Lisa Burrell, cultural programs supervisor,
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
North Olympic Land Trust is pleased to announce the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Traditional Foods & Culture Program will receive the 23rd Annual nəxʷsƛ̕əy̕əkʷáʔnəŋ of the Year Award.
This year, the Land Trust is using “nəxʷsƛ̕əy̕əkʷáʔnəŋ” (gatherer of food in the Klallam language) instead of “farmer” to reflect the Traditional Foods & Cultural Program’s innovative and culturally based project that promotes traditional, sustainable, and ecologically sound cultivation, gathering, and food practices.
“For millennia, people on the North Olympic Peninsula have cultivated this landscape through management practices that help maintain healthy ecosystems while promoting specific plants for food with cultural and medicinal value. The Land Trust is excited to recognize the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe for this fantastic Traditional Food & Culture Program that revives these practices and traditions,” Tom Sanford, executive director of North Olympic Land Trust, said. “From the establishment of a community garden to prairie restoration, the promotion of healthy eating, a focus on sustainable management, and the propagation and harvesting of native plants, this program positively and significantly impacts the way our community connects with the land.”
The Traditional Foods & Culture Program supports Tribal practices that build resiliency and connections to community, family, and history in a number of ways:
• Educating about and providing traditional foods to promote health, food sovereignty, and sustainability;
• Practicing seasonal cultural and traditional practices that support health and wellness;
• Offering traditional and contemporary physical activities that promote wellbeing, including gathering traditional plant materials for food and cultural uses, and maintaining community gardens and prairies.
“The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and our community are very excited that our Traditional Foods Program is being honored with North Olympic Land Trust’s nəxʷsƛ̕əy̕əkʷáʔnəŋ of the Year Award,” Ron Allen, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal chair and CEO, said. “Cultural Programs Supervisor and Tribal citizen Lisa Barrell and her team have been working diligently to restore prairies and our traditional practices to promote an understanding of the healthy and medicinal value of traditional foods. They truly have earned this local recognition and we hold our hands up in appreciation of this honor.”
The nəxʷsƛ̕əy̕əkʷáʔnəŋ of the Year Award will be presented in a virtual program, “Rooted in Community: Celebrating our Local Bounty,” premiering on Thursday, Sept. 30 at 6:30 p.m. on the Land Trust’s YouTube Channel.