Exploring the SMMNRA: California Naturalists Visit King Gillette Ranch
Flintknapping at King Gillette Ranch:
California Naturalists enrolled with SAMO Fund to receive their certification for the California Environmental Steward program attended a three-station workshop at King Gillette Ranch where they learned about flintknapping, Chumash history and culture and nature journaling.
Dennis Garcia, along with his brother, Ted Garcia, talked about their journeys, growing up as Ferandeno-Tataviam Mission Indians, the importance of passing on indigenous culture and oral traditions to future generations and shared important myths and folktales with the group while displaying eagle feathers, carvings and drums that make the folktales come to life.
National Park Service Ranger Nicole Kulaga, an Archeologist conducted a flintknapping program demonstrating how the Chumash people made tools using sophisticated techniques through the process of lithic reduction, shaping stones and rocks from their natural state into tools or weapons by removing some parts.
Keely Davies, artist and nature journalist who taught the CalNat class about the intricacies of keeping a nature journal. Keely explained the principles and ethics of going out into the wild and documenting the plants and animals that you see without disturbing fragile ecosystems or leaving behind waste. She went into detail about the types of notebooks, paper, sketching and painting tools and documentation styles nature journalists employ, and she brought examples of her own work to show the class.