1st NATIONS DAY & NATIVE ECO SYMPOSIUM F S Su
Ter'rence via Larry Morningstar, 26.09.2007 01:09
FIRST NATIONS DAY AND NATIVE ECO SYMPOSIUM
Friday-Sunday, September 28th - 30th
Briscoe Art Wing, 265 N. Main St, Ashland
Red Earth Descendants (R.E.D.) will host their first annual EcoSymposium/First Nations Day Celebration Sept. 28 – 30 at Briscoe Art Wing, 265 N Main in Ashland, Oregon. This free event includes prayer, ceremony, music, and nationally recognized Native American and Environmentalist speakers concerned about "our Earth and our Future Generations." Sessions on the four elements Air, Earth, Water, and Fire will take place Fri. and Sat., Sept. 28 and 29, 6 p.m. – 10 p.m., and Sun., Sept. 30, 12 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Fri, Sept 28
"Local Activism" will be the focus of the EcoSymposium session on Friday, September 28. After a reception beginning at 6:00 pm, speakers will include Chant Thomas (Dakubetede Environmental Education Programs); David She'om Rose (South Fork Trinity River Land Conservancy), Devon Strong (Four Eagles Farm, bison ranching), Julie Norman (Siskiyou Project, biodiversity & watershed protection), Lois & Leonard Houston (Blackfoot & Takelma, South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership, beaver restoration), Stan Petrowski (South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership, watershed restoration), and more.
New Poster - PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND GIVE TO FRIENDS
Sat, Sept 29
The symposium's centerpiece will be a Memorial for Corbin Harney, Shoshone spiritual leader and environmentalist, beginning Saturday, Sept. 29 at Noon. "We are honored to build our EcoSymposium around this Memorial to celebrate Corbin's work as an environmental warrior, profound international speaker, healer and advocate for his People," the R.E.D. steering committee announced. "We are grateful to Corbin's relatives for gifting us with their trust in helping our communities mourn, heal and carry on Corbin's astounding vision and work." For more on Corbin, see below, and )
Sun, Sept 30
"Fire & Ecological Restoration" will be the focus on Sunday, September 30, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Speakers will include Agnes Baker Pilgrim (Takelma, Confederated Tribes of Siletz, International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers), Dennis Martinez (O'odham/Chicano, Indigenous Peoples Restoration Network, Takelma Intertribal Project), Marko Bey (Lomakatsi Restoration Project, Lomakatsi Ecological Services), Bobcat Robert Brothers, Ph.D. (Lomakatsi Restoration Project), and more.
A spirit of prayer and ceremony will be maintained throughout the weekend by the Whistling Elk Drum Group, Ed Little Crow, Agnes Baker Pilgrim, and others. Demonstrations highlighting recycling, alternative energy solutions, and other environmental issues will focus on the practical details of everyone's role in saving the Earth.
R.E.D. also issued the following statement:
"As prophesied by Indigenous People, the health and survival of our Grandmother Earth is threatened by human abuse. We have reached a time of crisis, we are standing at the crossroads. These two vital groups of people, along with our community, will work together to discuss common ground in the eco-enviro-indigenous movements, the Green Movement, how new technology can be best guided by old traditions, and how we can work in a united way to heal our Grandmother.
“R.E.D. is committed to the health and well being of the next Seven Generations of life. Our Children and our grandchildren inherit ALL that we leave behind. It is part of our vision, then, that All Nations work together to solve these problems. Every one of us can make changes, learn, and grow together during this crucial shift of consciousness. That is the purpose of our Eco-Symposium."
CONTACT: Michael Vasquez (702) 219-5184, Dan Wahpepah (541) 890-3529 or
More information about Corbin Harney
and about speakers
at the
Native Eco-Symposium sessions
on
Local Activism
And
Fire & Ecological Restoration
Corbin Harney, a Newe (Western Shoshone) spiritual leader and healer, passed away on July 10, 2007. Born in Bruno, Idaho on March 24, 1920, he became an international indigenous rights and anti-nuclear weapons activist. Harney sang his prayer songs at the United Nations and at demonstrations from the Nevada Test Site to the Russian Nuclear Bombing Range in Kazakhstan. He was the featured speaker at anti-nuclear conferences around the world and in the 1990s led thousands past the front gates of the Nevada Test Site on his traditional lands in mass acts of non-violent resistance against the testing and proliferation of nuclear weapons. In 1994, Corbin Harney founded the Shundahai Network (Shundahai is the Newe word for "peace and harmony with all creation") to work with people and organizations to respond to pressing environmental, nuclear and Native issues and to ensure that Native voices are heard and heeded in the movement to shape national and international policy. (Visit the Shundahai Network at 
http://www.shundahai.org) He received the Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2003.
LOCAL ACTIVISM ~ Speakers
Friday, 9/28, 7:00 to 10:00 pm
Chant Thomas has a 30 year history of working for the Earth with organizations ranging from Antioch University to Earth First! Siskiyou to Headwaters. Currently, he is maintaining his long-term defense work with the group named after his home watershed, Threatened & Endangered Little Applegate Valley, as well as managing Dakubetede Environmental Education Programs and the Birch Creek Arts & Ecology Center with his wife, Susanna Bahaar, from their base at Trillium Farm. He is prepared to speak on the full range on environmental subjects: learning from the land, protecting it, and living a life style that is consistent with respect for all life. To learn more about Chant check out .
David She'om Rose has been a member of the River Spirit community on the South Fork Trinity River since 1980, working on living sustainably by raising his family in a simple way: growing most of their food, birthing their babies at home and home-schooling their children. Realizing that true sustainability cannot be found without an intact watershed, in 1997 he started the "South Fork Trinity River Land Conservancy" to protect, restore and preserve the watershed where he lives, This realization led him to work within the greater Klamath Watershed with other conservation groups and the Hoopa Valley, Karuk and Yurok tribes. In 2005 David organized a hiking and raft trip called "Journey to the Sea" to unite people throughout the Klamath Watershed and to call attention to the plight of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers . One of David's first environmental defense actions was to offer to manually clear brush from an old clear-cut in his watershed, in order to prevent it from being sprayed with herbicides.
Devon Strong, founder Four Eagles Farm -- Devon was raised on western ranches working domestic animals and irrigated crops. After college (Cal Poly 1975) he discovered the traditional practices of the Lakota people, enhancing his connection to the land and animals he works with. Later, he discovered the Biodynamic farming complement to traditional ceremonies and started raising bison in the late 80's. Through association with the Oregon Biodynamic Group. as well as adopted family ties to the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, he continues to bring together the old meaning of the Sacred Hoop, a deeper understanding of the inter-relationhsip of all things. Devon started the first CSA in the Rogue Valley and is the first nationally to start using bison with biodynamics.
Julie Norman, Siskiyou Project -- Julie has a B.A. in mathematics and an MA in computer science from the University of Texas. She has worked as a programmer for IBM and as a whitewater rafting guide. She has been involved in forest protection campaigns since 1975. From 1987 - 1998 she was president of Headwaters Environmental Center in Ashland, Oregon, was an invited speaker at the "Timber Summit" organized by President Clinton in 1993 that resulted in the Northwest Forest Plan, and was a major regional and national spokesperson in the campaign to save the ancient forests. In 1988 she received the Wilderness Society Environmental Hero Award. She now works for the Siskiyou Project on special educational projects like the Klamath-Siskiyou documentary film. She has recently been Interim Executive Director for Siskiyou Project, whose mission is permanently protecting the globally outstanding Klamath-Siskiyou forests, especially those around the Siskiyou National Forest. See
Lois & Leonard Houston (Blackfoot & Takelma) focus on restoring Beavers, the principal architects of Salmon habitat now missing from most streams. They work with local landowners to re-locate problem animals in places where they can thrive. Together, Leonard & Lois will make a single presentation. They are considered family by many of the Cow Creek Tribe, and have shared this land and culture most of their lives.
Stan Petrowski works on stream and Salmon habitat restoration. Coho Salmon have returned to Joe Hall Creek for the first time in over 50 years. Stan and his wife Alexandra discovered this from their homestead on the creek at Singing Falls, where they raise Mohair Sheep, spin & weave the wool, and sell beautiful products, from fleece to handwoven lap blankets, scarves, throws and rugs .
FIRE & ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION ~ Speakers
Sunday, 9/30, 1:00 to 4:00 pm
Agnes Baker Pilgrim (Takelma, Confederated Tribes of Siletz) -- A spiritual activist and the oldest Takelma Indian from southwest Oregon, Grandma Aggie follows in the tradition of her great-grandmother, Taowhywee, a medicine woman and shaman, and her grandfather, George Harney, the first elected Chief of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, who honor her as a "Living Legend." She has restored the ancient Sacred Salmon Ceremony on the Rogue River, and is a "Voice for the Voiceless" speaking out for the protection of our sacred waters worldwide. Aggie is the eldest, and the Chair, of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, . She was a finalist for the 2003 Buffett Award for Indigenous Leadership for her cultural preservation efforts, environmental advocacy and work with Native American youth. For more biological info, see and .
Bobcat (Robert Brothers, Ph.D.) was inspired by two years of intense wilderness living (and one talk by John Trudell) to put his Harvard and UC Berkeley education to work for Mother Earth and all our relations. He has organized civil disobedience for Earth First! Siskiyou; worked with scientists, attorneys, and media for Headwaters and a coalition of twenty other groups to stop the clearcutting of 9 million acres of ancient forests in the coastal Pacific Northwest; co-authored the Ecological Principles of the Lomakatsi Restoration Project (with Marko Bey); coordinated the computer mapping of 7 million acres of potential wilderness areas for the California Wild Heritage Campaign; and most recently, worked with Agnes Baker Pilgrim on First Nations' Day 2006, and with Julie Norman setting up the Agnes Baker Pilgrim Fund.
Chuck Jackson (Takelma, Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians) -- Chuck is a much-honored Elder from the South Umpqua who is very active in maintaining and restoring Indian culture and ceremonies. As a boy, he loved to listen to elders tell stories, and recalls how they so vividly described the eruption of Mt. Mazama (which formed Crater Lake) that he thought it happened recently, and was surprised to later learn that it was 7,000 years ago.
Dennis Martinez (O'odham/Chicano), co-chair, Indigenous People's Restoration Network and co-chair, Takelma Intertribal Project - Dennis has been a leader for the last 20 years in bringing Native perspectives into mainstream science, via his founding of the Indigenous Peoples Restoration Network within the scholarly Society for Ecological Restoration (www.ser/iprn). Most of his time has been spent getting to know the land, and then tenaciously speaking for it. As co-founder of the Takelma Intertribal Project with Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, via negotiations with the U.S. Forest Service he helped to secure the site for the restoration of the Sacred Salmon Ceremony on the Applegate River in 1994. He was a finalist for the 2001 Buffett Award for Indigenous Leadership in Conservation. For more biographical info, see .
Marko Bey, co-founder and Operational Director, Lomakatsi Restoration Project and Lomakatsi Ecological Services. -- Tired of planting douglas-fir monocrops in devasted industry clearcuts, Marko and Justin Cullumbine formed a new non-profit organization to show how things can be done in a better way. Lomakatsi's purpose is "To organize and implement community based ecological restoration projects through education, vocational training, specialized workforce development and the utilization of restoration by-products, encouraging the recovery of ecosystems and the sustainability of communities, cultures and economies." Now a leader in the field of ecological restoration, Lomakatsi played a major role in the new guidelines for Sierra Nevada forests, and is setting precedent for ecologically-sensitive stewardship contracting on federal lands, thinning to reduce fire hazards and encourage the regrowth of habitat for the threatened northern spotted owl. A new for-profit corporation, Lomakatsi Ecological Services, was recently formed to help ensure that the 35 person work force stays busy.
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EcoSymposium Co-sponsors include AZ Tech Graphic Arts, Briscoe ArtWing, D'wight Dog Productions, Eco Teas, Four Eagles Farm, Jackson Wellsprings, KSKQ Community Radio, Lomakatsi Restoration Project, Native American Student Union (Southern Oregon University), Phoenix Grange, and Siskiyou Project.
