10A | SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2019 | SIUSLAW NEWS
CAMP from page 1A
PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
The Siuslaw Watershed Exploration Camp teaches caring for the local watershed
as well as providing confidence-building through activities such as rock-wall
climbing, archery and hands-on skill building.
shore. Another tradition we
have is that we don’t let an-
imals suffer unnecessarily.
When we’re harvesting it,
we kill it right away?”
That led to a discussion
on what the Leister barbs
were made of — which is
elk bone.
“When we harvest an
elk, we try to use as much
as possible,” he said. “We
use the hide, the bones,
every part that is useful.
We’re honoring that animal
in their lives. If we waste
something, then it’s dishon-
oring that animal. It goes
against our traditions. For
the elk, you use all the parts
of the animal. That’s our
tradition.”
Petrie told the kids how
to make the Lister from
Vine Leaf Maple and Doug-
las Fir wood. The glue came
from the pitch of a shore
pine tree.
After going through the
rest of the tools, includ-
ing a large rake used the
catch herring, it was time
to weave the native plant
called “tule.”
“They’ve been doing it
for thousands of years,” said
camp coordinator Kyle Ter-
ry. “You’ll see a lot of this
tule on the lakes and rivers.
It’s a really common aquatic
grass. They harvest it, dry it
for a while. It becomes mal-
leable and then they weave
with it. They make duck de-
coys for duck hunting. They
make balls for games. This
is a duck they would make
to have competition duck
races down the streams.”
He showed off his own
duck that he made and
smiled. “I’ve been wanting
to do this for a year, and I
can’t wait to have this on my
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desk.”
But camper Devon was
having a difficult time mak-
ing his duck. He held a long
strand of tule, wrapping it
in a circle. Just as he was
about to wrap the end of
the tule to make a tale, the
whole thing became un-
coiled. Devon let out a deep
sigh, saying, “Oh fudge, I
need help.”
He went to Terry for
assistance, who held the
tightly wrapped reed in his
hand as Devon took the end
of it and worked to push it
through to make a tail.
“I got it!” Devon yelled as
Kyle handed over the com-
pleted duck.
“We’ve made these for
thousands of years,” Peitrie
said to a group of kids who
were huddled around him.
Other campers were down
by the lake, which Devon
headed to.
He placed the duck in the
water as the other kids gath-
ered around, watching. It
floated perfectly as the kids
stood and watched.
Lastly for the day, it was
time to make tea from “in-
gredients like rose and el-
derberry that grow around
here,” Terry said. “They
will make a little tea, pack it
and sample a little bit when
they’re out there. At 2 p.m.
or so, we’re going to get
them on the sand dunes for
a buggy ride,” he said with
a laugh. “It’s a bit of a juxta-
position.”
But another day out-
doors learning to appreciate
a world untethered from
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what it takes to make a
healthy watershed.”
The camp is a tradition
that goes back years, with
some of the 48 campers
celebrating seven years
straight. Siuslaw School
District science teacher
McKenzie Perry, who has
been a camp counselor for
the past two years, visited
the camp when she was in
middle school.
“We’re going to be all over
the place doing things, and
it’s going to be a really fun
week of camp,” she told the
campers as they prepared to
board the bus for the day’s
activities.
The week ahead was filled
with a wide variety of activ-
ities — Kayaking on lakes,
hiking forest trails, sand-
boarding and swimming.
On the first day, the old-
er kids visited Camp Baker,
where they tackled the rope
and climbing course, prac-
ticed archery, did service
projects and learned about
the study of geology, with
campers’ favorite being a
fossilized piece of turtle fe-
ces that the instructor put
in her mouth.
“Oh, it’s just a rock,” she
said with a smile.
But it was the younger
kids that learned what it
was like to live in a different
era of the watershed. They
gathered at Siltcoos Lake in
a quiet open area near the
Siltcoos River.
Mark Petrie and Ash-
ley Russell, representatives
from the Coos Tribe of
the Confederated Tribes
of Coos, Lower Umpqua
and Siuslaw Indians, stood
above a picnic table cov-
ered in a wide variety of
traditional tribal tools. The
campers, more than 20,
sat around Petrie as he re-
galed them with stories of
the area and taught them
the tools needed to hunt for
survival.
“Our people have been
living on these rivers for
over 12,000 years,” he told
the group. “Since we’ve
been here a really long time,
we’ve learned how to help
us and other animals and
plants, too. We’re going to
teach you a little bit about
those things. … We’re going
to talk first about the stuff
on the table here.”
Petrie picked up a long
spear that lead to a triangle
with three sharp bones tied
to it.
“The first thing we had
was fish,” Petrie explained.
“We had an abundance of
fish, which we’re trying to
bring back to the waters.
Did you guys know that
there were so many fish in
the river, that you could
look across and see salmon
coming up to spawn? It’s
like you could walk across
their backs, there were so
many fish.”
The kids were wrapped
up in the history, and some
gasped when Peitre said, “A
long time ago, the fish used
to be the size of you.”
Petrie picked up the
spear, named a Leister.
“You can stand on the
bank, either a natural rock
platform, where you can see
salmon coming up,” he said.
“You actually have to aim
for the fish. As soon as you
spear the fish, it gets stuck.”
“Is the object to stab
the fish, or get it stuck?” a
camper asked.
“This barb right here, it’s
going to kill the salmon,”
Petrie said. “We also have
a club, and we whack in on
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