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Traditional Resources

Traditional Resources Program

Potawot Community Food Garden

From June through October the garden and greenhouses are filled with carrots, broccoli, pumpkins, greens, corn, strawberries, flowers, tomatoes, and peppers.

The two-acre Potawot Community Food Garden provides the UIHS community with a wide range of fresh, organically grown produce. From June through October the garden and greenhouses are filled with carrots, broccoli, pumpkins, greens, corn, strawberries, flowers, tomatoes, and peppers. The organic produce is distributed to the UIHS community through a b-weekly produce stand as the clinic and through subscription to the Kay woi basket membership program.

Youth Programs

American Indian Community youth camps and programs

La Chomp Chay Kids Club

The La Chomp Chay (meaning “little frog” in the Yurok language) Kids Club is day camp for kids 6 to 12 yrs old. The week long day camp takes place at various times of the year, when kids are out of school on break. The program takes place at the Potawot Health Village, utilizing the garden and restoration area as an outdoor classroom as well as various community locations such as the Arcata Pool and local parks.

Ku' wah-dah-wilth Restoration Area

Of the 40-acre Potawot Health Village, twenty acres of restored natural area is a conservation easement dedicated forever to enhance and protect the wetland meadows

Of the 40-acre Potawot Health Village, twenty acres of restored natural area is a conservation easement dedicated forever to enhance and protect the wetland meadows located here. It is a place for cultural education, wildlife habitat, recreation, traditional American Indian agriculture, food production and spiritual meditation. The restoration area is known as the Ku’ wah-dah-wilth, which means “comes back to life” in the native Wiyot Indian language.

Fruit Tree Orchard

Adjacent to the Potawot Community Food Garden is a fruit tree orchard featuriing over sixty fruit varieties including apples, peaches, pears, cherries, Asian pears, plums, and figs.

Adjacent to the Potawot Community Food Garden is a fruit tree orchard featuring over sixty fruit varieties including apples, peaches, pears, cherries, Asian pears, plums, and figs. When the fruit is ripe it is made available to the community at the bi-weekly produce stand between the months of June and October. The orchards promote healthy eating and are delicious while taking a walk on the Ku’ wah-dah-wilth trails.

Potawot Herb Garden

Located at the Potawot Community Food Garden, the Potawot Herb Garden features a combination of native and introduced culinary and medicinal herbs. Herbs such as orageno, thyme, rosemary, calendula, lemon verbena, lavender, vine tea, lemon balm, peppermint, Oregon Grape, mugwort, amongst many others.

Located at the Potawot Community Food Garden, the Herb Garden features a combination of native and introduced culinary and medicinal herbs. Plants such as oregano, thyme, rosemary, calendula, lemon verbena, lavender, vine tea, lemon balm, peppermint, Oregon grape, mugwort, amongst many others are clustered throughout the garden paths that are in the shape of the UIHS logo.

Sustainability: a definition

Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. It can be defined as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions, biodiversity and productivity into the future. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.

Pesticides and Basket Weavers, Gatherers, and Users

Broadly defined, a pesticide is a substance that is used to kill or control any pest. Pests can be insects, rodents, or birds, unwanted plants or weeds, fungi, or microorganisms such as bacteria or viruses. Often, pesticides are used in areas where basketweavers collect their materials. For this reason, basket weavers and those who use baskets need to know about pesticide use because:

Traditional Resources Advisory Committee (TRAC)

The Traditional Health Committee was established in April 1999, and merged with the Conservation Easement Management Advisory Committee (CEMAC) in July 2003 to form the Traditional Resources Advisory Committee (TRAC).

Concrete Tilt-up Construction

Why use concrete construction?

Potawot Health Village was built using tilt-up concrete construction. This method of building is often seen in large "box" construction commonly seen in department store construction. Although, the walls of the Potawot Health Village were built using forms casted out of split redwood to give the building the textureof redwood before being stained to look like redwood.

Green Building at Potawot

Site / Demo

  • Restoration of native landscape and farm 4 years prior to building
  • Designed with considerations to solar, wind, and visual aspects
  • Fill used to create topography for habitat and aspect

Foundation

  • Slab foundation using local aggregate

Landscaping