Marketing and Communications
Native American Ecological Education Symposium “Feeding the Water Spirit”
04/12/2007
Event: Southern Oregon University’s Native American Ecological Education Symposium
Dates: Friday April 27th (12:00pm-6:00pm) Saturday April 28th (9:00am-6:00pm)
Location: Southern Oregon University Stevenson Union Arena; 1250 Siskiyou Boulevard, Ashland, OR
Free to all, All Tribes welcome
Drug and Alcohol Free Environment
The theme of this year’s biannual Native American Ecological Educational Symposium (NAEES) is “Feeding the Water Spirit.” Southern Oregon University (SOU) students, the Native American Student Union, ECOS, the Environmental Studies Club, Native American Programs, and community members come together yet again to organize this unique event. NAEES will be held at SOU’s Stevenson Union Arena on April 27th and 28th.
Keynote speaker this year is Northern Cheyenne activist Gail Small on Tribal Water Rights. Small is the director of Native Action, an environmental justice organization in Lame Deer, Montana. Small's political engagement in energy issues began in the early 1970s, when she and other high school students were sent by the tribal government to visit coal extraction sites on the Navajo Reservation and in Wyoming, after the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) signed leases opening the Northern Cheyenne Reservation to strip-mining. Small later served on a tribal committee that successfully fought for the cancellation of the BIA coal leases. She received her law degree from the University of Oregon and formed Native Action in 1984. Her work at Native Action includes litigation, drafting tribal statutes, and creating informational resources for tribal members.
Takelma Elder Grandma Aggie member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers will be leading this years invocation. Grandma Aggie is honored as a “Living Treasure” by her tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, and as a “Living Cultural Legend” by the Oregon Council of the Arts, Grandma Aggie is an exceptionally clear and strong speaker whose no-nonsense eloquence has touched people of many different cultures in the US and around the world. An Ambassador for our Mother Earth, she is a voice for the voiceless, seeking to prevent spiritual blindness by helping us to remember the ways of living that we all share as people of the Earth.
This event draws over 150 people to the SOU campus. Over eighteen hours of guest presentations include Dennis Martinez, the co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples’ Restoration Network; Bob Tom, Elder of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Southern Oregon University professor Eric Dittmer; and Robert Kentta Director of Siletz Cultural Resources. Twenty educational tables will bring organizations, local leaders, and Native knowledge which include Raven Wolf Sanctuary, Traditional Ecosystem Beliefs, California Basket Weavers, Basketry Sustainability, Water in the Forest and many more.
To volunteer, donate or for more general information contact:
Native American Programs (541) 552-8239
*The Native American Studies program aims to educate all students about the Native experience and the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of Oregon and North America.
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