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MAY 15, 2022
9
‘People forget these are our traditional homelands’
CAMAS continued
from front page
The event opened with a song
by Harrelson, Cultural Education
Specialist Chris Rempel, Chacha-
lu Tribal Museum & Cultural
Center Manager Travis Stewart
and Cultural Policy Analyst Greg
Archuleta.
Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris
Mercier gave a brief history of the
camas plant as well as his family’s
historical ties to the area.
“I think we’re always trying
to tell our Tribal story,” Mercier
said. “People forget these are our
traditional homelands. When peo-
ple think of the Tribe, they often
think of music, powwows, regalia
and food. But food is a new area for
Tribes. A lot of our traditional foods
are the things people are familiar
with, but there are quite a few foods
people don’t know about like camas,
wapato and acorns.”
Also in attendance from Tribal
Council was Denise Harvey.
The festival included tours of
camas growth in the Cozine Creek
area located in the northwest cor-
ner of the university’s campus, led
by Archuleta and Harrelson, while
booths featured artifact displays by
Chachalu staff and informational
boards about the history of camas
in Tribal traditions and foodways.
Attendees were also invited to take
home a small amount of camas
seeds.
Gerardo Ochoa, Linfield’s as-
sociate vice president of student
retention and success, has been a
supporter of the festival as well as a
member of the planning committee.
“Our mission is connecting learn-
ing, life and community,” Ochoa
said. “When we looked at how Lin-
field’s demographics were chang-
ing, we didn’t have any connections
with the Native community in the
area. We needed to be more inten-
tional with that and needed to do
more to support each other.”
Plans to create the festival
started in November 2020 when
the university began investigating
Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez
Cultural Policy Analyst and Grand Ronde Tribal member Greg Archuleta, center, leads a tour of the Cozine Creek
restoration site during the inaugural Camas Festival held at Linfield University in McMinnville on Friday, May 6. The
festival was a collaborative project of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Linfield University and Greater Yamhill
Watershed Council and celebrated a first food of many Pacific Northwest Tribes.
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a new name for a two-block street
on its campus. After consultation
with the Grand Ronde Tribe,
the two entities chose Lakamas,
which is the Chinuk Wawa word
for camas.
“I have been at Linfield for 17
years and I didn’t know we had
so much camas here,” Ochoa said.
“This (knowledge) has created a lot
of synergy and opportunity with
the Tribe.”
Bill Fleeger, a visiting senior
scholar in the Linfield Environmen-
tal Studies department, also noted
that the partnership with the Tribe
was an important aspect of the
college’s goal to connect learning,
life and community in meaningful
ways.
“We are proud to showcase the
work that students studying envi-
ronmental studies have done over
the past six years to help restore
and expand the population of
camas, and other native species,
in the Cozine Creek natural area
on campus,” Fleeger said.
Harrelson said that what he
also feels is significant is the Tribe
partaking in the role of an honored
guest at the event.
“I think that is really powerful,”
he said. “We’re a part of the com-
munity and events like this help
show that connection.”
In 2016, members of the Water-
shed Council began working with
Linfield students to rid Cozine Creek
of invasive species. In 2018, the proj-
ect received a grant from the Oregon
Watershed Enhancement Board to
fund weed control and planting.
Camas bulbs can be harvested
April through July when the flow-
ers or dried flower petals are visi-
ble. The bulbs can be boiled, baked
or slow roasted. When cooked for
a short time, camas can be fairly
tasteless, but when slow roasted
for 24 to 48 hours, it turns dark and
sweet. Fresh bulbs also can be dried
or frozen for later use in soups.
Organizers hope the Camas Fes-
tival becomes an annu-
al event and have other
plans in the works as well.
“We’re hoping to do
more with Grand Ronde
and integrate art next
year,” Ochoa said. “If ev-
erything falls into place,
there will be a call for
Native artists to create
work around the theme
of lakamas. We also have
a literary journal called
Camas and we want to
integrate that. There is
endless opportunity for
collaborative efforts.” 
Linfield University
Environmental Science
majors Trinity Ronk-
Degraffenried, center,
and Annie Strobel,
center right, distribute
bags of camas seeds at
Linfield University in
McMinnville on Friday,
May 6.