Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
August 22. 2002
Beny customs endure tough times
Page 6
Warm Springs
residents create
solutions to keep
their traditions
alive.
Uya Davis, 17, of Warm Springs
sits at a table quietly and beads a new
pair of moccasins. She says her
grandma taught her and she's mak
ing a beaded outfit for powwow danc
ing. Her grandma taught her a lot of
things.
"My grandma stores roots, huck
leberries, and meats for the winter."
she proudly says, "I was taught to dig
roots and everything."
Davis may be rare for her genera
tion. "Most of the kids my age aren't
into it. Learning the traditions de
pends on if their family is tradi
tional," says Davis about huckleberry
gathering and other traditions.
She continues to confidently ex
hibit her knowledge, "Huckleberry
gathering is important to our people.
It's an Indian tradition where we have
a feast and share the huckleberries.
It's a tradition my family taught me."
Some are concerned the kids aren't
being taught.
Huckleberry gatherer Leah Boise
Montiel carries her heirloom cedar
root huckleberry basket in the forest
near Trout Lake. "There is a lack of
teaching and many kids would rather
run to McDonald's than go picking,"
she says.
Some kids are being taught but the
tradition is changing, she says. For
example, explains Montiel, the
younger generation eats out of the
basket. The elders don't eat out of the
basket. They say it makes you lazy.
On the Warm Springs Reservation
tradition is still alive and strong, but
there are folks who remember a dif
ferent time with different reasons to
harvest.
One of those people is Frank
Smith, director of the Warm Springs
Boys and Girls Club. He fears with
out the necessity of storing for the
winter, the four traditional seasons of
Warm Springs - spring salmon fish
ing and root digging, late summer
huckleberry gathering, hunting and
fishing in the fall and the winter oral
tradition of storytelling - may be lost.
Outside near The Boys and Girls
Club, Smith points to the hill where
he grew up. He remembers not hav
ing running water, electricity, and
stores.
Smith explains, "The kids today
are being taught on a different level.
When I was a kid we picked berries
and preserved them for the winter.
There was no choice, we didn't have
Safeway."
Although the necessity to harvest
for winter is less than in the old days,
Smith stresses the importance of "kids
learning that if it weren't for the ber
ries, fish, water and all other things,
they would not be here today."
He adds, "It is our responsibility
to take care of this sacred way of life.
The Creator gave us these things to
take care of. It is important the kids
identify with themselves, who they
are, and where they came from. These
traditions are a part of our way of
life."
To make sure every child has that
opportunity to experience and take
part in their culture, Smith started a
cultural program at the Boys and Girls
Club, where they acknowledge and
participate in the four sacred seasons.
Saving the huckleberry bush
Huckleberries have been an im
portant part of subsistence and tradi
tion for the people of Warm Springs
from time immemorial. In reverence
to the huckleberry, there is feast, cer
emony, and the people make baskets.
There is culture and spirituality sur
rounding huckleberries.
The berries are eaten fresh, canned,
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From top, clockwise: Lance Boise shows off a choice huckleberry
bush near Trout Lake; close up of the big huckleberry, Vaccinium
membranaceum; Leah Boise Montiel stands with her cedar root
heirloom basket near Trout Lake; above is atwai Ellen Squiemphen
collecting berries at High Rock in 1978. The photo of Ellen
Squiemphen was taken by Cynthia Stowell, and appears in her book,
Faces of a Reservation.
jammed, and dried over a small fire.
They can be used as a dye, and when
the leaves start to turn color, picked
for tea. They are considered an im
portant part of the Warm Springs
diet, next to water, salmon and roots.
Known to the people as a nutrient
source, Montiel believes, "It is a medi
cine and healer depending on how
you are raised. The healing depends
on how you pray and how the elders
taught you."
Scientific data backs her belief.
The huckleberry bush contains high
doses of vitamin C and bioflavanoids,
which promote formation of connec
tive tissue and strengthen capillaries
in the body, working as a natural an
tihistamine. They arc also an antioxi
dant, a substance known to prevent
cancer.
Each year tribal families return to
traditional huckleberry spots. Their
berry-stained hands patiently pick the
scattered deep blue berries.
The people of Warm Springs typi
cally harvest a species known as the
big huckleberry, scientific name
Vaccinium membranaceum. Six types
of huckleberries have been docu
mented in the Mount Hood National
Forest alone and twelve species exist
in the states of Oregon and Washington.
Up until the early 1900s it was com
mon practice for Native Americans of
the Pacific Northwest to manage forests
with controlled burns. In this time, huck
leberries were abundant and an individual
picked 8-10 gallons of berries in a half
day.
"But the burns completely stopped
around when Smokey the Bear
showed up, about 50 years ago." said
Evaline Patt, Program Coordinator at
the Warm Springs Museum.
Up until March of 2002, Patt was
director of the Warm Springs
Sustainability Project.
In 1998 the project, funded by the
Ford Foundation, began taking mea
sures to preserve huckleberries as a
food source for the Indians. Today,
temporarily on hold, the project
awaits new funding. Tribal grant
writer Marsha Williams is looking for
a new financial aid, and Patt antici
pates new support for the project will
be found in the next 3 to 6 months.
For the project, Patt conducted an
oral history of huckleberries to try
to understand how the resource was
managed and if that knowledge could
be applied today.
In her research efforts, she was only
"I have noticed that the
community elders keep a
more watchful eye on this
project and have more
interest than the younger
generation in the tribes
efforts to work with the
Mount Hood Forest Ser
vice. "
Evaline Patt
able to find two elders with memory of
controlled burns. She thinks the last burns
were between the years of 1917 and
1940.
Controlled burning is less of an
option today. The tribal fire depart
ment still conducts controlled burns,
but very little is performed to stimu
late new huckleberry growth.
Although new huckleberry
growth could be a fringe benefit of
modern day burns, Gary Cooke,
Warm Springs Fire Management Of
ficer, says, "It is mostly the wildfires,
which burn hotter, that will do that."
Story and Spilyay
photos
by Shannon
Keavenj
Off reservation in the national forests,
even less, if any, is done specifically for
huckleberry growth.
Loggers on the reservation protect
existing huckleberry stands by only
logging in three feet of snow so bushes
aren't damaged by falling trees.
But huckleberry groves continue
to dwindle and tribal recognition of
a pending loss of heritage is essential.
"In the last 20 years," laments
Evaline Patt, "huckleberries have di
minished substantially at Mount
Hood's traditional picking areas."
The new generation of huckle
berry gatherers average a mere gallon
per person per half day.
Wolf Camp, a popular huckle
berry location for the people of Warm
Springs in the 1920's and 1930's and
no longer burned, is a different place,
she says. Today the trees are large and
the huckleberries less plentiful.
In the old days, trees were kept at
about 15-20 feet tall in prime picking
areas. Now, Patt estimates, trees are
double the height. Modern forest
management has prioritized trees over
huckleberries, she explains, and the
huckleberries are being shaded out.
Also, other low shrubs like manza
nita and snowbrush are taking the
place of the berry bushes.
Outside groups picking the berries
are also a part of the problem.
Urban families pick berries
recreationally on the weekends in the
Mount Hood National Forest. But
they are unlikely the problem, with
a three gallon limit. The Forest Ser
vice makes an effort to steer them
away from areas important to the
Native Americans.
A forest service employee said, "We
can't tell them where to go, but we
can strongly suggest areas we feel
won't encroach on the Natives space."
The groups that have impact on
the berry harvest are, most likely, not
following these regulations and pick
ing in a manner not conducive to
berry reproduction. Berries should be
picked one by one, without imple
ments. Commercial groups often cut
branches and pull trees, permanently
damaging berry producing limbs and
consequently next year's harvest.
Patt says, "To pick using any kind
of implement destroys the plant and
is frowned upon by the tribes."
Outside groups also may be in
fringing on tribal treaty rights. More
often than not, tells Patt, tribal gath
erers find their patches bare when
they arrive.
She hopes to work out designated
areas within the national forest, ex
clusive to tribal use.
Tribal lawyer Jim Notcboom ex
plained, "Tribal members have a
treaty right to harvest up to 50 per
cent of the huckleoerries in all na
tional forests. So it's not an exclusive
right we are talking about, but a sig
nificant right."
Mount Hood National Forest has
taken an active role in aiding the
tribes' efforts.
"The Forest service people have
been helpful, cooperative and even
surprised us at times," says Patt.
"These relations have helped make
our project a success."
Patt recognizes that less of an in
terest from the tribes influences the
preservation of the plant and the tra
' ditional spots they grow. She laments
the loss of interest from the younger
generation.
"As fewer people go to Mount
1 lood to pick berries, fewer have an
interest or notice its preservation. I
have noticed that the community el
ders keep a more watchful eye on this
project and have more interest (than
the younger generation in the tribes'
efforts to work with the Mount I lood
Forest Service."