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Water Blessing at the Salinas River
with Wansak of the Southern Owl Clan, Chumash Nation
and Devin Best, Natural Resources Marine Specialist

Friday, October 14, 2011 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Water Blessing at the Salinas River
Around the world, ancestral indigenous instructions tell every culture to take care of sacred healing places. As reported by the Earth Island Institute, Native Hawaiians ended 50 years of U.S. Navy bombing in the Hawaiian Islands. In Northern California, the Winnemem Wintu continue traditional ceremonies on the McCloud River and Mt. Shasta as they fight to restore salmon and stop the raising of Shasta Dam.

We could think of no better to way to start off our Dreaming the Salinas Initiative than with a blessing by a representative from a tribe whose native lands included the Salinas River, the Chumash. Wansak, of the Southern Owl Clan, and whose grandfather was born on the Carrizo Plain, will bless the river, and the work we are about to commence to attempt to restore it to health. Also accompanying us will be Devin Best of the National Marine Fisheries Service, a panelist on Sunday’s Dreaming the Salinas workshop, who will tell us little about the Salinas River ecosystem and watershed.