Celebrating Camas
The first Camas Festival, celebrating the use of camas lilies in the traditional foodways of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, was held on Friday, May 6, 2022. About 120 people gathered in the Oak Grove on Linfield University's McMinnville Campus, for a tour of the camas growth in the Cozine Creek area and to browse a variety of informational booths.
Thank you to our community partners, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and Greater Yamhill Watershed Council (GYWC), for collaborating on what we hope is the first of many festivals. This event is free and open to the public.
In the News
A flourishing relationship
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde helped Linfield University rename a two-block street, now known as Lakamas Lane, on the McMinnville campus in honor of the word camas. Lakamas is the word for camas in the Chinuk Wawa language. This renaming effort led to plans for a larger celebration of camas that grows on campus.
Linfield environmental studies students and GYWC
Restoring Cozine Creek
In 2016, members of the GYWC began working with Linfield students to rid the Cozine Creek area of invasive species. In 2018, the project received a grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Small Grant to fund weed control and planting. In the past two years, clearing has continued and the project is in a maintenance phase that will extend until 2024.
By Gerardo Ochoa
Growing community through camas
Connecting learning, life and community. This is the Linfield mission so many of us have come to love and aspire to as we carry out our work. As Linfield continues to evolve, we must also reflect upon what is meant by “community.” Sometimes in order to move forward, we have to look back. This includes coming to terms with the fact that Linfield sits on the territory of Indigenous people who lived here long before Oregon, or the university, existed.
Linfield University
Land Acknowledgement
At Linfield, we recognize that the land that our physical campuses are located on were the traditional territories of the “Yam Hill” band of the Kalapuya people in McMinnville and the Chinookan peoples known as the Clackamas and Cascade Tribes in Portland. In January 1855, the people of these tribes were forcibly removed from the land after the signing of the Willamette Valley Treaty. They are now among 30 tribes and bands that make up the Confederated Tribe of Grand Ronde.