By Nicole Telkes, RH (AHG)
Bastyr University’s Sacred Seeds Ethnobotanical Trail is part of an international network of Sacred Seed gardens created to address the rapid loss of biodiversity and plant cultural knowledge. The vision is to build collaborative gardens all over the world that act as “living libraries” and seed banks for local ethnomedicine plants—bringing together botanists, indigenous peoples, herbalists, and schools. During the COVID 19 pandemic, Bastyr University Gardens brainstormed how it could make the Sacred Seed’s Ethnobotanical Trail and educational content more accessible.
We decided to create a dynamic webpage that featured seasonal plant photos and interactive tours, enhance on-site and classroom experiences, and create the opportunity to “tour” the trail virtually or in person. This is a work in progress, open to feedback and collaboration. We also worked with a council of Coast Salish tribal advisors to help make sure our signage was inclusive and incorporated the first names of the plants of the Coast Salish Region of Puget Sound.
The Storymaps platform was chosen to build the site because it enabled us to create a guided tour of the trail, integrating plant names and photos along the way. We were especially enthusiastic about the platform’s capability to incorporate audio files of the plants’ Lushootseed/Twulshootseed names. This will not only honor the importance of Lushootseed/Twulshootseed as an oral language, but also recognizes First Languages’ connection to the land and the inherent knowledge about the land held within these languages.
Please take a look at the Ethnobotanical Trail Storymaps website here: bit.ly/sacred-seeds-portal. The intention of the site is to help adults and children engage with the plants and beauty of the trail in an immersive way, whether you are visiting in person, or online.
Future plans include printed materials for more accessibility options as well as interactive educational experiences for children and adults through our
plant quest.
On Indigenous Peoples Day, Oct 9, 2023, we unveiled our new signs and were honored to have a small ceremony and blessing on the trail with Mike Evans of Blue Heron Canoe Family and the Tulalip tribe as well as a Bastyr student of Tulalip descent who not only taught us the proper pronunciation, but offered songs back to the Forest and Meadow in Lushootseed. Please take a look at our photos here. We hope that this continued work can inspire others with Sanctuaries and Trails to create dynamic and inclusive environments that include older names of plants that help connect us to the people who are the original stewards of the land. To paraphrase Mike Evans, “When you look out at these forests, they aren’t just the home of the Coast Salish, but our bodies fed the trees and plants you see here today over several millennia. We are the forests.”
To learn more about Bastyr Gardens and the University, visit: bastyr.edu/locations/seattle-campus/gardens
