Recap: February 26th Stewardship Dinner

Event Recap

Mar 3

On the evening of February 26th, a small circle gathered upstairs at Bantam in Bellingham. Farmers, tribal members, ecologists, neighbors, a few new faces, some familiar ones. A Soulcraft Allstars crew was there, quietly documenting. Tammy Woodrich and her daughters Melody and Angela opened the evening with a welcoming song.

Then we asked the only question on the agenda: What conversations are you hungry for?

And we listened.

Dana Wilson told the story of the Lummi Nation stopping spring Chinook fishing for 40 years as part of a recovery strategy, at real economic and cultural cost. The salmon still haven't fully recovered. Habitat loss, upstream pressure, the actions of others kept working against them. Then he asked: What are we willing to sacrifice?

Fear showed up honestly. What if our respective sides take the ugly path in this adjudication? What happens to the relationships we're building?

Gavin asked something that kept returning: when we talk about flood mitigation and dredging, are we even speaking the same language?

Inspired by Free's account of traditional healing practices used to restore Kauri trees in New Zealand, a quieter thread emerged: what might traditional ecomanagement teach us about caring for this river today?

Underneath all of it, one question: what are the real paths to mutual care, for cultures, livelihoods, lives, in right relationship with the Nooksack?

Dana, Jay, and Free closed the evening. Over fried chicken and shared drinks, with a Soulcraft camera still rolling, people said goodnight already talking about what comes next. Already, minds are changing. As trust deepens, we're preparing to go further.