Wednesday, departure for the next stop

POBR2015 Day 11 Wednesday: *** I will add pictures soon, I do not have all day access to a computer... ***

We woke up to Mr. Black cooking a wonderful breakfast J LOL, we intended on having only cereal but Mr. Blacks awesomeness made certain we were fed with eggs and hashbrowns… mmmhmmmhmmmm!

Afterwards, we had to hurry and tear down our camp to travel to our next destination.

A big thankyou to the Spokane Tribe, Warren Seyler, Warren’s Interns (Eastern Washington University, and Montana (out of Butte) University), Wellpinit High School Students, George Hill, Twe-la Swan, the Mining Companies (Midnite, Newmonte, Dawn), for sharing your abundant knowledge and your hospitality.

As we left, we stopped at a couple of 10 minute stops on our way to the Coeur d’Alene Reservation.

We arrived to Meet Bobbie White, Gina, and Laura all from the Natural Resources Department here on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation.

We began with introductions around the room, by the way we arrived just after lunch and our hosts were very understanding and allowed us to eat while we listened to the talks.

Laura is the lake management coordinator.

Gina is the Natural Resources Education Specialist.

Laura expressed her knowledge about the Coeur d’Alene Lake, the surrounding areas, the history of the area, including the Aboriginal Territory which stretched into Montana, and Washington

Coeur D’Alene Lake is the heart of the Coeur d’Alene tribe, it is their significant source of who they are as a people. Recently the tribe has been revitalizing the tribes’ history. Coeur D’Alene Tribe has lost over 60% of their lands, and are making efforts to regain this part of their heritage.

The Coeur D’Alene Lake has 21 different species of fish, of those fish there are only two native fish to the region which are Bull Trout and Adfluvial West Slope Cut Throat. These fish eat an itty bitty food called Daphnia, we can only see this with a microscope.

How the impact of the finding of Gold and Silver in the area has an impact on today’s environment. Mainly the discovery of Silver in 1883, in its day it was the 2^nd Largest Silver Mining operation in the worlds. It has left much contamination that exists and affects today’s environment with much impact not only to the tribal members but to the visitors of the area.

The Coeur D’Alene lake towns and cities rely on tourist activities, yet the locals either do not know about or ignore the fact that there are contaminants in the lake that traveled via Rivers/Lakes that stem from the mountains and rest in the bottom of the lake.

The Coeur D’Alene Tribe is educating as many people as they can about the pollution via river beds. Unfortunately the local city and governments are passive-aggressively ignoring these facts about the pollution. Conveniently only providing tests in the major public, or tourist areas to provide the most minimal information as possible to the public. Basically to my understanding the governing cities and states are avoiding the responsibilities they assumed back in the early 1900’s and late 1800’s when the treaties were signed. Hopefully the Federal Government will provide some assistance in the revitalization of the reservation and surrounding areas for a healthier environment.

While I listen and learn all of this new information about the impacts of our northwest, I feel a bit scared for the future generations. The cover up, or ignorance of what needs to be done is outrageous… We all have opinions, even more when we begin to learn more of the unknown.

After Laura’s discussion, the next two speakers presented about the revitalization of the Coeur D’Alene Language and what they are doing in regards to educating the tribal members.

Currently they are having classes for the adults. Previously they attempted to educate through the children but without the support system at home, it is an uphill climb. This is the reason for educating through adults then with the children again, therefore the whole home will be a sort of support system in revitalizing the language.

What blows my mind, not only on this reservation but throughout the Nation, we have very few “fluent” speakers, but at the same time I understand, as I am a member of the Yakama’s and I know little of my language. I believe all of this generation and hopefully the future generations will collaborate in a pattern of success that stems from this idea.

We were then invited to the ceremony at the Coeur D’Alene long house, what a splendid opportunity to be a part of their history as this was one of their first dinners in a long time.

We wanted to attend the canoe races but we got lost looking for our camp site, after we finally set up camp we were drained and got some rest for tomorrow’s events.