Thanks to those of you who came out to our January Nature Night, Long Memory of the Land! It was an educational and engaging presentation from Elizabeth Woody.

 Enjoy some interesting takeaways and additional resources from her talk below, or watch a recording of her presentation here.

If you have trouble viewing the slides from Elizabeth's presentation below, click here. 

Long Memory of the Land Takeaways and Resources:
During her presentation, Elizabeth shared a brief glimpse into the histories of Indigenous Peoples in Central Oregon. As a people with rights and memories of this land from time immemorial, she shared the deep understanding and connection with life along the Deschutes and Columbia Rivers her people have. Elizabeth noted that colonization continues to impact the world today, and that loss of language and a land-based culture built up through millennia is a concern. Engaging these ways of life, Elizabeth shared, is a key to living with the land.

Some Columbia River Peoples' Precepts:

1. As long as Nature is taken care of, it will take care of you.
2. Traditional wisdom is "systems thinking." Do no harm. Take only what you need. Let the rest grow.
3. To understand a land's resources respect it enough to know your own life is at risk with its loss.
4. Being "in" it and able to see patterns as interrelationships, and responsibly adapt.

Additional resources:

• Read Elizabeth's published works of prose and poetry Luminaries of the Humble or Seven Hands, Seven Hearts.
• Visit The Museum at Warm Springs, see their upcoming exhibits, and donate to their work here.
• Check out Elizabeth's bibliography on treaty focused books.
• Check out Elizabeth's bibliography on Columbia River Plateau Tribes.
• Learn more about Tsagaglal or She Who Watches from Native American artist Lillian Pitt, or even take a visit on your own.
• Dive deeper into land treaties in Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, and Manifest Destiny by Robert J. Miller.
• Explore Legends of the Northern Paiute as told by Wilson Wewa, a spiritual leader and oral historian of the Warm Springs Paiute.
• "The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it..." Read more from David Suzuki
• Learn more about how Indigenous Rights and Natural Climate Solutions are linked.
• Watch this video 'Paddling is Praying' following a canoe journey with Warm Springs N'chi Wanapum Canoe Family and Jefferson Greene.
• Learn more about the work of the Warm Springs Community Action Team to empowering their community.
• Get local and read Jarold Ramsey's essays in New Era: Reflections on the Natural and Cultural History of Central Oregon.
• Learn from Wasco elder, George Aguilar in his book When the River Ran Wild!
• Experience art of the Columbia River Plateau people at Tamástslikt Cultural Institute.
• Experience By Hand Through Memory: Indian Nations of the Columbia River Plateau at the High Desert Museum.

Poem by Elizabeth Woody:

The volcanoes in our stories moved and lived before our human presence.
They made way for the contour of skyline.
The river shifted this way, left its mark.
It made a way for us.
Coyote walked here and made this so in this time's beginning.
Songs are sung through our lives and are a part of how we follow.
There is a difference here. We dream.
We know our bodies are made of all these elements.
On this land we are all motion.
We age. Society changes. New people arrive. Old people leave. Memory stays.

- From "Recognition of the Maker"

About Elizabeth Woody:
Elizabeth Woody (Navajo/Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama) is the Executive Director of The Museum At Warm Springs. She served a two-year term as Oregon Poet Laureate from 2016-2018. She is a published author and fine artist. Elizabeth received the American Book Award, William Stafford Memorial Award for Poetry from the Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Association and was a finalist in the poetry for the Oregon Book Awards for 1994, and is an alumna of the first Kellogg Foundation’s Fellowship through the AIO Ambassadors program.

 Learn more about:

• Local Tribes of The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs or read our Introduction to local Indigenous Peoples.
• How one tribal member is thinking about connecting to nature and the land in a recent guest blog post.
• Learn more about the cultural history of Camp Polk Meadow Preserve and traditional use of the lands we protect today.