Thursday April 12, 2015
An Evening with Wisdom of the Elders
June 19, 2015:
Columbia River tribes have enjoyed record salmon returns for the past year. The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission website (critfc.org/) reports that on Monday May 10, 2,792 spring chinook passed Bonneville Dam. So far this year, 176,007 have passed the dam. After decades of declining salmon returns, this is a huge blessing.
Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. is pleased that Paul Lumley (Yakama) will be our Key Note speaker at our 4th Annual, “An Evening with Wisdom of the Elders” on June 19th at the Melody Ballroom. Paul is the Executive Director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) and a citizen of the Yakama Nation, located in central Washington State.
Mr. Lumley worked at CRITFC from 1987-2004 under several capacities. He returned to CRITFC after 5 years in Washington DC to begin his tenure as executive director on July 1, 2009. Mr. Lumley has an extensive history working with Northwest Tribes on salmon issues, particularly in the Columbia River Basin.
In Paul’s words, “Protecting the environment that the Creator blessed us with is one of our central values and lies at the heart of who we are as a people. We have been taught to speak for the resources that have no voice, and I am so proud of our tribal leaders who speak for the water in their meetings with government officials.
“Water is essential and is worth all the sacrifice and effort it takes to make it pure. Unless others learn this essential tribal teaching, our waters will remain sick, which in turn will make everything sick. Clean rivers and streams aren’t just a tribal treaty right, they are a human right; protecting and restoring polluted rivers and streams isn’t just a government obligation, it’s our obligation as humans.”
Watch the Discovering Our Story TV program featuring Paul Lumley HERE.
Reserve your seats for the annual dinner today at brownpapertickets.com.
Earth Day article at Indian Country Today Media Network, includes comment from Rose High Bear honoring Alaska Native elders from the arctic region.
“As Native people, we strive to practice Earth Day every day and also serve as a model to others. Life is changing for the First Peoples of the Arctic, and has been for the last 50 years. Traditional knowledge—our elders’ in-depth insights about our environment from years and decades and generations of their astute observations of Arctic ecosystems—are increasingly important to climate scientists.”
Read more at indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Wisdom received a Dreamstarter grant for the Native Peer Mentor Program from Running Strong for American Indian Youth.
Jacquelyn Nielsen (Shoshone) and Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine) traveled to Washington, D.C. to join 10 other native youth from across indian country as Jacquelyn received this prestigious honor.
Jacquelyn’s dream is to create a peer mentoring program to strengthen health and wellness, cultural identity, and other positive influences for Native youth in her community, all while connecting the youth to the environment around them.
Her program will connect youth with elders for guidance and cultural knowledge, and with Native scientists to help clean up local areas, improve their health, and learn work skills. The mentoring program will also give youth a voice and teach them to be leaders, as they help to direct their peer mentor program.
Learn more about the 2015 DreamStarters at indianyouth.org/2015Dreamstarters
Wisdom provided Discovering Yidong Xinag climate and culture curriculum to students at Highland Park STEM Middle School in April.
Over 9 sessions to two separate classes, they shared Native American oral history, cultural arts, video productions as well as climate information to the students.
The students enjoyed the Native American drumming, made a medallion made from a tree branch and wrote their own story relevant to the class.
In the photo above, you see the students participating in a hands-on activity making fish tools in the fashion of our coastal ancestors.