A student from Veronica Tilton's 9th-10th grade science class at Indian Valley Academy is excited about the acorn presentation by Lorena Gorbet and Reina Rogers.
This year Trout in the Classroom (TIC) has expanded its program to include presentations from Reina Rogers and Lorena Gorbet of the Maidu Roundhouse Council. Reina is a retired soil scientist from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and has a love for all things nature with her desire for environmental protections. Lorena has worked with the Roundhouse Council for many years preserving the Maidu culture and is knowledgable about all things Maidu.
Reina and Lorena are presenting in all of our TIC to teach Maidu Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). They are invaluable and irreplaceable sources of Mountain Maidu knowledge and we are lucky to have them as part of our program. They have entered about a quarter of our classrooms so far this winter/spring and are scheduled to be in the rest of them by the end of March. While many of our classrooms are 4th graders, we also have 6th-12th graders in the program. For most of our 4th graders this year, Reina and Lorena will be presenting on traditional music. The older students are getting lessons on native plant identification and the longer classes had an acorn mashing and preparation class.
Lorena talking about the importance of acorns in Veronica Tilton's science class at the Indian Valley Academy, Plumas Charter School.
Lorena entertaining Heidi Kingdon's 4th grade class with instruments at Greenville Elementary.
Our hopes in adding Reina and Lorena to the Trout in the Classroom program is that students will develop an understanding of what life was like for people who lived and thrived in this region. Since a healthy trout population now depends on humans protecting and caring for our environment, there is no better way to learn about stewardship than the original stewards of the land.
If you are interested in more about native plants, Reina has suggested as part of eating wild plants, Living Wild by Alicia Funk. Information about the book and author at: http://www.livingwild.org/ and copies can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Living-Wild-Gardening-Cooking-California-ebook/dp/B01LXMRXOP/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510865936&sr=1-1&keywords=living+in+the+wild+alicia+funk.
Another resource is something Reina compiled herself while at NRCS, https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_063807.pdf. This is a guide of native plants and native uses.
Students at Heidi Kingdon's 4th grade class go the opportunity to play with instruments from Reina and Lorena.