
Siletz Tribe, Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs and Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde.
Engine crew
members from
the Confederated
Tribes of Grand
Ronde and the
U.S. Forest Service
provide students
the opportunity to
experience a day in
the life of a wild
land firefighter.
Courtesy photos
District Ranger Grady McMahan welcomes approximately 40 Job Corps and Tribal
students to the Detroit Ranger Station.
Census coming for farms, ranches
The USDA - National Agriculture Sta
tistic Service, Census of Agriculture 2012
needs American Indian agricultural opera
tions to participate in the upcoming census.
This includes retirement/lifestyle
farms and ranches that grow a small
amount of plants or crops or keep only a
few animals, up to the largest of operations
and everything in between. Landowners
who only have income from government
programs also are counted as farms.
This census helps determine the fund
ing rate for USDA and other programs
within your respective states. It will help
state programs receive funds to meet
Tribal range and agriculture program
requirements/requests.
This census also is used to provide
information to Congress and federal agen
cies for funding programs in Indian country.
The National Agriculture Statistic
Service would like names and addresses
for this census. All information provided
is confidential. Census forms will be sent
out in December 2012 and January 2013.
For more details - nasts.usda.gov/
counts, 800-892-1660, NRCS Tribal con
servationists and BIA agencies.
Tooth Talk: Culture Camp and Chickletize - Did you look for the definition?
By Mary Ellen Volansky, EPDH, MS
Culture Camp is next month and I’d
like to review oral health aspects of cul
ture as I know them.
In the past, I have reviewed plants that
have been used by Tribes of the Pacific
Northwest and North America. There
have been discussions of how one plant
could be utilized for many very different
treatments depending on the Tribe using
the plant. One author suggested this mul
tiple use for a single plant pointed toward
the spiritual aspects of Indian medicine.
My favorite topic was sharing the
documentation of the lack of cavities and
periodontal disease that Indians of North
America experienced less than 150 years
ago. Or maybe it was the surprise that
dentists of the time expressed at finding
this to be true.
My surprise was fueled by my dis
tain for the dental professionals of that
time (mid- to late-1800s) as I read the
language they used when writing about
Native people.
14
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Siletz News
•
New this year is a webpage from
the University of Michigan in Dearborn,
Mich. It has listings for hundreds of
plants, the Tribes that used them and the
purposes for which they used these plants.
As I reviewed this webpage, there
appeared to be more listings for oral
health care than I have found at other
sources. This is surprising as the curator
of this webpage is Daniel Moerman, the
same man who compiled the book I have
mentioned many times - Native American
Ethnobotany, 1998. This book lists and
cross references more than 3,000 plants
and their uses by Tribes of North America.
If you have any interest in this subject
or medical ethnobotany, give this web
page a try at herb.umd.umich.edu. It has
a great search engine. You can type in a
word, in my case “teeth,” and the engine
will find entries related to that word. For
teeth, I was presented with 57 matches;
for tongue, there were 37 matches; and
for sore mouth, 50 matches.
Here are some of the plants and their
oral health use I found on this webpage:
June 2012
•
•
•
•
•
Oceanspray (rosaceae) was a Lummi
drug used as a “poultice of leaves
applied to sore lips.”
Smooth sumac (anacrdiaceae) was a
Sanpoil drug, mashed leaves rubbed
on sore lips. Okanagan and Thomp
son people chewed the roots for a sore
mouth or tongue.
Woodland strawberry (rosaceae) and
Virginia strawberry were utilized by
Okanagan-Colville people as a “leaf
powder dusted into a baby’s sore mouth.”
Twinberry honeysuckle (caprifolia-
ceae) was used by Quinault people for
sore mouths by chewing the leaves.
Kinikinnick (ericaceae) was used in
the form of an infusion, a mouthwash
for cankers and sore gums, by Black
foot people. They also utilized green
milkweed root; someone chewed the
root and then applied this to a nursing
baby’s sore gums.
I will have a handout of more of these
plants and their uses for oral health care at
Culture Camp (July 10-12). I even found
a citation for chewing “hard” tree sap to
clean teeth. This I knew because of teacher
Joe Scott, who had his students try it.
We use fluoride varnish in our clinic
each time you come. I apply it to the
teeth of Head Start students 3-4 times per
school year to prevent cavities. Fluoride
varnish is made from either pine tree rosin
or a chemical copy of it. Besides tasting
like tree sap, fluoride varnish has a history
of which it can be proud.
Now, what you have all been waiting
for - the definition of chickletize and who
is the winner of a new Sonicare. Sadly, we
will have to wait. This article is written
before the due date I gave for sending
in your answer(s). So I had to wait until
May 15 and you’ll have to wait too. If
no one gives a correct answer, I’ll run
another question or definition in July. Just
remember, you can look up the answer.
As you can see, I’m very fond of the
web, so enjoy your search. My e-mail
address (for your answer) is maryellenv@
ctsi.nsn.us.
See you next month at Culture Camp.