Meeting notes by Ciona Ulbrich and Susan Caldwell
We are honored to be welcomed to the Passamaquoddy Nation on their home ground, Motahkomikuk, by Chief William Nicholas. We will all be staying at Bear Lodge at the end of Pit Road at Peter Dana Point, which is about 11 miles from Princeton, Maine. We hope you will be able to arrive before dark on Monday, May 21.
On May 22, in the morning, we will meet at Bear Lodge with Passamaquoddy Chief William Nicholas; with Donald Soctomah, author, former legislator and Cultural Preservation Officer for the tribe; and with Matt Dana, Tribal Ambassador and former legislative representative; and with Martin Dana, Tribal environmental director. We will hear about their history and how that experience affects their present need for access to land and water resources. In the afternoon, we will travel to a site visit at N’tolonapemk, a place of enormous cultural significance to the Passamaquoddy which has become a superfund site on the shore of Meddybemps Lake. We will return to Bear Lodge in the evening for a meal with our hosts.
Because of travel distances, we assume all of us will stay the night of May 22 at Bear Lodge and travel home the next morning.
Our hosts have been enormously kind and generous with their time. Much effort from many people has already gone into this gathering, and it should be a very valuable experience for all of us. It will also require your flexibility, patience and understanding as we all arrive at a place, and into a community, that all of us will be meeting for the first time.
One important consideration is lodging. In accepting the Chief’s offer to stay at Bear Lodge, we will all be sharing cabins by gender. There are 5 cabins that can comfortably accommodate 15 of us. Our hope is that about a 1/2 of our group would like to camp and have their own tents.
There are 28 of us who originally registered for the session.
To solve this challenge gracefully so that those who want beds have them and those who prefer to tent can do that, we ask that you respond by email with your preference of a bed in a cabin or that you will bring your own tent.
We ask that all participants bring flashlights and sleeping bags.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner on May 22 will be catered by the lodge and your dietary needs and preferences have already been shared with them.
To honor the time and kindness of our hosts who are welcoming us to their nation, please do let us know if there are any changes to your plans that affect your participation in this very important trip.
I want to add that the May 8 meeting with the Tribal Natural Resource Directors went very well and Ciona posted notes at that link. Based upon what we learned during that meeting we are in the process of scheduling a new listening and learning session with the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik/Pleasant Point. I’ll let you know more about that the minute we hear more from their Chief Ralph Dana.
I’m very excited that this phase of our learning journey, when we travel into the communities, is about to begin.
Thank you for all your care and attention.