'The land remembered us'
iForward
In 2018, all of us at the accredited Wallowa Land Trust in Oregon began taking a closer look at how we could strengthen our relationships with tribes around our service area. We hosted a series of lectures in our community led by indigenous speakers; we visited tribal committees; and we hosted listening sessions at three reservations. From these conversations, it became clear to us that one of the most common and pressing concerns was access to lands for gathering.
Since Wallowa Land Trust has relationships with several private landowners, we saw an opportunity. And on May 15-16, we hosted gatherers from the Nez Perce Tribe, Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, all of whom connected with private landowners and gathered first foods and medicines in Wallowa County.
What follows are the thoughts of one elder who participated in that gathering.
Eric Greenwell, conservation program manager at Wallowa Land Trust
'The land remembered us'
With blue skies and wind blowing wisps of black hair into her eyes, her small hands searched the rocky ground for a link to her past: a small, edible root connecting her to both past and future as she assumes her rightful place as a Nez Perce child belonging to the land known as the Wallowa Valley.
This past May, Wallowa Land Trust invited Nez Perce from Idaho, Oregon and the Colville reservation in Washington state to gather traditional foods on private lands. It is significant because in May 1877, Chief Joseph and his people were forced out of the valley. The subsequent atrocities of war, imprisonment and division amongst the Nez Perce separated us from the land and the traditional gathering areas. The lands were then farmed or grazed over and native food gatherers became unwelcome.
It is significant because 142 years after Chief Joseph's exile from the Wallowas, this was the first time in recent memory for descendants of a shared history to gather with a common purpose of reestablishing traditional digging grounds. It also was a rare occasion for private landowners to welcome us on their property. Our journey to the Wallowa Valley became a day of healing for the land and the people.
The elderly ladies who gathered to carry on this work brought memories to life once again as they shared in song and heartfelt words. The younger ladies and girls, in moccasins and traditional dress, listened intently before searching the sweeping hillside for the foods to gather. Over time and with the absence of traditional food gatherers, the roots themselves have become small. Yet they remembered to return every year waiting for us to come back home to the Wallowa Valley.
While we did not fill our digging bags, our hearts were truly filled with the beauty of the land, the laughter of the younger ones and the presence of our ancestors who watched over us all these years.
The snowcapped mountains, rolling hills and grazing horses made the rocks underfoot less intrusive. As we walked down the hill, I said a prayer, thankful the land remembered us and we remember the land. My granddaughter's footprints are now there, just as the footprints of her ancestors were placed here for her to follow.
Carla Timentwa is an enrolled Nez Perce Tribal Member.