After a lengthy search for the right place to hold the Buckeye Gathering, we are honored to have landed in an ideal setting near Santa Rosa, California. Working with the non-profit Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Education and Development Council, Buckeye is held on a bluff above the Russian River, on the northwestern portion of the land. Upon entering, you pass the main building and the road leads back between vineyards. Where it opens into fields and a beautiful arbor we will be camping together in the open, and in forests of Douglas Fir, Valley Oak, Madrone, Buckeye, Bay Laurel, and Black Walnut. We use a small kitchen, edging a covered grove that will be home to some classes and camping. Classes are also held in open fields, around the arbor, and wherever teachers set up camp.
Part of our vision as the years pass is to do projects of mutual benefit, hand-in-hand with the Council, that can stay on the land. Our first year we built a beautiful bark house and cob oven, as well as renovating the arbor and stage. There is a beautiful natural amphitheater around the 24’ x 40’ stage outdoor that is ready for local cultural and performance events. Check out the YaKaAma mission statement below to see some of the educational and cultural projects they have undertaken. The Council feels that with our help revitalizing structures and building new ones, we can help them attract more Indian events, community support, and revenue for worthy causes.
Ya-Ka-Ama Mission Statement
Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Education and Development is a non-profit, 501 (c) 3, organization incorporated in 1971 and operating in Forestville, Sonoma County, California. The mandate given to Ya-Ka-Ama by its founders and continuing membership is to encourage and foster educational, employment, social, economic, and cultural development for Native Americans, and, subesequently, to develop a more cohesive, informed, and self-sufficient Indian community throughout our region of Northern California.
Ya-Ka-Ama is located adjacent to the Russian River near Wohler Bridge and encompasses 125 acres with a 23 room building. The land and building is utilized by the local community throughout the year with a variety of educational and cultural events and programs. Current programs include: general educational courses, computer classes, communications, studies, cultural resources, electronics training, graphic arts, horticulture, media preservation, media services, solar energy training and a Workforce Investment Training program.
An eight member, Native American board of directors elected by the local Indian community governs the corporation. An executive director, who is assisted by other staff, administers it. Ya-Ka-Ama’s primary service area includes the counties of Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Lake and Mendocino. Within this five county area, there is an Indian population of over 10,000* persons of Miwok, Qappo, Yuki, Patwin, Pomo, Xoncow, Cahto, Nomlaki and Wailaki descent, together with the Indians from other California tribes and from other parts of the United States as well. Twelve federally recognized reservations or tribal governments are also located in the area.
Although each of the twelve reservations is land-based, with the exception of Round Valley Reservation, their lands are inadequate. That is, the land base is too small given the population and the need for housing and the supporting community developments required. Insufficient water supplies are common, poor soil conditions prevail, unsuitable topography is not unusual, and all the lands are located in isolated areas. Such conditions preclude, in most cases, the growth and support of any real developments. That these places and conditions exist is surely not ours by choice, but rather the result of the confiscation and disruption; first by the Spanish, then by the Mexicans, and finally by the Americans; of our homelands and ways of life. Two hundred years of planned, directed and forced acculturation to give up a traditional way of life for one said to be of greater promise have resulted in a culturally disrupted, undereducated, underemployed, politically restricted and dependent people.
Ya-Ka-Ama, with the support of its greater membership, seeks to overcome these challenges for ourselves and for those who come after us, by revitalizing our people and rebuilding our communities. By so doing , we want to restore our ancient heritage and legacy of sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Only in this way can our beneficiaries inherit a tradition and a way of life of vision, opportunity and fulfillment.
During its thirty-nine years as an Indian education and development organization, Ya-Ka-Ama has positively affected the lives of thousands of Indians and non-Indians throughout our area. For example, it has enabled hundreds to receive their GED certificates; successfully trained numerous individuals in various vocational skills leading to employment (auto body collision repair, auto mechanics, business education, computer operation, electronics, graphic arts, horticulture, heavy equipment operation, landscaping, solar energy, telephony, and production), placed thousands in meaningful jobs, assisted a very substantial number of people in times of need (emergency housing, food and clothing, funeral expenses, paralegal counseling, agency and service referral), and troubleshooting for those in need, sponsored hundreds of activities in support of our youth (recreational and athletic events, summer jobs, educational and employment counseling), involved our elders in cultural and educational programs, provided transportation services, assistance and advocacy in dealing with government agencies, and advanced the cause and practice of returning our right to exercise jurisdiction over our cultural resources (cultural resources management training programs, community informational seminars, cemetery protection, and in-school cultural programs).
Native Plants Nursery
In 1986, Ya-Ka-Ama identified sustainable economic opportunities in a Native Plants Nursery that would utilize the potential of Ya-Ka-Ama’s natural and human resources, provided education and employment opportunities, and create a wholesale and retail business providing products and services to the community at large. Ya-Ka-Ama performed a feasibility study funded by the Administration for Native American, confirmed economic and training potentials, and in 1987, established a Native Plants Nursery, and an educatioal program with a horticulture emphasis.
Our Native Plants Nursery program represents the first real and practical progress we have accomplished towards becoming economically self-sufficient, and has produced numerous successful alumnae that have obtained marketable vocational skills training in addition to psychological and social reinforcement that enabled them to obtain and retain employment in the general labor market.
However, our native plant facilities and trails have recently suffered as a result of poor economic conditions and are in need of repair and maintenance. Our nursery staff and instructors are presently volunteering their services while we seek funding assistance. Local tribal elders knowledgeable of native plants are available to provide training on identification, care and uses of native plants, as well as supervision of crews of youth trainees involved in the maintenance of our gardens and trails. The Native Plants Project at Ya-Ka-Ama is proven to be an ideal educational, ecological and cultural experience for all interested participants including youth and elders from any cultural background.
*US Census 2000
