Muwekma youth campout at 'Ootchamin 'Ooyakma 2025

On July 11-13, 2025, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) collaborated with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area to hold a second summer campout for Tribal youth and families. For this event, originated from a suggestion by Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh, JRBP ('O'O) partnered with the Tribe and several other Stanford units. Together, through this effort, we continue to invest in the next generation for tribal sovereignty and cultural revitalization. The campout is also aimed at facilitating and enhancing the efforts of Stanford faculty, students, and staff to co-create future environmental research, education, and stewardship programs with the Tribe.

The second campout was attended by 12 youth and 10 adult members of the Tribe. Some of them joined the inaugural campout last year, but for some, it was their first time experiencing the preserve, which is located in the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s ancestral homeland. A total of 19 Stanford affiliates, including students, postdocs, faculty, and staff, also participated. In addition, we were honored to have two special guests this year: Chairman Ron Goode of the North Fork Mono Tribe, and Pomo basketweaver Corine Pearce from the Redwood Valley Little River Band of Pomo.

Co-produced with all of these contributors, the campout provided a safe space for Tribal youth members to strengthen a sense of belonging among themselves and with the natural environment of their homeland (Photo 1).

Photo 1. Tribal youth at the campout. Left: Seanna Chavez and Natalia Medina share popsicles in the Sun Field Station patio. Photo by Natalie Van Pelt. Right: Elias Chavez, Gabriel Nijmeh, and Jalysa Torres explore the Stanford Educational Farm. Photo by Sylvia Alvarado.

At the same time, it gave a valuable opportunity for Stanford students, faculty, and staff to cultivate relationships with Tribal members in an informal setting grounded at the preserve (Photo 2).

Photo 2: Campout fostered conversations between elders, scholars, staff, and students. Upper left: Muwekma elder Sylvia Alvarado, Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh, and University Archaeologist Laura Jones talk outside the field station. Upper right: JRBP('O'O) staff Jorge Ramos, Trevor Hebert, and Katie Glover listen to Chairman Ron Goode of the North Fork Mono Tribe before youth present their camera-trap results. Lower left: Tribal member Richard Torres and Chairman Goode speak with Stanford Master’s student Aadya Joshi and UC Merced graduate student Natalie Van Pelt in the field station. Lower right: Stanford undergraduate student Georgia Scarr, Aadya Joshi, and Tribal ethnohistorian Alan Leventhal talk in the field station on day one of campout. Photos by Tadashi Fukami.

In the accompanying post, we discuss why these relationships not only help the Tribe with realizing their goals, but also enrich the research, education, and stewardship efforts by the Stanford community. In this post, we share the variety of activities we had during the three-day event.

Day One

As participants started to arrive in the late morning of day one, memories were revisited by those who attended last year as we looked at photos from the first campout. Thanks to the efforts of JRBP ('O'O) Executive Director Jorge Ramos, a collection of contemporary Muwekma Ohlone artwork, photos, and educational resources are housed in the kitchen of the Sun Field Station (Photo 3). The display includes several photos from our first campout in 2024.

Photo 3: Tribal youth member Aria Cazares and JRBP ('O'O) Executive Director Jorge Ramos remember last year’s campout from our group photo. Photo by Adriana Hernández.

The afternoon began with a youth-led presentation about the animals of 'Ootchamin 'Ooyakma (Photo 4). Three weeks earlier, they had worked with Trevor Hébert, the preserve’s Academic Technology Specialist, to set up motion-sensing camera traps at four sites. Youth members shared many images and videos taken by the cameras, including ṯoot in the Chochenyo language (or black-tailed deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus), máyyan (or coyotes, Canis latrans), yáawi (or skunks, Mephitis mephitis), čéeyiš (or jackrabbits, Lepus californicus), ’éx (or western gray squirrels, Sciurus griseus), bobcats (Lynx rufus), raccoons (Procyon lotor), opossums (Didelphis virginiana), San Francisco dusky-footed woodrats (Neotoma fuscipes ssp. annectens), brush rabbits (Sylvilagus bachmani), Šiwšiw (or mallard duck, Anas platyrhynchos), great blue heron (Ardea herodias), California quail (Callipepla californica), green heron (Butorides virescens), long-tailed weasel (Neogale frenata), Merriam's chipmunk (Neotamias merriami), gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), Kaknu (or red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis), wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), and mountain lions (Puma concolor).

This presentation prompted an engaging conversation about how ancestors interacted with animals and how some people still do today. Responding to questions from the youth, Chairman Goode offered his knowledge about how some members of his Tribe used to have special ways of communicating with certain animals like mountain lions, rattle snakes, bears, herons, and owls (Photo 4).

He also taught us about a perspective different from the dominant view that all non-native organisms should be eradicated when possible and otherwise controlled as much as possible. Instead, non-natives can be an integral part of the community.

Photo 4: Left: youth-led presentation of results of a three-week camera trap study at 'Ootchamin 'Ooyakma. Right: Chairman Goode discusses human-animal interactions. Photos by Tadashi Fukami.

We then went outside to look at southern alligator lizards (Elgaria multicarinata), western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis), and partay (or toads and frogs), such as California toads (Anaxyrus boreas halophilus), and Pacific chorus frogs (Pseudacris regilla). Alan Launer, Director of Stanford Conservation Planning, had collected these amphibians and reptiles locally within the preserve and surrounding areas (Photo 5).

After studying and then returning these amphibians and reptiles back to their habitats, many participants moved on to attend a beading class taught by Tribal member Bernadette Quiroz and her son Maddox (Photo 5). Many made earrings or a necklace, guided by Bernadette and Maddox.

Photo 5: Left: Alan Launer shows a fence lizard collected on the preserve. Right: Evening beading class, led by Bernadette Quiroz and her son Maddox. Photos by Tadashi Fukami.

Shortly after the beading class, we had blessings from Chairwoman Nijmeh and stories and songs from Chairman Goode, as well as songs by Muwekma youth members Gabriel Nijmeh and Jalysa Torres (Photo 6). Dinner was then served by Rima Crow and her team, which was followed by shadow plays of Chochenyo stories by Bernadette, Maddox, and Maddox’s cousin, Charlette Quiroz (Photo 6).

Photo 6: Left: Chairman Goode (far right in photo) shares an offering to the group before dinner. Right: Tribal members Bernadette, Maddox, and Charlette presented shadow plays of Chochenyo stories. Photos by Tadashi Fukami.

Day Two

On the second morning, the group set out early for a walk in the riparian woodland to observe bird research in action. Katie LaBarbera, Julian Tattoni, and the banding crew from the SOAR program showed the youth how ornithologists study birds by mist-netting, taking morphometric measurements, and banding (Photo 7).

Photo 7: Left: Katie LaBarbera, Science Director of the Landbird Program with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO), demonstrates bird banding and identification at Jasper Ridge’s bird banding station near Corte Madera Creek. Photo by Tadashi Fukami. Right: SFBBO Lead Biologist Fen Conway shares a captured bird with Muwekma Ohlone youth participants, Natalia Medina and Seanna and Breanna Chavez. Photo by Natalie Van Pelt.

After this visit to the bird banding station, we went to the O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm on the main campus (Photo 8). There we were welcomed by Director Patrick Archie and his team. Patrick has worked with the Tribe over the years to build and care for the Muwekma Four Directions Garden within the Educational Farm. During this visit, he shared how to propagate native plants from seeds and seedlings. Together, we harvested flowers and vegetables and then shared pizza baked in the outdoor oven for lunch.

Photo 8: Left: Stanford Educational Farm Director Partick Archie shows Tribal members Andres Medina, Mark Quiroz,  Maddox Cavares, and Sylvia Alvarado a few seedlings that have been propagated at the Farm. Photo by Natalie Van Pelt. Center: Tribal youth Elias Chavez and tribal elder Pauline Chavez hold the flowers they harvested with Andrew Mayne, the Stanford culinary staff who cooked pizza, salad, and other food for lunch for the group. Photo by Sylvia Alvarado. Right: Tribal members Andres Medina, Jennifer Torres, and Jacob Chavez share their harvest. Photo by Bernadette Quiroz.

Returning back to 'Ootchamin 'Ooyakma, it was then time to learn basketry from Corine Pearce, a renowned Pomo basketweaver (Photo 9). Corine generously agreed to come to hold a workshop with us, similar to the event held at the preserve in November 2024. At this year’s campout, Corine again brought her patience and encouragement, teaching beginners how to weave while explaining how basketry is not only a practical skill but also a living expression of Indigenous ways of being that ties people to the land. She also shared that, alongside the Pomo, the Ohlone are among the only communities to weave beaded baskets, often decorated with clamshells that give them a beautifully scaled appearance.

Photo 9: Upper left: Corine Pearce leads a session on basketweaving at the Sun Field Station. Photo by Tadashi Fukami. Upper right: Corine demonstrates basketweaving to Muwekma youth Gabriel Nijmeh. Photo by Tadashi Fukami. Bottom: the group shows off their baskets after completion of the workshop. Photo by Adriana Hernandez.

In the evening of day two, we also had a Chochenyo language session with Bernadette, who has been tirelessly dedicating herself as the Tribe’s Language Revitalization Chair (Photo 10). Bernadette walked us through the online Chochenyo language learning tool she created so that more Tribal members would have access to learning the language to promote its revitalization.

Photo 10: Activities that were part of the Chochenyo language session. Photo by Adriana Hernandez.

That evening, some of the participants also went on a short trip to explore oak woodland, chaparral, and serpentine grassland within the preserve, learning about plants and animals along the way (Photo 11). Meanwhile, back at the field station, youth members made a raspberry cheesecake, guided by Muwekma elder Sylvia Alvarado (Photo 11). This idea was inspired by the berry picking we enjoyed earlier in the day with Patrick and his team at the Stanford Educational Farm.

Photo 11: Left: Exploring ‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma flora and fauna during the second evening of Campout. Photo by Tadashi Fukami. Right: Led by Sylvia Alvarado (far left in the photo), families and kids made cheesecakes with berries harvested from the Stanford Educational Farm. Photo by Georgia Scarr.

Day Three

The last day of the campout ended mid-morning. While short, it was especially memorable for youth members who accompanied Laura Jones, University Archaeologist, on a hike to visit archaeological sites along creeks within the preserve. Shells from the coast, charcoal, chert, and fire-cracked stones were the material evidence that we found, prompting families to learn and experience how their ancestors once lived on these lands (Photo 12).

Photo 12: A collection of shells and feathers in a newly-made basket. Photo by Katie Glover.

Inspired by this hike with Laura, youth members then drew a tule house together on a large sheet of paper back at the field station (see the drawing at the end of the accompanying post). The drawing prompted interest among participants in building a tule house for next year’s campout. This drawing concluded the campout, with everyone sharing different ideas to implement next year.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Chairwoman Nijmeh and all Tribal members who came to participate in the campout. Special thanks go to Tribal member Bernadette Quiroz and her sons Andrew and Maddox and her niece Charlette for leading several activities, including the beading class, the Chochenyo shadow play stories, and the Chochenyo language lesson. Thank you also to Muwekma elder Sylvia Alvarado for offering a cooking session. We are also very grateful to Ron Goode and Corine Pearce for coming to share their precious wisdom.

We would also like to thank Stanford colleagues, including Patrick Archie and his team at the Educational Farm, Laura Jones, and Alan Launer, for their collaboration. The campout would not have been possible without the hard work and genuine interest of the Stanford undergraduate students (Dae Apineru, Libby Hailey, Georgia Scarr, Angela Williams), master’s student (Aadya Joshi), PhD student (Yuerong Xiao), and postdoc (Naama Sadan), who worked as helpers. Natalie Van Pelt, a PhD student at UC Merced, also participated as a helper. Katie LeBarbera, Julian Tattoni, Fen Conway, and bird banding assistants from the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory who interacted with campout participants at the bird banding station, made a significant contribution to the campout as well. Last but not least, all members of the JRBP('O'O) staff team contributed to preparing for the event and making sure things ran smoothly over the three days (Photo 13). Thank you all.

The 2025 campout was funded in part by the Community Engagement Impact Projects program administered by the Stanford Office of Community Engagement.

Photo 13: JRBP ('O'O) Associate Research Director Adriana Hernandez (right) introduces Tribal youth member Aria Cazares (left) to flora and fauna under the microscope. Photo by Tadashi Fukami. 

Header picture: Campout participants gather behind Leslie Shao-ming Sun Field Station. Photo by Natalie Van Pelt.

Authors:

Tadashi Fukami, Faculty Director, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma), and Professor of Biology and Earth System Science

Katie Glover, Associate Director of Environmental Education, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma)

Elise DeBuysser, Administrative Program Manager, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma)