Siskiyou Field Institute / News
SFI November E-Newsletter
Siskiyou Field Institute’s
November 2008 E-mail News
In This Issue:
· SFI gets a Special Visitor on Skills Harvest Weekend
· Greetings from SFI’s New AmeriCorps Member
· Kids, Boots and Nets in the Stream
· Wilderness First Responder at DCC
· SFI and Deer Creek Center Wish list
· Story from the Field –
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Rafting Adventure
Dear Friends of SFI,
The year is drawing nearer to a close and of course, a new beginning. The 2008 field season here at the Siskiyou Field Institute was exciting as ever. Courses started in early April with a wildflower walk and an introduction to the world of lichens. We will be finishing the year off with our Wilderness First Responder course where students will learn how to make medical decisions in remote areas.
The Deer Creek Center has proven to be a wonderful home yet again. The facility has become a living laboratory where classes have the opportunity to step into a rugged and wild landscape just by walking out of the door of the main building and heart of DCC, the Kendeda house. The house itself has hosted conferences and retreats as well as many courses, overnight guests and research teams. Some wonderful changes are planned for the facility over the winter, and we can’t wait to show them off when our 2009 season takes over.
Sincerely,
SFI Staff: Arnie Green, Karen Pleasant, CeCe Bowerman, Candy Gerrard, Andrea King, Andrew Englehorn and Cory Alvis
SFI Board of Directors: Craig Ackerman, Meadow Martell, Kathy Krauss, Kathy Burkey, Bob Litak, Bruce Gibbs, Lee Webb and Kristi Mergenthaler
A Special Visitor on Skills Harvest Weekend
Skills Harvest Weekend, held this year October 25th & 26th, had several activities to offer including an Ecology of Pacific Salmon class, Backcountry First Aid, and a course on how to use native plants as natural remedies in Herbal Pharmacy. Another popular subject was the Edible Mushrooms of Southern Oregon. The mushroom class was preceded by a Free Evening Speakers Event on the subject that brought over 40 people from the community to the Deer Creek Center for instructor Eric McEwen’s talk Saturday night. As participants finished with the days courses and community members began to arrive, a very special feathered visitor also showed up at the center.
Wildlife Images, a wildlife rehabilitation and education center located in Merlin, OR, had coordinated with SFI staff to release a juvenile common barn owl on the property. Unfortunately, the owlet’s parents had made a mistake in choice of nest location, deciding on a large haystack as their preferred neighborhood. The haystack was loaded onto a truck and driven several hours to the Rogue Valley in early spring, where the owlets were discovered dehydrated and very hungry. After months of care at Wildlife Images, the last of the barn owls was ready for release and the Deer Creek Center proved to be prime habitat. The center has gained a new employee whose job description consists solely of eating mice late at night.
We were delighted that Wildlife Images could give the barn owl a home at the Deer Creek Center and that their education staff could join us on Skills Harvest weekend for a presentation about owls and their role in our world. We plan to keep our binoculars skyward and ears open to see if our new addition will permanently take up residence.
The Deer Creek Center is located in Selma, Oregon at the base of Eight Dollar Mountain and the gateway to the ruggedly beautiful Illinois River.
Home of the Siskiyou Field Institute, DCC also serves as a research field station and event center. We invite you to visit us in person, or follow the link to find out more at http://www.thesfi.org/Page.asp?NavID=108 .
Interested in holding a company retreat, special event or conference at the
Deer Creek Center?
Contact us at 541-597-8530 for details!
Greetings from SFI’s New AmeriCorps Member
Andrew Englehorn comes to SFI with a background in Natural Resources and Environmental Education. He is serving this year as the AmeriCorps Outreach Coordinator and looks forward to organizing the 2009 Klamath-Siskiyou Ecological Conference. The first conference, held in 1997, is actually how the concept of the Siskiyou Field Institute was born, with a goal of facilitating the connection of science and community.
Working closely with staff and faculty from Southern Oregon University, events will be arranged including presentations on research from a wide spectrum of ecological disciplines. The conference will be held at the Deer Creek Center, bringing together science, students and the community for a better understanding of the complexity of our natural world.
Andrew will also be focusing on outreach for SFI, attending community festivals and educational functions to spread the word about opportunities with the Siskiyou Field Institute and Deer Creek Center. Andrew is looking forward to learning more about our bioregion and meeting the people that make up this special place we call home.
Kids, Boots and Nets in the Stream
Fall is certainly here in force, and so was field trip season for a group of fifty 5th graders from Madrona Elementary School in Grants Pass. Students came to the Deer Creek Center the last week of October to learn about riparian habitat and the animals that call it home.
CeCe Bowerman, SFI’s Youth Coordinator, prepared activities, including a macro invertebrate station where students donned rubber boots and waded into the stream with a kick net to collect samples and document the invertebrates present. At another station, students collected data on the quality of the water in Deer Creek including: dissolved oxygen, temperature, stream flow and ammonia-nitrogen levels. The final activity was a nature walk into surrounding forest where the group observed serpentine rocks, trees and shrubs surrounding the creek.
Special guest instructors from the Oregon Caves National Monument - Sandy Gladdish, Tami Motif, and Alice Weber helped facilitate the experience. SFI and the Oregon Caves are working together to educate youth about the fascinating natural wonders in this area. Highlights for students included hiking in the outdoors and exploring the creek for insects.
SFI offers field trips year round at the Deer Creek Center, call CeCe Bowerman at 597-8530 for more information. You can help us by spreading the word to parents, teachers, home-schoolers and PTA’s. In tough economic times, not every school has the ability to engage their students in dynamic outdoor programming; sponsors are always appreciated to help students learn about the natural world around them.
Wilderness First Responder Course
December 13-21st
Brought to SFI by
NOLS, the National Outdoor Leadership School’s
Wilderness Medicine Institute
Topics during this 10 day course include wound and infection management, realigning fractures, splinting techniques, patient monitoring and long term management techniques. The course focuses on giving the participant the information and skills needed to make critical decisions in a back country setting. WMI Adult and Child CPR are included in the course. This certification is valuable for anyone who spends time in remote areas, but is also sought after by river guides and other outdoor adventure professionals.
The Wilderness First Responder course is pre-approved for 70 hours of EMT Continuing Education (CEH) by the Continuing Education Coordinating Board for Emergency Medical Services (CECBEMS). The course is also available for college credit. Contact us at SFI or visit the NOLS/WMI website (www.nols.edi/wmi) for more details.
Tuition for the Wilderness First Responder course is $590. Lodging for the course can also be arranged at the Deer Creek Center for an additional fee. However space is limited, so you are encouraged to register for the course and lodging soon!
Check out the full course descriptions at www.thesfi.org.
You can register online or give us a call at 541-597-8530.
SFI and Deer Creek Center Wish list
SFI and DCC are ever changing and so are the supplies needed to offer programs and services for our guests. We have compiled a wish list of items that will help us further our work at the Siskiyou Field Institute and Deer Creek Center. You can find the complete list by clicking on the link SFI/DCC Wish List. If you are interested in providing items on the wish list, or have any questions, please give us a call at 541-597-8530.
SFI Story from the Field:
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Rafting Adventure -Gary Gripp
What made these three days of river running and three nights of camping such a fun learning adventure was the people involved and the way the trip was organized. Working out of a base camp, rather than spending valuable hours packing and unpacking gear, left time in the mornings, and particularly the evenings, for continuing conversation on the focus of this trip: the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of the Karuk people. Our mentor on this subject, Frank Lake, is uniquely qualified to pass on to outsiders some of the lore of his people. With a doctoral degree in Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the indigenous use of fire, Frank is conversant with the academic literature on these subjects, and can speak the language of several academic disciplines. At the same time, he grew up paying close attention to the cultural practices of the Karuk people, learning their stories and lore. With one foot firmly planted in mainstream culture, and the other in that of the Karuks, Frank serves as a sort of bridge, or liaison, between the two. All this I more or less expected going in. What surprised and delighted me, and gave the trip its special flavor and depth, was Frank’s unexpected gift as storyteller and teacher, a gift fueled by enthusiasm to share what he knows. As an outsider with a special interest in Karuk culture, I came primed with a lot of questions, and found even more to ask as we went along. Instead of becoming annoyed at this, Frank took great pains to satisfy my curiosity on the spot, and also to direct me to relevant outside sources. For me, this was a great satisfaction. But what was an absolute delight was Frank’s ability to tell a traditional story, complete with humorous sound effects. He had us all laughing so hard we could barely contain ourselves.
And that was another positive aspect of this educational outing: the people it attracted. Mostly college graduates, I’d say, with a curious turn of mind-- along with openness to other ways of living, thinking, and perceiving. In all, a nicely compatible group.
The rafting part of the trip was all I’d hoped for, and made especially enjoyable by our river guide, Michael, from Redwoods and Rivers. Because he himself was having fun on the river, as well as always knowing exactly where he was and what he was doing, he made running the Klamath exciting (but not too exciting) while also bringing on smiles. Part soft spoken mountain man, part bellowing drill sergeant, Michael commanded the paddle raft with humorous assurance. To miss a big rock in the river we might have to paddle especially hard on the right. “Paddle hard right!” he’d holler. “Harder!” would come the order from the stern. And if that didn’t do it, we’d hear, in the drill sergeant’s voice, “Harder, Harder!!” And then we’d really dig in.
The food was good, as was our time around the campfire. Our camp, we learned, was where many had camped before us. The Karuk had made this stretch of the Klamath their home for at least ten thousand years, and in the present company we were made conscious of those who had gone before us here. I found that perspective a particularly valuable one to contemplate throughout our own time here on the river.
Give the Gift of Learning
Unique gifts can be difficult to come by, but experiences often last longer than anything that comes in a package. SFI now has gift certificates available that can be used towards tuition for any SFI course. Send a loved one on a rafting adventure down the Klamath River, spelunking through the Oregon Caves or birding on the high seas! Simply call SFI or visit our online store by clicking on the registration tab at www.thesfi.org to order.
We look forward to seeing you this fall!
Let us hear from you…we love your comments and suggestions. And be sure to check our web-site at www.thesfi.org for breaking news about courses and other upcoming programs.
Contact the Siskiyou Field Institute at:
Phone: 541-597-8530
Fax: 541-597-8533
E-mail: institute@thesfi.org
Address: PO Box 207, Selma, OR 97538
Website: www.thesfi.org
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