2019 People of the Big River Field Class

Blog #7 Friday. Today I am going to share my notes about our trail camera.  Walker Talkie HUENSCG1 (Grey) SBCS Shoots Bridge Camp Site  10 T 0598382 UTM 4858314 H2O RR 071319 Camera #5 10T059638 UTM 4858395 Description of camera location. The camera is located on a small tree pointing towards the water.  HL RR071319 Camera #9 10T0598754 UTM 4858358 Description of camera location. A downhill with several animal tracks pointing towards the water and a variety of trees.  The crossing  RR071319 Camera #8 10T0598728 UTM 4858306 Description of camera location. Old logging road. Probably towards the water. Coming from 2nd camera going uphill and taking a right. Couple falling trees crossing to the other side of the road. Next to two water holes.

Blog #6 Thursday The power of your story. Today I think about what if we didn’t have the struggles that we have had, the challenges, and the pushes, we would never develop our character. It is from those times that we decide to do it anyway, and fight through, that our character comes from. Today I understand that each and one of us has a story - or many stories - that have shaped our lives. For the Native Americans at its core, their story is where they live, emotionally,  mentally, and sometimes physically. “Your story can either be the wind behind your sails or the anchor that is weighing you down,” Graziosi. During our visit to the Twanana museum in Warm Springs, we got the opportunity to gather around Native American elders from different tribes, but before I talk about that I will explain a bit about the museum history. As I looked at the posters on the wall they read, “The museum exists as an answer to a question that has troubled Native Americans in general and the...

Blog #5  Fire Management//Warms springs.  A belief is a poor excuse for an experience. I’ve learned over the past few days that if you want to believe something, that’s a good place to start, but the most powerful thing is to put yourself in the experience. If you think you know what Yakama is like, go to Yakama and then you’ll know what it is like instead of assuming something that could be false. Brad Bonahue the assistant fire management officer off-fields (AFMO) spent time talking to us about fire management. He started in fight fire back in 1993 at 16 years old, second-generation firefighter. He then landed his first job at age 18 and then went to college in Eugene. He mentioned that the way that fire management is set is they have an FMO Trey Lener and three AFMO's. In addition, they have an AFMO logistics named Luther Clemen and an AFMO operations. All of them take care of their links because they are such a big organization. During the summer they have around 1...

Blog #4 Tuesday.  Today we moved away from the Gifford Pinchot National forest to Warm Springs, Oregon. Although most of the day we spent our time traveling we did eventually get to our camping location, had dinner, and got ready to go to bed. Just before we thought that we were fine to go to sleep something out of the ordinary happened. It turns out the location we were placed to camp was a local camping area with a park. I didn’t think anything of  it  but it wasn’t long until we were thrown off balance. S ome unknown individuals were walking amongst our camping area flashing their lights and disturbing some of our team members. This quickly turned some of them into panic  mode  but we worked fast to  find a solution. We decided to quickly move  each other's  tents closer to  each other  with the emergency call “Purple,” in case those individuals were close to our camp again. It was a safety concern and I am glad that for the ...

Blog #3 Monday.  Potato Hill  & Huckleberries.  I have just spent three days on our People of the Big River field trip with 18 other individuals, 13 of which are in school – students of all personalities, differences, and talents. What has stood out for me today is our inner strength and a true connection with nature that I felt with all of them. On this trip, the first task that we did was collect 10 different species of flowers to press them and reserve them. The idea is so that we can all have a little book that we can keep  with flowers from the Yakama Nation.  Two important factors to keep in mind while we collected them were to not pull them by the roots and to not touch the huckleberries.  So  as we collected the flowers we climbed to the top of Potato Hill. The top of the hill had a beautiful view of Mt Adams and the rest of the land. After our long  days'  journey, we gathered at the campfire and discussed some of the fa...

Blog #2 The Klickitat river near our camp starts in the goat rocks at en elevation of 8 thousand feet and goes all the way to the Columbia River at 100 feet.  The Klickitat River Everyone has things that they love, things that they can’t imagine parting, even though other people believe otherwise when they see them. Here at the Klickitat River, I see the things that the Native Americans find precious every day, and you would be amazed at the beautiful views and sounds that’s capture their hearts-a set of hiking trails each with different directions and every destination different, a huge rock that you can climb off to jump into the cold gentle river, 237 thousand acres of prime timberland that soak up the water. There is no arguing that with their confidence and love for their land I,  too, find things precious in this land: the young individuals. When I went down to the river I challenged myself to climb up the rock and jump into the water. It was cold but I notice...

Blog #1 Piece of the Puzzle-50 years from now I suppose someone is interested in reading my blog to get an understanding of my experience at camp Chaparral by the river.....  To be honest I had my doubts about coming to this trip just like everyone else. Whether it’s work, family, or simply lack of self-interest, however, some of us were convinced for whatever reason to tag along this trip. I was hesitant because I wasn’t sure what to expect and felt that my time studying in my room was better invested than going to a “camping trip.” Especially because that is 2 weeks or 336 hours of something that we are not used to doing in our modern daily lives. This includes being absent from social media, from our communities, Netflix & YouTube, fast food, daily showers, and of course a nice comfy bed under a well sturdy roof. I was convinced because I care about my community and being a part of People of the Big River was an opportunity to explore that desire to understand an...