Kamana Program

The Kamana Program is something I've been working on for nearly three years now. It has been very rewarding and very educational. Half of the program is book work, researching plants, mammals, herps, natural hazards etc. The other half is awareness training in nature and cultural training.

For example, my current research project is to list all of the valuable non-woody plants within 100 miles of where I live. By a "valuable" plant I mean that it is either edible, medicinal, poisonous, an ecological indicator, craft value or ethnobotanical uses. This project is comparable to a masters program in botany. It was a lot of work.

This is my current awareness assignment, along with sit spots and field inventories. It's to create an introduction of myself and where I'm from in a Native way, being sure to hit on several main points and fluff it up with lots of imagery. Here it is so far:

Greetings,
I lean against this glacially dropped boulder of mica-granite, reminded of the power that the Laurentide Ice Sheet brought with it as it carved out huge ridges, polished mountain tops and left behind lakes and boulders like this one. Slowly the bare soil of glacial till gave way to wind dispersed plants later to be succeeded by Hemlock, White Pine, Birch, Oak, Hickory, Beech, Elm and American Chestnuts. Over time and Native American influence these trees grew to amazing heights of more than 200 feet and 8 feet diameters. Since then these giants have fallen to ax or disease and what remains is a different denser landscape of younger trees, shrubs and swamps.

I visit this boulder every morning. It sits in a line of boulders, left behind when the glacier melted just behind my house. North of my house is Swain’s lake, also left behind by the glacier. South of my house is an intensely diverse patch of woods and Cedar Swamps. Deep in this forest lives the Majestic Moose. Someday I will see this massive herbivore wading through the morning fog that rises from the swamps.

This place I call home sits in the center of the Salmon falls - Piscataqua Watershed which drains directly into the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the water seen under our bridges here will not freeze even in the coldest weeks of January. Although it is miles from the ocean, this water is tidal and fully brackish.

To the West lie the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada. These lakes to our left coupled with the Ocean to our right form a landscape humidifier and provide us with much rain and snow. Large amounts of water are needed to support the lives of thousands of species of plants, hundreds of birds, and dozens of mammals. Mammals like the Moose, Otter and Porcupine who fall asleep at night to the eerie call of the Loon and celebrate the morning to the music of Song Sparrows, Chestnut-sided Warblers, and Black-capped Chickadees.

The plant world in this forest supports all other life and holds a quiet power that is best not disrespected. A mere lick of the stalk of the Water Hemlock can bring death while the mysterious, nutritious, Stinging Nettle is being used to fight prostate cancer.

Only when you are up close do these beings look separate. Inevitably comes the realization that all parts are working together like cells in my own body to create this whole, unique piece of the Earth. And if I am still, the chipmunks and squirrels carry on with their chores around me and the hermit thrush flies in to land near my feet as if to tell me that I’m not separate either, just one of the many interesting pieces making up this landscape.

The White Pine Tracking Apprenticeship

The goals of the apprenticeship are:

1. To create competent, skilled wildlife trackers.

2. To prepare competent wildlife trackers to apply their skills as effective tools in community, scientific, and educational settings.

Tracking is an invaluable tool when learning to read the book of nature. There is alot happening out in the woods that we never know about, but sometimes when we are lucky, animals leave there tracks behind as little windows into their lives. Lately I have enjoyed following the trails of bobcats, moose, foxes and coyotes for as far as I can and getting to see what they are doing all day.

This is flying squirrel scat; either northern or southern flying squirrel. You can tell because it is flattened and not round or irregular like other squirrel scats.

And this is my favorite cedar swamp to go tracking in. Today I found otter tracks, shrew tunnels, beaver sign and 3 coyotes hunting together.

Hawaii

Here are some pictures from Hawaii. This is my friend Andy and his professor Nicole. He is demonstrating bedrock formations with his hands. Geologists are always talking about rocks.



These are Eucalyptist trees, one of the many invasive plants in Hawaii. They have really spongey bark and if you smack a tree with a big stick it makes a deep resonating tone.

This is what we did all day. Andy pointed a lazer at a mirror that I was holding and recorded the data.

Here is where we lived.

We usually ate extremely healthy but on occasion we binged. We definately earned a pizza or two with all the work we did.

I love Detroit Airport. They have this tunnel of changing lights and weird music.

Update

Greetings blog followers,
I am hoping to carve out some time this spring to write in this blog again. As for an update, I am now living on a beautiful lake in Barrington, New Hampshire. I returned yesterday from Hawaii where I spent a month with my good friend Andy. He invited me to be his field assistant for the month on an assignment studying the gulches in the North Kohala district on the big island of Hawaii. It was an excellent trip and we worked very hard. I have many pictures from the month of which I will sort through and pick a few good ones to post.

Now I am back to my two jobs and my two missions here in New England.
Jobs are:
1.babysitting two young men of the ages 5 and 7.
2. working at White Pine Programs attempting to connect people to nature.
Missions are:
1. complete the Kamana Naturalist Training Program with Dan Hansche and Dan Gardoqui as my mentors.
2. complete and learn as much as I can from the Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship run by White Pine.

Pictures to come...
Connor