October 31, 2006

• Central Washington Native Plants

  A really nice nerdy site called Central Washington Native Plants. It’s a catalogue of plants native to the shrub steppes of central Washington, with ethnobotany information as well. I got to it through this excellent tour of the local ecology.

  Also: I wasn’t aware that the Wanapum people developed a religion called Washani (dreamer). They believed that if they prayed hard enough, the white people would go away. Margin by margin, the Wanapum ended up living in the last undammed area of the Columbia, near Vantage. And then, in the 50s, that area was dammed to form Wanapum Reservoir. Now most of the remaining Wanapum are housed and employed by the Public Utilities District. Some still practice Washani.
  

  “It is the water of life, our water, and it flows now on the dry land across the river in our old horse range. The White Man has torn deep gashes in the Mother Earth, making her bleed. There is nothing we can do about it, nothing. Perhaps there is nothing we should want to do. Perhaps the Watcher wants it that way, because the earth freely offers her gifts to be shared with everyone.” -Puck Hyah Toot, Smowhala’s nephew and thhe last prophet of the Wanapum People, on the building of Priest Rapids Dam.

  • 3:04 pm
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