Story and photo courtesy of the Yamhill County News-Register.
The community is invited to learn more and celebrate one of the area’s unique wildflowers — the camas — at the inaugural Camas Festival, hosted by Linfield University, celebrating the flower and the food the bulbs provide.
The festival will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, May 6 on the Linfield campus. The festival is a collaborative project of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Greater Yamhill Watershed Council (GYWC), and the university. The Oak Grove is located on the northwest corner of the university’s campus.
Tours of camas growth in the Cozine Creek area start from Linfield’s Oak Grove, guided by either a Linfield student or faculty member as well as a representative from Grand Ronde. Tribe staff will provide information about plants and cultural lifeways during the plant walks along the creek.
Participants should prepare for muddy terrain, but the festival also features plenty to see in the Oak Grove: booths will include artifact displays and information about the history of camas in tribal traditions and foodways, including a display of camas growing in an aquarium so people can see what the plants and roots look like.
Tribal leaders, and Gerardo Ochoa, a Linfield vice president, will give welcoming remarks shortly after 10 a.m., about the significance of camas as well as the relationship with Linfield University. The Tribes’ Chachalu Museum and Cultural Center will host a table with information and items related to camas use and processing.
“This event will honor the living legacy of the Kalapuya through activities and engagement that center on one of our most important foods,” said David Harrelson (Kalapuya), Grand Ronde Tribes cultural resources manager. Partners plan to make the festival an annual event.
Plans to create the festival began in November 2020 when the university began investigating a new name for a two-block street on the McMinnville campus. The search led the university to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, and together, the groups chose Lakamas Lane, located a block north of Keck Drive. Lakamas is the word for camas in the Chinuk Wawa language. Plans soon developed to celebrate camas, which grows in large numbers on campus.
“The Camas Festival and partnership with the Confederation Tribes of the Grand Ronde is a manifestation of Linfield’s mission to connect learning, life, and community in important and meaningful ways,” said Bill Fleeger, a visiting senior scholar in the Linfield environmental studies department.“We are proud to showcase to the work that students studying environmental studies have done over the past six years to help restore and expand the population of camas, and other native species, in the Cozine Creek natural area on campus.”
In 2016, members of the GYWC began working with Linfield students to rid the Cozine Creek area of invasive species. In 2018, the project received a grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Small Grant to fund weed control and planting. In the past two years, clearing has continued. and the project is in a maintenance phase that will last until 2024.
“The presence of the camas there was long-known, but the abundance now is a result of controlling weeds and removing competition for sunlight as that the existing bulbs could flower and existing seed in soil could grow, said Luke Westphal, executive director of the GYWC. “You would expect it to be affected by development, but this area is fairly undisturbed in terms of development.”
Camas bulbs are harvested April through early June when the flowers or dried flower petals are visible. They can be boiled, baked or slow roasted. When cooked for a shorter time, camas is fairly tasteless. When slow roasted for 24-48 hours, it becomes dark-colored and sweet. Before sugar was introduced, roasted camas was used to sweeten other foods. Cooked bulbs were made into cakes and dried for later use. Fresh bulbs can also be dried or frozen, and then used later in soups.
A limited amount of camas seed will be available for attendees to take home from the event.
If You Go
What: Camas Fest
Where: Linfield University Oak Grove
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., May 6
Tours will depart from the lawn in front of Melrose Hall and go down to the north entrance of the park with the archway and stairs, via the N.E. Baker Street sidewalk. Sign-ups will be available for tours and least one or two tours per hour, with a third team ready to go if there’s enough demand, according to Linfield spokesman Eric Howald.
Visitors who want to take a tour should wear shoes that can get muddy, and weather-appropriate attire. There has been some clean-up work done on the pathway, but the steps just inside the north entrance have not been changed or altered.
Parking is recommended in the SW Blaine Street lots, near Melrose.
