By Michael Howell
Tim Ryan, archeologist, artist, educator and a registered member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, came to Stevensville School last week to help celebrate Earth Day by sharing the culture, history, and ingenuity of the native people of Montana.
Ryan addressed the grades K-3 assembly and the grades 4-8 assembly sharing cultural items and practices with the students such as the fishing weirs and the Bitterroot digging stick used by the local tribes to harvest the Bitterroots, one of the mainstays in their diet. He also spoke generally about all the tribes of Western Montana.
Ryan erected a tipi on the school lawn and gave cordage classes to 4th and 7th graders, instructing them in the making of rope by stripping the fiber from dogbane, rolling it in the hands and then twisting it to make string which is then braided into rope.
Ryan gives these sorts of demonstrations and talks as part of his business, Ethnotechllc. The company provides a range of services specifically designed to assist teachers. These include: Heritage Education Curriculum, Indian Education for All (IEFA) Programs and Consultation, Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge Presentations, Traditional Technology Demonstrations and Hands-On Lessons, Wilderness Survival Training, and Course Instruction on Material Culture and Traditional Tools.
Junior high and high school Social Studies teacher Kerry Seyfert arranged to have Ryan visit the school as part of the ongoing activities at the school aimed at Indian education as part of the Indian Education Act.