AMLT Coastal Stewardship Camp for Native Youth

The Coastal Stewardship Summer Camp for Native youth is a new program of the AMLT, funded by the California State Coastal Conservancy. It reconnects Native youth (ages 10-17) to the coastal territories of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and provides culturally relevant environmental education to the next generation of Native American youth stewards.  Alongside of California State Parks representatives, several of our Native Stewards, tribal elders, and a project manager, participants were given a glimpse into the world of traditional and contemporary stewardship, while building their sense of tribal identity. Built into the camp itinerary were four areas of focus:

1. Conservation- Invasive species removal, cleaning public beach sites, stabilizing archaeological sites.

2. Environmental Education - Plant identification, botanical history, learning ecological field methods .

3. Cultural Relearning - History of Mutsun stewardship, story-telling, tribal history, ceremonial practice.

4. Recreational Activities - Tide-pooling, beach exploration, bonfires, beach games.

The youth stewardship camp expands AMLT’s existing programing to reach a new population – the future Native stewards of Popeloutchom. Our inaugural year of the youth camp demonstrated that this effort is effective, appreciated, and greatly needed, and we actively seeking funding to continue providing this opportunity to Native youth.