Join Willamalane and City of Eugene staff on Saturday, June 15th from 10am-1pm to help maintain the Kalapuya Talking Stones in the Whilamut Natural Area.
These stones were designed to honor the history of the land and the Kalapuya people and to reintroduce their words to the landscape. The beautiful stones were quarried from basalt in traditional Kalapuya territory and serve as educational and cultural reference points. There are 15 Talking stones located throughout Eastgate Woodlands and East Alton Baker Park that are in need of cleaning and having their surrounding areas weeded, mulched, and spruced up.
Volunteers will meet at 10am right next to Nearby Nature in Alton Baker Park (the meadow near the host house) with Willamalane and City of Eugene staff at the beginning of the work party to discuss the project guidelines and learn how to maintain the stones in a way that is in alignment with the desires of the local Indigenous community and stewards. Volunteers can expect to help out with some weeding, mulching, and graffiti removal from the stones.
Eastgate Woodlands and East Alton Baker Park are collectively known as the Whilamut Natural Area. The name Whilamut (pronounced "wheel-a-moot) was chosen in collaboration with the Komemma Cultural Protection Association of the Kalapuya Tribe. Whilamut is a Kalapuya word which means "where the river ripples and runs fast." The Citizen Planning Committee (CPC) initiated the renaming of the park, and selected a Kalapuya name as a gesture of honor and respect for the tribal members who hunted, fished, and gathered camas bulbs on the land that is now the Whilamut Natural Area. A traditional Kalapuya naming ceremony was held to commemorate the new name on September 7, 2002.
