Coos County Cultural Coalition awarded over $11,000.00 in 13 grants this winter, eight of which went for educational programs as diverse as student art exhibits, cultivation of heritage plants, and a Barbershop harmony summer camp.
Among the unique 2014 Coos County awards was a small grant to the Coos Watershed Association. The organization is building two new raised beds, in which students at two high schools will plant four heritage plants this spring.
The plants are Camas and Wapato, two edible wildflowers used in Native American cooking, and Tule and Bull Rush, grasses used in Native American basketry. These native species do double duty: cultural heritage preservation and wetland restoration.
According to Coos Watershed Association’s education and outreach coordinator, Alexa Carleton, the students will build the beds and plant the native species in them. “It is a two-part project,” she said. “The goal is to keep the plants alive and transfer the Camas and Wapato to be used in restoration projects, while the others will be used in basketry.”
Several tribes, including the Coquille and Confederated Tribes of the Coos Indians, use the grasses, and Coos Watershed Association plans to have Native speakers discuss the plants’ heritage, as a food source and for baskets.
Two student groups, from Marshfield High School’s Master Watershed Steward Program and from Coos Bay’s alternative high school, Harding Learning Center, will participate. “We are just starting a partnership with Harding this spring,” said Carleton.
She describes the cultural coalition grant as very significant. “The beds are expensive,” she said, “$500 to build one bed. To get the phone call that said we were going to get nearly the full amount we’d asked for, that was significant. We’re very grateful. We will keep using the beds for years.”
The Coos County Cultural Coalition grants for 2014 are as follows:
- Bandon Historical Society, photograph and document preservation –$756
- Coos Art Museum, Biennial Student Art Exhibit –$1,260
- Coos Watershed Association, Coos Native Plant Heritage Project –$1,197
- Egyptian Theatre Preservation, restoration of Wurlitzer Theatre Organ –$1040
- Friends of Lakeside Public Library, Lakeside Library Children’s Room Mural –$765
- Marshfield High School Metals Club, revitalization of Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery –$731
- Neighbors-in-Need, mobile art studio –$400
- Oregon Coast Music Association, Pops concert of “The Composer is Dead” –$1,500 • Sea Breeze Harmony Chorus, Barbershop summer camp –$300
- South Coast Folk Society, Celtic Cultural Festival Focus on Children –$500
- Vicki Affatati , After School Arts & Culture Club – $1,250
- Sharon Rogers, Dance Around the World in Four Weeks –$685
- David W. Wilhite, Oregon Coast Film Festival –$1,000
-Meryl Lipman, Trust Communications Manager