Yelm students experience Nisqually tribal culture

Don McCloud said local tribal history and culture wasn’t taught at Yelm Community Schools when he was a student.

That’s one of the reasons he was happy to be able to tell students from Yelm Middle School about the Boldt Decision, which upheld tribal treaty fishing rights, as well as about the importance of the Nisqually River and the tribe’s traditional method of cooking salmon over a fire.

The Nisqually elder helped lead workshops for the school’s 230 seventh-graders on Wednesday and Thursday at the tribe’s 250-acre culture center and farm on Mounts Road near DuPont.

“This is hands-on history about the Native people,” McCloud said. “(The goal is) to get an education of who we are, and why we are who we are.”

Students rotated through stations that offered a variety of learning opportunities: a tour of the tribe’s community garden, a cedar bark weaving class, a hike to the Nisqually River, and lessons in tree and plant identification. They also made a natural lip balm, and were treated to a lunch that included salmon and fry bread with huckleberry jam.

“It’s really cool,” said Alexa Gulley, 13. “I’ve learned a lot about how they cooked salmon, and about the land, and how they lived on it.”

History teacher Mark Bowden said the daylong workshops were paid for with a $5,000 heritage grant from the tribe. The funding covered transportation costs, workshop supplies, instructors from the tribe, and various activities. It’s the first time the school has teamed up with the tribe to offer that type of experience, he said.

“This is a real, first-hand way to get out and see and touch — and in some cases eat — what the Natives would have had from here,” Bowden said.

Victoria Halbert, 12, said she enjoyed learning about the South Sound tribe’s traditions, especially since her family is affiliated with the Cowlitz and Cherokee tribes.

“I learned that huckleberries need a big tree to cover them for shade because of the harsh weather and the sun,” she said.

Jamey Galvin, 13, said his favorite activity was spending time in the garden, which yields fruits, vegetables, berries and herbs that support a garden stand, and food for the tribe’s elders program and community dinners.

He said he also enjoyed eating salmon in the massive longhouse, which sits atop a hill overlooking the Nisqually Valley. The wooden building, which was constructed a few years ago, is in the style of a traditional Coast Salish longhouse, and is used for community gatherings.

“We learned about this in a book,” Galvin said. “Now we get to see it visually.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Yelm students experience Nisqually tribal culture."