A few months ago I was filmed in the Cascades by the Growing Native crew. I was helped by the folks at the Sweet Home Ranger District office, who helped with navigation and coordination for the filming. Tony Farque their archaeologist was filmed with me as well as tribal members Greg Archuleta and Julie Brown. We were there to dig camas and talk about its significance and importance to the tribes. We were lucky in choosing our film locations as the camas in the valley are done flowering by the end of May, and so we dug at Camas meadow for the bulbs at the right time. Then we went into the Cascades to Gordon Meadows and were able to find some field of flowering camas. The location is at 4000 ft and so camas flowers there later. So the two locations are amazingly close together such that people can dig camas in the mid summer in the valley locations, then about a month later go up into the mountains and dig camas again. We were able then to see two different phases in the Camas cycle on the same day, amazing! The teaser for the film is at http://www.nativetelecom.org/growing_native_northwest. I am not sure yet when the full film will air on PBS or be available to purchase.
