Culture and the environment
-creating community in climates of change
Valerie Knox
Environmental Social Work Advocate
P.O. Box 13
Phone: (541) 528-7228
Tidewater, Oregon 97390
.... place based family activities
December 18, 2014
To: Camassia: spirit food of the people project file Camassia SROI Year End Report
2014
From: Valerie Knox
C/O owlswing
P.O. Box 13
Tidewater, OR 97390
Subject: Independent year-end review and Social Return On Investment (SROI)
computations for the student development and retention project Camassia: spirit food of
the people.
In June of 2012, a successful Noosphere grant application was submitted to The
Evergreen State College (TESC) Foundation in Washington by Knox and Peterson, for a
student development and retention project called Camassia: spirit food of the people.
The idea for the project originated in the academic program You Can’t Handle the Truth
(YCHTT), and connected with four local Tribes (Chehalis, Nisqually, Squaxin, and
Skokomish) within a 45 minute driving distance of TESC. The collective learning
community explored issues surrounding sustainability, with reference to the flowering
bulbs known as Camassia, and eventually encompassed strands of local place based
knowledge gathered from weavers, dancers, historians, storytellers, artists, witnesses,
plant people, and others, as the core group of participants expanded from 20
individuals to hundreds, from throughout the United States.
In a learner-centered environment, participants gathered for art, media, and cultural
exchanges beyond the collegiate setting, and “expanded both our vision and definition
of community, and kindled projects that reflect the noosphere,” (Knox, Amended
Application for the 2012 Noosphere Award, p. 2). Appreciative guests were privileged to
witness The Camas Food Dance at the TESC Pow Wow in Olympia, Washington, and
The Weavers Teaching Weavers Conference in Grand Mound, Washington, in May of
2013. The dance, gifted to The People by students from The Language and Culture
Program from Wa He Lut Indian School in Washington, led by Misty Kalama Archer and
Tony Higheagle; received generous sponsorship from The Evergreen State College
Foundation, The Hazel Pete Institute of Chehalis Basketry, and members of the
Camassia project collective. Gathered materials for creating individual camas storage
baskets were provided by the Hazel Pete family of Chehalis weavers, whose seasonal
collections of sweetgrass and cedar were then shared with participants from TESC’s
academic programs, Tribal members, and others, at the Weavers Teaching Weavers
conference in Grand Mound, in sit beside learning sessions.
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Throughout the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons, researchers from academic
programs at TESC (You Can’t Handle the Truth, Freedom: Dialogue and Mysticism,
Cultures of Solidarity, Reservation Based Programs, Fiber Arts, Making Effective
Change, Native American Student Association, First Peoples, Bella Bella or Bust, and
others), Wolf Haven International, the Rea Family property, The Hazel Pete Institute of
Chehalis Basketry, Wa He Lut Indian School, The Center for Natural Lands
Management (Glacial Heritage Preserve/Thurston County Parks and Recreation),
Northwest Indian College, owlswing, the Siuslaw National Forest, and others, gathered
together for camas harvests, seed collections, art making venues, dances, and phone,
email, and field conferences, to brainstorm ideas for additional restoration projects in
both Oregon and Washington. “Landscape has a secret and silent memory, a narrative
of presence where nothing is ever lost or forgotten,” as O’Donohue has said, in his Irish
Anam Cara (1997, p. 93). And in the act of acknowledging the history of the selected
conservation area landscapes, where flowering bulbs and other edibles have been
harvested for thousands of years by the original Aboriginal inhabitants, now hampered
by colonial boundaries; we see signs.
Many conservation areas are known for being off limits to the general public, and as
has been noted by Richard Louv, and others, 78% of all publicly owned land in America
is posted No Trespassing. Furthermore, as Mark Dowie reveals in American
Foundations, nearly 80% of the lands set aside in land acquisitions for conservation
area organizations in the United States, were formerly held by Indigenous people whose
creation stories have evolved to protect “the flora and fauna upon which we depend for
sustenance,” (Knox, 2012, p. 4). Dowie’s analysis of American foundation grants shows
that in 1998, less than 3% of all grant monies were earmarked for environmental
research. The response to much of the useless paper shuffling project work that has
been called aid, or the erroneously labeled much touted restorative habitat
enhancement and educational processes; has been met by a new age of biophilic
philanthropists practicing science based art and culture therapy. Purposeful reparation
projects meant to enhance both human built and natural environments, are being reimagined and acted upon by a multicultural society of learners who embody the
statement by Hubbell, “the context that sustainability must exist in, is an infinite
compassion for the world we live in, and a balance of the many parts,” (Louv, 2011, p.
234). Or, put another way, highlighting Dissanayake, “art.... the most central of
biological functions,” (1988, p. 70).
Our collective has chosen to move towards what has been called a form of
reconciliation ecology. Michael Rosenzwerg’s term, which is defined as a view of the
world where cultural repatriations include “the science of inventing, establishing, and
maintaining new habitats to conserve species diversity in places where people live,
work, or play,” (Louv, 2011, p. 167); and continues to inform our guiding principles in
developing work for Camassia: spirit food of the people. In An Introduction to Art
Therapy, Margaret Naumberg writes about Binyon’s ideas with respect to art, and she
quotes him: “We have divided life into separate compartments, each presided over by a
science with a separate name; but the wholeness of life has somehow been obscured.
What we seem to have lost is the art of living.” Margaret herself then elaborates on the
value of the arts as expressions of reality, “could the West bring itself to an acceptance
of all forms of creative expression... our culture might again find ways to restore
harmony and balance to the disequilibrium of the modern psyche,” (1950 & 1973, p.
90).
After three years of collaboration, land managers and extended learning
communities in Oregon and Washington continue to make progress towards tentative
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agreements for integrated science based cultural repatriation projects that could
provide learning community members with sustainable harvests of Camassia and
applied environmental education and living works of art. Social Return On Investment
computations follow in table format, provided by owlswing -the project’s original and
continuing Student Lead, and data reporter.
Inquiries guiding the SROI analysis have been directed towards issues surrounding
sustainability with reference to the flowering bulbs known as Camassia, and aboriginal
access to lands where subsistence activities centered on the inulin rich food source
integral to the culture of Pacific Northwest Coast Peoples prior to the contact era. The
Camassia Collective seeks to enter into long-term relationships with entities currently
managing lands with extensive populations of Camassia that would support annual
ceremonial harvests of the spirit food of the people by the original aboriginal inhabitants
of North America, and shared art of living research and interpretation activities.
owlswing’s guiding question for the Camassia project, and other art of living curriculum
development programs, has been defined as: Which segments of our multicultural
intergenerational community of learners will utilize consensus methodologies in an effort
to participate in selected activities that appear to benefit others; exclusive of conferred
membership, and or status based acknowledgement by society at large?
Camassia: spirit food of the people Social Return On Investments Summary
Entity
Contributions
to Camassia
Noosphere Award:
The Evergreen
State College
Foundation, WA
725.00, award
administration,
agency input &
evaluation,
positive reinforcement.
1475.00, place
based
knowledge and
cultural
exchanges
available for
hundreds of
individuals,
Camassia
bulbs, ongoing
support.
Place based
knowledge and
cultural
exchanges
available for
hundreds of
individuals,
ongoing
support.
The Hazel Pete
Institute of
Chehalis
Basketry, WA
Wa He Lut Indian
School Language
and Culture
Program, WA
Consensus
Methodologies
& Inclusivity
employed
towards future
collaborations
Yes
Years
Engaged in
Project
Net Effect
to Date
3
Positively
Priceless
Yes
3
Positively
Priceless
Yes
3
Positively
Priceless
3
Camassia
Collective, OR &
WA
Siuslaw National
Forest, OR
Department of
Natural
Resources, WA
Colvin Ranch, WA
CNLM (Glacial
Heritage
Preserve/Thurston
County Parks &
Recreation), WA
Wolf Haven
International, WA
Joint Base LewisMcChord, WA
Totals
Monetary
donations
included with
‘Collective’
notation.
1500.00, place
based
knowledge and
cultural
exchanges
available for
hundreds of
individuals,
Camassia
bulbs and
seed, ongoing
support &
advocacy.
Potential for
MOU,
Camassia
bulbs and
seed, ongoing
support.
1 meeting,
dialogue.
Yes
3
Positively
Priceless
Making
progress.
3
Making
progress.
No
NA
0
Dialogue.
1 meeting,
dialogue.
No
No
NA
3
0
0
1 meeting,
dialogue, and a
few Camassia
bulbs.
Dialogue.
No
NA
No
NA
A few Camas
bulbs, and
on site
photos.
0
3700.00, and
100%
participation
rate in initial
dialogues for
the Camassia
project.
50% of the
potential
Camassia
project
participants
have employed
consensus
methodologies
and inclusivity
towards future
collaborations.
50% have not.
60% of the
potential
Camassia
project
participants
have been
actively
engaged for
up to three
years.
60% of the
potential
Camassia
project
participants
have
contributed
in a positive,
or somewhat
positive
manner.
As has been identified by conservationists working with diverse audiences where
entities are competing for dwindling land and resources, great care should be taken to
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“maximize efficiency and minimize conflict with other social and economic demands on
the landscape,” (Alverson, 2005, p. 26). Entities that utilize community-based
participatory models of research create opportunities that value collaboration over
status based competition, and provide ample room for ethnic interpretations with
reference to historical relevance and alternative communication styles. The culture of
each community is unique –only the local people can determine the accuracy and the
authenticity of projects controlled by societies influenced by global migrations and
industrialized lifeways. Effective living arts practitioners create community in climates
of change by supporting safe and inclusive environments where explorations yield
knowledge that sustains community members equally, regardless of their ancestral
territories, thereby enhancing flexibility in behavior and integrated adaptations for
increased learning community intelligence and resilience in the face of adversity.
Culture and the environment are often thought of as two separate life forms within the
context of our contemporary societies. Perhaps it is time for the East and the West to
meet at the intersection of science and creativity, to re-imagine a culture where artful
balance is the norm.
Respectfully submitted,
Valerie Knox (owlswing)
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Reference List
Alverson, Ed. (2005). Preserving Prairies and Savannas in a sea of Forest. Plant Talk
retrieved online @ cascadiaprairieoak.org.
Dissanayake, Ellen. (1988). What is art for? Washington: University of
Washington Press.
Dowie, Mark. (2001). American foundations, an investigative history.
Knox, Valerie. (2012) Amended Application for the 2012 Noosphere Award. Available
online @evergreen.edu.
Louv, Richard. (2011). The nature principal: human restoration and the end of naturedeficit disorder. New York: Workman Publishing.
Naumberg, Margaret. (1950 & 1973). An introduction to art therapy. New
York: Teacher College Press.
O’Donohue. (1997). Anam Cara. New York: Harper Collins Publishers
Inc.
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