Learning lessons from the land

There is still time to register for the Kahnawake Environment Protection Office (KEPO) Lessons from the Land camp, with the final day to sign up teens aged 13-17 pushed back until May 23.

The six-week land-based summer camp will see participants engage in a wide range of hands-on activities to learn about their culture and the land all around them.

Those will include hunting, trapping, beading, seed saving, overnight stays in Tioweró:ton, and invasive species control, among other activities.

“A lot of our lessons are outdoor skills, skills in field science,” said Julie Teio’keráthe Delisle, KEPO’s environmental projects coordinator for education and outreach.

“But we also have a lot of time where we’re doing crafting or things like that. We have times where we want the youth to just have downtime outside, whether that’s journaling, having time to work on whatever they want to be working on. They learned a new skill throughout the camp that they want to try and get better at - we give them the time to do that on their own and just to be outdoors and to be connected with everything around them.

“I think you don’t get that all the time within a school setting, and hopefully that inspires them a little bit more.”

She is one of the three members of the team taking care of the camp, with camp coordinator and environmental education liaison Kahentisa’s Alfred taking the lead in putting together the material for the camp, as well as Dylan Smith, who will serve as traditional skills facilitator.

Delisle said the camp will also feature many guests to lead activities based on their own skillset.

She hoped youth from the community would be able to bring skills learned during the camp with them beyond the end of the summer.

“This is really an opportunity for youth to grow, to learn really valuable skills and to carry on this work beyond just one summer. I think the skills that they’re going to learn can really be useful in any type of work they continue to pursue. I think it’s something that we’re going to hopefully be able to continue throughout the rest of the year, the next summer, for however long they’re able to continue to participate with us,” said Delisle.

She said KEPO will explore ways to help any youth who do show interest in environmental fields beyond the summer, including supporting them during their high school and potentially beyond, or having them on the team for field work for the rest of the summer after camp ends.

Part of that will also be figuring out what the teens’ interests are, whether it is for future iterations of the camp or for their own path forward.

“We just want them to gain a lot of skills and experience and get them interested in working in this area,” said Delisle.

“I think it’s really important that our youth are getting involved in gaining this type of knowledge because it really is, at the end of the day, their future that they’re working for.”

The link for registration can be found on KEPO’s Facebook page.

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