Voices from the Muwekma youth campout 2025

At Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma), efforts are being made to strengthen respectful, mutually beneficial collaboration with local Indigenous partners toward two-eyed seeing. One way this is taking shape is through the annual Muwekma youth campout, initiated by Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area and co-developed by the Tribe and the Stanford community.

Building on the positive feedback from participants of the first campout, the second campout, held on July 11-13, 2025, was extended to three days. An accompanying post describes the campout activities in detail. In this post, we step back to reflect on the purpose of this annual event. We discussed this topic upon completion of the first campout, exploring why this effort at the preserve can be mutually beneficial to both the Tribe and the Stanford community. Here we revisit the subject by drawing upon the many conversations we were fortunate to have with Tribal members who attended the campout.

Tribal member Richard Torres initiated these conversations. With a master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California, Richard works as an educational counselor at multiple community colleges across the San Francisco Peninsula. Richard is also interested in understanding the role of immersive experiences in revitalizing Indigenous culture, and conducted a pilot study to record the reflections by campout participants, with a focus on environmental education.

Richard and Stanford postdoc Naama Sadan--along with a group of Stanford students, including PhD student Yuerong Xiao, Master’s student Aadya Joshi, and undergraduate student Georgia Scarr--talked with youth and adult Tribal members about what the campout meant to them.

Space to connect, learn, and help others

When asked what she thought of the campout, one Tribal youth participant said that it was a rare opportunity to catch up with her extended family. She said the campout was a place to be oneself and help others. Another youth participant described how contrastingly different the campout was to his daily environment, saying that here, “It is all about peace.”

Youth members also commented on 'Ootchamin 'Ooyakma as part of their homeland. One member said, “When you are with family, especially on your homeland, it feels like home. It feels like we are supposed to be here. And the land is alive. You should treat the land with respect.” Another member emphasized ancestral connections. “Here you get to feel like your ancestors and spirits are around you, especially when you are praying, getting to know more about the land. We have to make our ancestors proud.”

Another youth member, who came to the preserve for the first time, reflected on how her experience at the preserve changed her view. “I feel more comfortable in this land now because I had this time to camp in it. I feel like I belong somewhere. I now know what kind of species of animals that live here. It is a feeling of connection and love with one another.”

Home for past, present, and future generations

Reflections by adult participants were also insightful. Bernadette Quiroz shared, “When we are here all together, I feel this is Muwekma, our people. It feels natural.” She stressed the significance of the campout to the Tribal youth. At the preserve, “they can be themselves, and they don’t even realize it. They are at peace.” She compared her own childhood to theirs, saying, “I want them to have what I never had. I never had a sense of self or where I belong, which is horrible when you are a kid. I want them to have a sense of belonging.”

Bernadette pointed out that the campout was effective in rebuilding that sense of belonging. “I want the kids to know that, even if they make mistakes in their lives, they will always have home. This is their home. This is their family that they can depend on. And the nature and the spirits all around them, they can go to that, tap into that, and unload. They have the privilege of doing that and knowing how to do that.” 

Bernadette Quiroz studies a harvester ant (Messor andrei) colony at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) with her sons Andrew and Maddox and her brother Marc. Photo by Tadashi Fukami

Bernadette further touched on the long-term effects she hopes that the campout will have. “I know it’s Stanford and they want to help out, and they are doing this to help, but I don’t think they really understand the impact this campout has on the kids. And not just the kids, but the adults, too. We look forward to this campout. We do. After the first one, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we were on our homeland.’ The kids can camp out and enjoy themselves. They can do these activities. They look forward to this stuff because not only is it fun, but they are creating these bonds, social bonds, family bonds. They are interacting with each other. They are telling each other stories, Native stories. They are not talking about the freaking Pokémon! Last night, what were they talking about? Chochenyo scary stories! They don’t even realize what they are doing. They don’t realize the community they are building. But they are going to remember these campouts and the fondness they had with that when they are 42 years old. And they are going to want their kids to experience it, too. It’s not just having a campout, and I hope Stanford realizes how important it is to them. It is building those bonds of community that, for so long, Native people, many of them, didn’t have.”

“We take a lot for granted. Why?”

Sylvia Alvarado, a Muwekma elder who came to the preserve for the first time, shared her experience during the campout. “When I was walking with my granddaughter to go and put back the frogs in the wild, just that walk alone made me feel so comfortable. I hadn’t had that feeling for a long time. And then walking back up, just listening to the trees and just looking, I thought I wanted to be like an oak tree. I want to be resilient. I want to be strong. No matter what comes your way, the oak tree still stands. Even though the leaves dry up and the branches are barren, they still flourish. They come back to life. For me, that is what I want.”

Sylvia then went on to say, “I was asking a lot of questions because I want to learn. I want you to show me. And that is what’s happening today with you guys at Stanford, teaching and helping. It means so much to me.”

Sylvia Alvarado walks back up with her granddaughter Aria and Stanford student Georgia Scarr after freeing Pacific chorus frogs (Pseudacris regilla) they studied with Alan Launer, Director of Stanford Conservation Planning. Photo by Jorge Ramos.

“I want to soak up what you know and what you are giving us, soak up the environment, soak up the elements of the trees and of the running river, just the sound of the birds, and the sunlight basking on your skin. I just want to soak that up. It makes me realize our ancestors had that, and I know they didn’t take that for granted. We do. We take a lot for granted. Why?”

This simple yet deep question gets at the heart of the sustainability challenge that many of us are trying so hard to solve with no clear answer in sight yet, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s ancestral homeland, but all around the world.

In this context, it was fitting that Sylvia also touched on the ultimate goal of the Muwekma youth campout. The event not only benefits the Tribe, but also the Stanford community and, more broadly, the Bay Area community. And the benefits of our partnership can hopefully inspire the rest of the world.

“The Bay Area is a very prime region. We need to be good examples to other people who live here. And the way we start is teaching our children to be good examples, to be wholesome, to be unified, to be diligent. I think that’s important.”

Toward two-eyed seeing

In the Bay Area and many other places around the world, Indigenous communities are the only ones that have the proven track record of having lived sustainably, as recognized in the “Our Common Future” book, the 1987 Brundtland Report by the United Nations. It is therefore vital to help reawaken Indigenous culture, language, and science so that people of all ethnicities, Indigenous or not, can learn from this precious body of wisdom and knowledge.

As Sylvia pointed out, the key to success in this effort lies in uplifting the Indigenous youth. When Tribal members are generous enough to work together toward this goal with the Stanford community, everyone benefits from the learning that comes with this collaboration.

In fact, what the Muwekma youth campout at JRBP ('O'O) has shown so far is that, as long as we strive for mutual respect and trust with Indigenous communities, Stanford students and researchers can hope to understand their priorities and interests by working with them for the next generation. Out of this work, genuine two-eyed seeing can eventually emerge toward a sustainable future.

Campout continues

Plans are underway for a third annual campout with the addition of building and using a traditional tule house. Tule (Schoenoplectus acutus var. occidentalis) and willow (Salix spp.) are currently being harvested from the edges of Searsville reservoir to be prepared for building material.

Sylvia mentioned, “I would like to see a tule hut built. Instead of a tent, we would sleep in the hut. You know how they have reconstructions when you go to a museum? I want reconstructions that we can actually live in, reconstructions that we can be part of. I can see it. I can see us telling stories in it, and I can see the kids laughing.”

Collaborative drawing by Muwekma Ohlone Tribal youth featuring a tule hut. Photo by Sheena Sidhu.

Header picture: Muwekma Ohlone Tribal members explore chaparral plants in the evening of July 12, 2025, during the second Muwekma youth campout at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma). Photo by Richard Torres

Authors:

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

Richard Torres, Muwekma Ohlone Tribal member