Traditional Living Challenge camas camp: getting back to our roots

by Heather Cahoon

JOCKO — The Traditional Living Challenge camas camp, held last month at Little Prairie in the Jocko, was about getting back to our roots as a tribal people, or as one participant put it, "It was about finding our roots and literally eating them." The Camas Camp, so called after the camas bulbs traditionally harvested and baked at this time of year, was a place where participants had the opportunity to eat the same roots, bulbs, berries, and meats consumed by our ancestors.

The Traditional Living Challenge developed out of CSKT tribal member Anita Dupuis's graduate research while she was working on her Master of Public Health at the University of Washington. As part of her research, she returned home to the Flathead Reservation to interview members of the reservation community concerning what they considered to be the major strengths, as well as problems, of the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreille people. Interviewees were also asked how the strengths might be used to help combat the problems.

Based on her own experience and her evaluation of people's responses, Dupuis developed a model for the Traditional Living Challenge - a way to use the strengths of traditional culture to combat the health disparities experienced by American Indians and Alaska Natives. Research has shown that American Indians have the highest rates of heart disease, Type II diabetes, and obesity in North America. This appears to be linked to a less active lifestyle and modern diets high in fats and sugars and the loss of traditional American Indian culture.

Upon completion of her MPH, Dupuis moved back to the reservation and created the Community Health and Development Department at Salish Kootenai College. The Department is supported primarily by grants and subcontracts with plans for increasing the funding generated by the sale of healthier snack and drink options under a new brand name label called "Ancestors' Choice." The TLC is only one of several projects administered by the CHD. Others include Environmental Supports for Diabetes Prevention - funded by Centers for Disease Control; Prevention of Toddler Obesity (PTOTS) - funded by National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Healthy People/Strong People - by USDA; Business Incubator Without Walls - also by USDA; and Tobacco Awareness - from the Baucus Network.

Funding for the TLC comes from the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Current funding is for a two-year pilot research project in partnership with the University of Arizona Family Medicine Department; the second year began July 1. If the results of these two years of camps, activities, and screenings show promise for reducing the risk factors for cardio-vascular disease among tribal community members aged 12 to 55 who have not been diagnosed with heart disease, NHLBI may fund five additional years for a full-blown research implementation project.

Specifically, the TLC study aims to discover how a traditional living experience with Native activities, lifestyle, traditions and foods might influence individual and community health. The TLC is also a way to encourage change through an experience of traditional tribal diet and lifestyle. The study includes follow-up support on how to carry these habits into everyday life.

The study is designed to allow interested members of the Flathead Reservation tribal community to engage in hands-on learning experiences of traditional Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreille diet and lifestyle, where participants learn to prepare and eat traditional foods and other foods with similar nutritional value to those not in adequate supply, such as camas and bitterroot.

The heart of the TLC is a 5 to 10-day camping experience that focuses on the dietary and physical activity principles experienced by our ancestors. It is not an attempt to go back to ancestral life ways, but to learn about and incorporate those principles into contemporary living. Participants eat as many traditional foods as possible, but the primary objective is to retrain people's taste buds away from the contemporary foods that contribute so heavily to obesity and other heart and vascular disease risk factors.

The camping experience, even with some modern conveniences, also makes real the physically active and demanding life our ancestors led. TLC encampment experiences include physical activities such as wood gathering, berry and root gathering expeditions, hide tanning, hauling water, gathering traditional plant and mineral materials, hunting, fishing and traditional games. Dupuis states, "Our ancestors had no choice but to be fit, but we need to make conscious choices with all our modern 'conveniences'." Since exercise is key to keeping weight down and living more healthfully, Dupuis hopes that after experiencing the higher physical activity of camping, people will want to add more exercise to their daily routines. To help with this, CHD has scheduled hikes throughout the year. Many are planned around learning to identify, and even gathering, traditional foods and materials. CHD also provides fitness and aerobics classes in the tribal fitness centers and at SKC.

Beside the physical activities participants experienced in the Camas Camp, there were also several craft projects. Many of these were led by tribal member Tim Ryan. One such project was making cedar bark baskets. Participants got the full experience, from seeing how to carefully remove only a portion of the tree's bark to finding and digging up some of the soft, pliable roots used to thread together the sides of the basket. Ryan also showed participants how to make rope or cordage from dogbane. Dogbane, a native plant found near wetland areas, is also known as Indian hemp.

Additionally, there were outings to nearby locales where participants learned about the history of the area, gathered plants or went hunting.

The Camas Camp menu consisted of foods such as bison, venison, salmon, wild rice, huckleberries, chokecherries, service berries, bitterroot, camas, black tree moss, wild onions, and biscuit root, as well as other foods like hazelnuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, turnips, parsnips, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, raspberries, and bell peppers. Diary products, wheat, sugar, and salt were not available for consumption in the camp. Additionally, there was no coffee, caffeinated or otherwise. Instead, participants were encouraged to try the herbal teas and the chicory root, which is a coffee substitute that rivals any other.

CHD staff member and study participant, Lennie Webster, brought her family to the camp. Regarding the food options available, Webster stated, "The foods that are offered in camp, because they are more traditional, make you feel better and healthier as a whole-and when we're healthier as individuals, we're happier as a family." Overall, she said that she and her family enjoyed the camp "because we got to know other people and we got to be up in the mountains together, away from everything that is fast-paced."

One of the highlights for Webster and her family was "getting to sit around with the elders and listening to their stories and anything else they chose to share with us. Sitting around the campfire listening to everyone else was great, too."

Another study participant, Jody Cahoon Perez agreed that they were in good company, stating that she and her children really enjoyed the presence of the elders, their stories and the things they learned from them.

Perez also said she was glad that she was able to bring her children with her to the camp so they could be exposed to the traditional foods, the elders, the prayers, and "the overall environment in the camp." She would highly recommend the camp to anyone who is interested in making healthier dietary decisions for their life. For Perez, the Camas Camp helped her "start eating the right foods" and directed her "down the right path to living healthier."

When asked what she enjoyed most about the Camas Camp, Perez's six-year-old daughter Olivia said she liked the berries, the dry meat, and going swimming in the nearby Jocko River.

Fellow study participant Bernice Gray said she felt fortunate to be part of a research experiment that took such good care of the participants. She commented that "there was really nice camping gear available to us - including the solar shower and portable sink - and the food was really good, it wasn't just freeze-dried food like you get when you're fire fighting. It was all fresh, traditional and organic."

Gray also said that the camp was "a cultural experience for my son and me." Her favorite part was the camas bake because she didn't know anything about it before. "It was the first time I ever saw camas or saw the process of baking it."

Gray also commented on the children present in camp, saying that she thought they were brave to participate, especially when it came to trying new foods and camping. "A lot of kids would have preferred to stay home near the electricity and the television," she said. Her five-year-old son also enjoyed his time there, especially the fishing and hunting.

Study participant, Lisa McDonald-Beaverhead, said she really liked eating the different foods that she hadn't tried before, like the salads, "The greens were really good." She also commented that after the camp, she felt very good, physically, as she hadn't smoked for ten days. It was really a cleansing, fulfilling experience for her and she looks forward to attending the next camp.

During the Camas Camp, there were several elders who came up to tell stories and to teach participants about the traditional uses of certain plants or animals. Steven Small Salmon was there nearly every day to share his knowledge with campers. Frances Vanderburg was also present on a regular basis. She helped monitor the camas bake and the making of dry meat, but she also provided participants with other information. One day, she explained that black tree moss had several uses; it was cooked and eaten but it was also used as stuffing for bed cushions, as diapers for babies and as a feminine hygienic product. It could also be used, as Frances jokingly pointed out, to create fake eyebrows or toupees.

Tribal elder Octave Finely and his son spent one afternoon showing participants how to shoot traditional bows and elder Eneas Vanderburg came up for an afternoon visit. Other elders arrived to check in on the events and activities and to visit.

Besides the elders who were present in camp, there were additional elders who contributed in other ways. For example, elder Alice Camel allowed CHD staff to dig the camas that grows so abundantly in her yard. She also provided detailed instructions on how the camas should be prepared and baked.

The process involved allowing the camas to dry out before removing its onion-like outer skin and root hairs. Once cleaned, the camas was placed with cleaned black tree moss and wrapped neatly in large skunk cabbage leaves. The leaf packages were then placed in a pit about 2-3 feet deep, atop heated rocks, mountain ash boughs, and more skunk cabbage then left to bake beneath a constantly-burning fire for two days. This process transformed the camas and especially the tree moss, into a delicious, slightly sweet food.

The next Traditional Living Challenge camp will be the Huckleberry Camp, held at the Timberlane Campground on Pipe Creek, approximately ten miles north of Libby, Montana. The camp is scheduled for August 7-13 (with camp set-up on August 6), however, depending on the will of the participant group, it has the potential to run through August 16. The camp location may need to be revised if fire restrictions increase.

Because this is a funded study, interested participants are required to provide their written consent to allow for a finger stick blood test for HbA1c (blood sugar over the past 3 months), and Total Cholesterol, which will help to assess the risk of developing heart disease. Blood pressure will be taken along with the blood sample, as well as height, weight and a calculation of percent body fat. Finally, a health survey is required which asks about eating habits, physical activity levels, commercial and traditional tobacco use and attitudes about TLC and its potential to impact healthy change in the community.

The study is recruiting participants between the ages of 12 and 55, before the onset of heart disease, however, many events have a family focus and all ages are welcome to participate along with their family member who is enrolled in the study. Additionally, participants must be Native Americans living on the Flathead Reservation and planning to make it their home for at least a year.

If you have any questions or are interested in participating in the TLC Huckleberry Camp, please contact the SKC-CHD office at 275-4917.