Camp will focus on water from two perspectives

Nearly 30 middle school students from Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation are getting a hands-on lesson this week in the importance of water, both from a scientific and cultural perspective.

The youths are participating in the third annual Native Waters Young Leaders Camp. The five-day camp near Sandy Creek offers youths the opportunity to learn more about water, the environment and their own tribal culture. It also helps them improve their problem-solving, leadership and teamwork skills.

"These camps help young people make powerful connections to tribal culture, land, water, and each other," Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, director of Native Waters, said last week. "The camps help the youth find their place in the circle. Very soon they'll be the decision-makers in the community. Taking care of and protecting our natural resources will be left in their hands."

Native Waters is an outreach program based at Montana State University-Bozeman and aimed at increasing awareness and respect for tribal water resources. The program helps fund camps for youths living on or near tribal communities in the Missouri River Basin.

"The camps are community-driven, so each one is different," Sachatello-Sawyer said. The camps have been held in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

Coordinators of the Rocky Boy youth camp said the main focus of their camp will be the study of pH - an important measurement of water.

"We'll be taking samples of water, soil and rain water and testing their pH levels. We'll observe weather and precipitation," said Beau Mitchell, Box Elder Creek watershed management coordinator and Native Waters camp leader.

After the pH levels are tested, Mitchell said, the campers will study how a pollutant - like Styrofoam - can affect the pH of soil and water.

"That (the pollutant test) will show the kids how everything is connected and related," Mitchell said. "That interconnectedness is important in both science and our native ways of thinking."

Mitchell was instrumental in bringing the young leaders camp to Rocky Boy three years ago. He said the Native Waters camp offers youths a unique opportunity to see how science and culture can be combined in the teaching process.

"This camp is one of the best things I've seen happen with Rocky Boy's youth," Mitchell said. "It's amazing that water can bring us together like this. The camp is really unique because it blends both the scientific and cultural ways of knowing. One can be looked up in a book, while the other is passed on in oral tradition."

Before this summer the camp was intended for high school students, but Mitchell opened this year's camp to students in grades five through eight. The entire camp is free to participants, thanks to the financial support of several tribal organizations and a grant from Native Waters.

"We've had so much interest from all the kids," Mitchell said. "This year some past campers are coming back to work as counselors. It's so neat to see what an impact the camp had on them."

Camp organizers say they hope the youths leave the camp with a better understanding of their tribe's cultural link to water as a sacred source of life and the water resource management issues the tribal community is now facing or may deal with in the future. The camp aims to help youth understand that a watershed is made up of more than just water and land - it's also affected by plants, animals and people.

"The more we can teach our kids about science and culture, the better," camp coordinator John Mitchell said. "These camps give the the youth an opportunity they might not otherwise have - to talk with and learn from their elders, to find out what their ancestors believe about water, from a cultural perspective."

A number of leadership and teamwork activities are also planned throughout the week, including a ropes course, meditation, tai chi, and journaling.

"We hope the kids not only leave with a strong cultural perspective and better understanding of science, but also team and leadership skills that they can use in everyday life," John Mitchell said. "This camp is so much fun. Everyone involved really enjoys themselves. At the end of the week the kids have a new respect and understanding of our natural resources, and how to protect them. And we all leave with strong feelings and connections to each other and our environment."

The scientific data the youths gather during the camp will be sent to GLOBE, a worldwide science program administered by NASA. Using the students' information, scientists are able to create maps and graphs in the fields of atmosphere, hydrology, soils and land cover. The campers can access the information via the Internet.