OREGON — Klamath Tribal elders recently visited High Cascades Ranger District employees who, around mid-August, helped create space for tribal ceremony and gathering of first foods on Huckleberry Mountain. A closure was implemented on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest through an exclusive use permit to allow tribe members to conduct their ceremony undisturbed.

“This year provided an opportunity for the agency and the tribe to learn what is needed to make co-stewardship efforts a success despite the challenges we encounter along the way,” said Tribal Relations Liaison Marley Smith.

District recreation, wildlife botany and prevention employees, along with several experienced public information officers, staffed a number of roadblocks around the closure area. They helped explain the purpose of the closure to forest visitors and directed them to alternative huckleberry picking and dispersed camping areas. Law enforcement support in the early stages of the closure helped reinforce the message, although first year implementation largely focused on public education.

Huckleberry Mountain is located in the vicinity of Highway 62, a popular recreation corridor with natural features that include the Upper Rogue River National Recreation Trail, neighboring Diamond Lake on the Umpqua National Forest and Crater Lake National Park nearby. A great majority of people impacted by the closure understood and respected the tribe’s request as well as their plan to make this an annual event.

The elders came up to the mountain afterwards to express their thanks and spend time with those who helped blaze the trail for co-stewardship. Stories, sentiments, thoughtful harvesting of berries and healing moments were shared by all present.

“It’s been a long time in making this happen through good coordination efforts between the Klamath Tribe and the Forest Service. It’s great that we’re now able to put something together to bloom. We hope considered this to be a successful event and look forward to working together in future years,” said Tribal Council Member-at-Large Les Anderson. 
This was the first hard closure requested by the tribe for this purpose in the Pacific Northwest Region. Pursuant to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Cultural and Heritage Cooperation Authority, the Forest Service is required “to ensure access to National Forest System land, to the maximum extent practicable, by Indians and Indian tribes for traditional and cultural purposes.”

Reflecting on the event, Klamath Tribal Chairman William E. Ray, Jr., stated, “My thoughts come from my mother are as follows: The area of Huckleberry Mountain was used by the Klamath’s for usual and accustomed areas for subsistence and medicinal gathering. The Klamath families would stay at Huckleberry Mountain for over 30 days as the berries ripened to gather huckleberries, wild blackberries, strawberries and medicinal plants during the season to can and process the berries. Huckleberry Mountain was, is an important place, both ethnographically and for gathering to the Tribes.”

Garin Riddle, from the Klamath Tribe Culture and Heritage department, added, “Since the creation of the muq’luqs [people] by the creator Gkumukamps long ago. The muq’luqs have been following the instructions to go to the mountains and water springs to gather medicines, foods and spiritual power. With the instructions and guidance from the creator, we have been taught to caretake these lands made for the muq’luqs utilizing fire, wild tending of foods and medicines and always giving thanks for the abundance of all that the creator had placed within our homelands. These instructions included having ceremony to honor the spirit of the lands and the vast abundance that exists in these special places. I’waam Geeni is one of these places, commonly known as Huckleberry Mountain. This ceremony has been taking place since time immemorial to include as part of the ceremony singing, dancing, gambling, horse racing, foot racing and several weeks of tribal family community fellowship. It was once said if we do not give thanks for the foods and medicines with ceremony, these foods and medicines will cease to exist in our homelands”.

Although this closure was a first, the forest plans to continue working closely with tribes in upholding trust responsibilities, as well as looking for more co-stewardship opportunities.

“By implementing this area closure, we recognized and celebrated tribal ceremony for our local indigenous tribes. It is a positive step forward with our trust relationships,” said Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Supervisor Molly Juillerat.