Day 14

Final day!

We woke up and checked our traps once again. Only two groups had caught something. And ours was one of them. We caught one little female mouse. It was cool to see just how smart animals are because we had put a lot of peanut butter in our trap and all of it was gone but only one mouse was caught.

This adventure has now come to an end. It was such an amazing experience to learn about Native culture but also see just how much they are trying to care for the environment. And getting to see all these beautiful places that I had never seen. This trip has definitely opened up my mind and made me realize just how many jobs there actually is in environmental science. But for now it is time to get back home to my kiddos. My son called me and said he had already forgotten what I look like.

Thank you to all the teachers for your hard work. For putting this amazing trip together. For putting up with some of us when we took too long to get in the car, Mike. When they locked the keys I the car, Taylor. Or for having to carry a little extra weight in your bag, Pedro. We all really thank you because if it wasn’t for all of you we would not have had the opportunity to experience such an amazing trip.

Thank you to all the White Swan high schoolers. For making this trip really enjoyable. It was great getting to know all of you and seeing how interested you guys were in helping the environment. I’m pretty sure you will all go a long way.

Thank you to all the Heritage students. It was great knowing all of you. Hope to continue seeing you guys on campus. And can’t wait to see the change each and everyone of you will have on our community.

POBR2K17

Day 13

July 21, 2017

We heard Jessica coming and when I looked up I could see Jessica’s legs! The deer had ripped the tent. We had waited for Pedro to come check on us last night make sure we were okay but apparently, he didn’t hear the screaming all he heard was the deer running around. This is the craziest camping experience ever! We taped up the tent and went to go check our traps to see if we had caught something. Nothing. None of the groups caught anything. So we left them there and will check them back tomorrow.

So we headed to Kamaik Park to meet with WSU graduate Landon Charlo. Hearing about the struggles he had to overcome to get through school. He talked about his studies with the Schomochile County. They have to study the Pileated Woodpeckers for 100 years. I thought it was crazy that he has been studying the pileated woodpecker for a awhile but has never seen one in person. He gave us a handout that had information about the pileated woodpecker. They are huge and their beaks can rally make some damage.

Afterwards he had us compare the aspects of the mountain and the different vegetation at different elevations. It was really interesting to see how the lower elevation had more vegetation even though it got lees sun because it had more moisture. We hiked up to the second point which was a 2 mile hike. It was such a beautiful view. At that high elevation that had more sun was dry and had little to no elevation.

Then we went to the wellness center to take a shower and while I waited for a shower to open up I was able to get some exercise in, even though technically the hike counted as a workout. It was time to get ready to go to the Pow wow. They had been telling me how cool it was to see everyone dancing. This was going to be my first time going to a Pow wow so I was excited. We drove about an hour to get there and went straight to an Indian Taco stand. I had never tried it and am not really a fan of trying new food. But since Alexis, our vegetarian, was trying it I just had to try it. I was surprised when I got mine. It was like an American hard taco or nachos but on frybread. It was good and big. I could not finish mine I got full with half of it. Afterward we were let lose to go explore. It was amazing seeing all these stand with handmade jewelry, bags, and paintings. Those were my favorite, the paintings. At 7:00 pm we went to sit down to see the introduction. Especially the little kids, they were so cute and they really got into the dancing. It was cool to see all these people dancing. They put so much passion into it. I loved it! We didn’t have time to watch the individual dances because Jessica said it was getting dark. ☹ It was still pretty cool seeing how it was. Hoping I ca make it to another pow wow in the future.

Day 12

July 20, 2017

Today we were going to go take a shower in the morning. Aww it was a gym. I wish we could have could work out. Since there were only 4 showers and we were about 8 girls not including people who walked in to shower I decided to go into the Sauna while a bathroom was available. It felt so good to sweat a bit. I don’t know what it was about the showers but suddenly everyone was getting ready combing themselves, putting on a little makeup. We came back and we had missed breakfast so we had to make our own.

Now we were off to the Casino to meet Monet’s Grandfather and Uncle. First we met Quanah Matheson, the Director of Public Affairs. He expressed how important Mother Earth is and how we a lot of people are not taking care of it. We as humans need oxygen, water, and food but we are killing the plants, we are poisoning the water, and putting a lot of chemicals into our foods. Natives only eat one third of what they gather and the rest is put away for winter. They don’t waste anything. They have ceremonies to honor mother earth and animal’s life because they are what give us life. And once we destroy everything what is going to become of us? It is crazy how much technology we have now a day. I mean most of it is very helpful but before some of it was done without it. Indians would be able to tell when it was going to rain, when it was going to snow by watching nature and what animals eat. Dave Matheson, the CEO of Coeur d’Alene, spoke almost the same way. He encouraged everyone to learn as much as we can and not just go home and continue living our same daily lives but to educate others. It is our generations job to make a difference and try to save our environment. If we don’t do anything about it, we will be leaving it to our children and grandchildren to try to fix. And by then it might be too late for them to restore all the damage we have done to the environment.

Afterwards, we came back to the tent site and we were going to mammalogy 101, basically we were going to make our own traps. Brenda and I decided to grab different sticks and tie them together to make two ramps. We went up to the middle and hid our bucket as much as we could.

Then the CRAZIEST thing happened! Around 3:00 am we heard rocks falling and all of a sudden there was a deer running right through our tent. It went on top of Brenda. She screamed. I screamed. Robin screamed. I was making sure that Brenda was ok since the deer was on her side. Thankfully nothing happened to us. We could hear the deer running and a wolf or a cayote. After that it was almost impossible to go back to sleep.

 

Day 11

July 18, 2017

Today I was feeling not feeling good. Head, stomach, my whole body just seemed to be hurting. Brenda woke up to shower and I just decided to just lay there a bit. Breakfast didn’t even sound good. I just wanted to stay in my tent.  I eventually had to get up and get ready to go to the Spokane Tribal Hatchery. There we were received by Tim Peone the Tribal Hatchery Manager, who graduated from Eastern Washington University. He explained how 80% of the people’s protein came from the River. The Hatchery was constructed in 1990. 20 years into the program they were mandated to pit tag their fish so that they could track how many hatchery fish are being fished. Their program is known as give & share, where 100% of the fish that is grown at the hatchery is meant to be harvested. Their current annual release goal for Lake Roosevelt is 3.7 million kokanee fry, 250,000 kokanee yearlings and 750,000 rainbow trout yearlings. They have just started to grow fish on top of fish. Where each bottom container holds 6,000 fish and each top container holds 4,000 fish. While we were there people were cutting the back fin of each fish so that once they were released they can be differentiated from wildlife fish.

Day 10

Today I was feeling not feeling good. Head, stomach, my whole body just seemed to be hurting. Brenda woke up to shower and I just decided to just lay there a bit. Breakfast didn’t even sound good. I just wanted to stay in my tent.  I eventually had to get up and get ready to go to the Spokane Tribal Hatchery. There we were received by Tim Peone the Tribal Hatchery Manager, who graduated from Eastern Washington University. He explained how 80% of the people’s protein came from the River. The Hatchery was constructed in 1990. 20 years into the program they were mandated to pit tag their fish so that they could track how many hatchery fish are being fished. Their program is known as give & share, where 100% of the fish that is grown at the hatchery is meant to be harvested. Their current annual release goal for Lake Roosevelt is 3.7 million kokanee fry, 250,000 kokanee yearlings and 750,000 rainbow trout yearlings. They have just started to grow fish on top of fish. Where each bottom container holds 6,000 fish and each top container holds 4,000 fish. While we were there people were cutting the back fin of each fish so that once they were released they can be differentiated from wildlife fish.

Next stop was Anderson Ranch. Eddy Mathlee, the program Manager, was there waiting for us along with Tom Boring and Dawa Numkena, who were techs. They have a Meditation Program/Big Game Biologist that makes sure animals have a good home. They put up fences to keep animals off lands, weed spray and cover up to help with deprivation of local farmers. They plant corn but never harvest it so it could feed the deer, moose, and elk. They also do thinning- No pruning. To be able to hunt moose your name must be drawn and if it is drawn your name is taken out for five years. Out of 158,000 acres of reservation in the past 2 years about 46% of it has been lost due to fires.

Finally we were going to canoeing to the Roosevelt lake. We had to have three people on each canoe. So it was Brenda, Monet, and I on one. As we got on it was a little rocky, mostly because I kept moving and Brenda and Monet kept screaming. But once I was comfortable we were good to go. We got the rhythm down and canoed our way to a floating dock. It was really fun diving off and Monet finally jumped in! On our way back when I tried to get on both of them went to the same side so we ended up flipping. Thankfully there was no rocks. We dumped the water and tried again. We paddled our way back to the dock to load up. I am not sure what happened but all of a sudden we just started to shift to one side and flipped AGAIN! We flipped the canoe over but there was too much water inside it so we weren’t able to get back on. We had to push it back to shore. When we got it there we realized that Monet had lost a sock and I had lost one of my sandals. So I had to hop back to the van. I’m so glad I packed two pairs of sandals.

Day 9

July 17, 2017

Today we went to the Tshimikain Creek, where we met with Kasey Flamagar, the Water & Fish Manager. We also met Nick aka Bubba who spoke about the water program with the Spokane Tribe. I never know just how important the creeks are to the tribes. Warren has spoken, just like many other that we have met, about the salmon and how much the tribal community was impacted when there was no more salmon. Our job today was to help them catch fish so that they can get genetic samples, weight, length, and tag the fish. To prevent interbreeding the hatchery will change the temperatures to make them sterile. They gave us our things and we suited up. The first one I tried on was really big so I ended up trading with someone else. But now the boots were really big and heavy. Why did I have to be so short and little? It was kind of scary just getting in the water and walking against the current because it felt like it was pushing you back. I tried to catch the fish but I was just not getting it. Maybe it was just the fact that I was scared to get shocked. Once I got the hang of walking against the current I decided to give it another try. I caught one! I was so excited. It felt good to catch the fish and see it get measured and tagged. After that I did not want to let go of the net it felt so good walking against the current catching the fish. I wasn’t even aware that there is a fishery program in Yakima county. I will definitely be looking more into.

The more I learn about the tribes’ culture and everything that they are trying to do makes has made me double thing about my major. I have had amazing jobs but not all them were trying to make our environment better or were passionate about what they were trying to do. I think that is what I am liking the most about this culture that everything they do is to better the environment and better their lives. It makes me ask myself do I want to go my whole working for a company that is probably messing up our environment or try to help people that are fighting for their lands, their rights, their future generations.

As we were just getting out of the shower, getting ready to watch a movie on Jessica’s’ trailer Warren showed up. He wanted to take us to the Pit House. At first I was not excited about going because I just wanted to rest. But when we got there it was cool to see the Pit House. To see what these people had made about 15 years ago and see how amazing it still is was crazy. As soon as you walk in you feel a sense of something that I just cannot describe. Everyone could say what they were thankful except me. I am just so used to holding everything in I could not open. I felt like it was unfair for everyone to be so open and me be so reserved. My story is just kind of locked, put in a vault, thrown in the middle of the ocean that it is hard for me to bring to shore. It’s hard to hear everyone’s story because I wish I could make everyone’s lives better but I know can’t. All I can do is pray for them and hope their lives get better. Maybe I can also try to get to know them better and check on them every occasionally.

Day 8

July 16, 2017

We are finally getting a rest day. Thank goodness  because I think everyone was already feeling drained. We had the chance to wake up until 10am but Brenda and I woke up at 8:30 am to get some exercise in. We were going to do some burpees over a bench. So, we walked around to find a bench that would work. Once we found a bench we stretched, put on some music on, and had the timer ready. I did the first burpee, jumped over the bench, got down to do my second burpee and on my way up I felt a sharp pain on my right leg. As I looked down I saw a swarm of bees all over my legs. I had stepped on their beehive! I ran as fast as I could, grabbing Brenda’s bag as I ran. When I looked back Brenda was still there trying to grab my phone. We both finally got to a tree on the other side, trying to catch our breath while we laughed. Take two, we decided to try again. I did my burpees, my squats, and next was the run. I ran to the tree across from us and when I was running back two dogs started chasing me. I freaked out and started running faster and Brenda started screaming at me to stop. As scared as I was, because I had already been chased and bitten by a dog before, I listened to Brenda and stopped. The dogs then just walked around me and then towards Brenda. Brenda tried getting them to leave but with no success and the fact that they almost peed on Brenda’s bag, we decided to just stop. Brenda decided to get in the shower while I proceeded to just workout in the bathroom. Even though it was the most awkward place to work out I was going to make it count. We were supposed to go see the sunset but stayed we got lost and missed it☹ Taylor had been wanting Brenda and I to stay up and play Uno so we decided to stay up and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Northern lights. It’s crazy how close  we have gotten around each other. Not just us but everyone in this group. We all have different background and have been able to give help and advice to others. And make each other laugh. A lot.

Day 7

July 15, 2017

It was time to leave Winex’s house. We got some breakfast before Winex came out with her daughter, who was adorable, to send us off. She thanked us for being there and helping out and gave us a few words of advice. To always be respectful and giving to others because people will always be watching us and will remember us by our actions. And we were off to the McNary Dam. I had never stopped by a dam only drove by a couple so it was really cool to see it up close. It was finally time to go do laundry. Thank goodness because I was running out of clothes. I had told my family that we were going to be in Pasco. So, they decided to surprise me. I soo needed that. I was starting to get a little homesick. This has been the longest I have ever been away from my kids. And when I left they were all still sleeping. My little one was the most excited to see me. She ran into my arms and did not want to get down. They had to leave to my daughters’ birthday party, as sad as I was that I wasn’t going to be able to attend I was also glad that at least I got to see them.

Day 6

July 14, 2017

Today Winex took us to various spots. First one was the River Vision Model, where they do restoration programs. They plant trees at an angle so that the water will hit the trumps and so that the trees will give the fish some shade. They will call in a nursery to get some cuttings for more vegetation. Next spot was the Thorn hallow pond with Michael McLad. It holds over 3,600 fish (Chinook, Steelhead, Coho, Silver) from November to May. They have people walk the stream to count how many live and dead fish there are. They also take eggs to a hatchery, which they will bring back to grow and then release. Target Meadow was our next spot. Winex talked about a handshake agreement where one side of the huckleberries is to be picked only by natives and the other side for non-natives. The issue is that the price for Huckle berries is high that people are not honoring the agreement anymore. Non-natives like myself, don’t understand just how important it is to pick huckleberry the correct way so that you don’t ruin the crop for the following year. The mismanagement of the forest is also another huge issue. Winex talked about how before when they would walk through they would clean up all the dead wood. With all this dead wood on the ground and the weather being so hot when there is a fire it spreads out through the forest fast.

Afterwards, Jubilee Lake to have a little bit of fun. Brenda and I decided, or should I say I decided Brenda wanted to sit down, that instead of swimming we would go for a hike around the lake. It was so very beautiful. And even though Brenda didn’t want to go at first we did some little exercised throughout the hike and she was thankful that I pushed her to do it. I even got this great shot of her.

We then went to Wellness Wave to do yoga with Acosia Red Elk. As soon as you walk into the studio you feel a sense of calmness. The lights are dimmed, there is candles and pillows on the floor and a mirror from wall to wall which is rally great. At first I was a little nervous because I didn’t think I was flexible enough. But as soon as she started the class and the movements it felt as if you are one with your breathing and it controls your body. For the first time ever I was able to do a push up which was AMAZING! Halfway through the class I was sweating so much but by the end I was so relaxed and felt like weight was lifted off my shoulders.

The day of the feast was finally here. I had been looking forward to this since I knew we were going to have it because I wanted to learn the different kinds of foods that they make. Thankfully Winex had us all helping in the preparation of the meals. My mom is not a person that like to be in the kitchen a lot so to be with Winex and have her telling you how to prepare it was awesome. I always though Native food was different than Mexican food and to some extent it is but there are a lot of similarities. Like the Jell-O with fruit, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salads (which everyone makes slightly different), cakes, brownies, etc. Fly bread and Elk meat was new to me and everyone was really open to showing me how it is made and had the opportunity to be the tester. I don't know if it was because I have been spending too much time with Brenda but I am starting to say things that she would say. When they were preparing the salmon, I told them "So it's like preparing fish?" which they then replied, "It is Fish."  We then had the privilege to have Michael teach us how to cook salmon on a stick. It was so cool!

The ritual they do before a meal was fascinating and unique. Throughout this stay I really got a chance to see how ‘Respect’ is such a huge part of their culture. How they all respect their Elders, the food, the environment. It is something that some cultures lack and everyone should have.

Day 5

July 13, 2017

Today we are going to go with Winex to learn more about everything that they are working on at the Nixyaawii Governance Center. She talked about the order (water, fish, deer, roots, berry) and the importance of it. What I found most interesting was that when they need background on places they will talk to the elders and then tell the scientist what it is that they want to do instead of going to the scientist first. Also, when she said that before they tried to put all the tribes together in Kennewick at the Columbia Point and they almost ended up going to war over their land. It is crazy that I’ve lived in the Yakima Valley and Tri-cities area and I had never heard about this.

Next stop was the Native Plant Nursery. I had worked at a plant nursery for about 5 years so I was excited to see how this one would compare. We were met by Gail Red Berg, who has been the manager for the last 5 years. Gail shared that the nursery was established in 1994, it is an organic nursery so it is kind of hard to combat diseases, how they will collect cuttings themselves or get transplants, and only grow what it is that they need. Even though it is small there is so much to do and what I found really interesting was that most of what they plant they put back. At lunch Brenda and I realized that our van was not there anymore and we had no lunch which sucked because we were really tired. We figured we would just eat it as soon as the van came back.

After lunch we then met the funniest ladies I have ever met. Brandy, aka Handy Brandy, and Marie Davis, aka Mad Dog. They are both Nursey Technicians who have worked there for over 3 years. They showed us how to transplant and how to cut cuttings and plant them. Even though it was hot it was such a cool environment that everyone was having such a good time working. After we were done they gave everyone an ice cream. It was 4 time to leave and the van never came back. But it was still one of the best times I’ve had volunteering. Definitely coming back to visit.

Oh, I thought I’d share this picture that they had posted up in the bathroom.

When we got back we went with Lavita Red Elk to do some glass art. It was so crazy and scary to see how she cut the glass. I felt like it was going to shatter. And to see all the amazing art she had all around. She gave us all a chance to cut some pieces and then decorate our own. It was great seeing everyone’s different designs.

When we got back we went with Lavita Red Elk to do some glass art. It was so crazy and scary to see how she cut the glass. I felt like it was going to shatter. And to see all the amazing art she had all around. She gave us all a chance to cut some pieces and then decorate our own. It was great seeing everyone’s different designs.

Day 4

July 12, 2017

Today was our last day at Deschutes Bridge. We woke up and packed up. Now we were on our way to the High Desert Museum. I usually always seem to pass by museums not realizing how interesting they are. Everything was really cool especially the eagle. And off we were to Umatilla.

But before that we had to stop by Walmart to get some things. After that we went to Safeway to use their wi-fi to upload our blogs. Since they didn’t have any wi-fi we had to walk across the parking lot to Starbucks. It seemed to take forever to get the blogs uploaded but once they were up we were ready to go towards Umatilla. But of course, we can’t drive up there without something happening. Since there is so many vans following each other some took a wrong turn and while we turned around Jessica stayed in the roundabout while she waited. It was the funniest thing ever!

We drove what seemed like forever until finally getting to the Umatilla Tribe. We set up our tents and got some dinner ready before sitting around the campfire to do an introduction gathering. Winex had us introduce ourselves, our education, and what we wanted to learn. Her sister Acosia also talked about herself, how she got into yoga, how it has helped her, and how she is trying to help others. When Michael talked about how he saw the climate change as a nightmare, Acosia referenced that to our body and how just like climate change we must take care of our body and soul to be able to help others and the environment. I never thought about it like that but it makes so much sense. I always hear older people say that they wish they would have watched what they ate when they were younger or exercised and taken care of themselves better yet none of the younger generations listen to them until they are already sick and in pain.

Day 3

July 11, 2017

Today we went to North Twin Lakes and helped clean the trails. It was soo much fun being able to hike and help clean at the same time. It is amazing how much time and effort is put into these trails so that people will be able to walk and enjoy nature without harming the environment. They talked to us about how people will want to get off the trails and start making their own trails. So, they must walk these trails regularly to close any trails anyone tries to make. Just seeing how much effort they were putting into keeping these trails clean really motivated us to feel the same way and try as hard.

After wards we went to Spark Lake, which had a beautiful view of the broken top mountain. This place was pretty cool. Our job was to do creek restoration. We got a couple of big logs that had to be carried by almost everyone. It was great seeing all the teamwork and everyone lending a hand. Afterwards we went to Little Lava Lake to get wet. It was great to hear how much people cared about the environment and how much hard work they put into it.  I was able to learn so much and get a great workout in.

Day 2

July 10, 2017

We arrived at Deschutes National Forest and even though the drive was long and tiring the view was amazing! We got here setup our tents and had some dinner. I wanted to soak in all the nature so Brenda and I woke up at 5:30am to go for a job. It was so relaxing and beautiful. After that we ate breakfast and got ready for our next adventure. We were headed for the Lava Land Visitor Center. I was excited because I had never journeyed this far from Sunnyside. As soon as we got there we were greeted by Jim Elliott the Lead Ranger who then proceeded to take us to the others we would meet. One of the persons we met was Katy Chipko. She is from Kentucky and graduated from the University of Colorado. She is now the Executive Director for a Non- Profit organization called Children’s Forest of Central Oregon. Katy mentioned that the organizations goal is to get kids and families outdoors. Initially when I started school I wanted to get a degree in business and education. But was advised that they didn’t go together. So, I stuck to Business. But hearing Katy talk about the organization it makes me want to go back to my original plan and get a degree in education so that one day I can help run or do an organization that helps support kids and families in our community because there is nothing like this close to Yakima. This not only helps family spend time together but also helps get them moving. Someone else that made an impact on me was Cassidy Kern. Cassidy is the Public Affairs Specialist and she shared with us some of her past jobs that she has had like CBS, publicist, and making commercials for big brothers. She said that she finally asked herself “what do I want to do?” And that led to her taking risks and being flexible on the jobs she had, which led to her current job. So, I go to sleep asking myself “ What do I want to do?”

Day 1

July 09, 2017

What seemed like forever finally arrived. It was finally the day that we were going to start our adventure. Sunday. I We started our day bright and early meeting at the Heritage campus at 8am. We started helping the High schoolers from White Swan set up their blogs. Once that was done we started getting our sleeping bags, tents, hiking bags, water bags, dirty laundry bags, and making lunches to go since it was going to be a long drive. Since we still had to wait for the professors to finish some things up we all started on our lunches. As hectic as it was around 12:30pm we were finally on our way. We were told there was going to be on stops but indeed we made about 3 stops and I think at each store I would get off to get some snacks for the road. I was able to get some sleep but by the time we finally made it to the campsite I was ready to get my tent up and go to sleep. We had a chance to walk around the campground a bit while one of the groups was preparing dinner. Right after dinner we all went to sleep to be ready for tomorrows adventures.