The theme of the 2022 Champinefu Lecture Series is Kalapuya Placekeeping and focuses on the confluence of the Marys River and the Willamette River. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, the Spring Creek Project and the Corvallis-Benton County Library have agreed once again to co-sponsor the series with the Marys Peak Group of the Sierra Club. The Library will again host the webinars. 

Shawala:  Birthplace of William Hartless with Jedd Schrock - October 19, 7:00 to 8:30 pm

Born at the confluence of the Willamette and Marys River, William Hartless, Kalapuya member of the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation, provided interviews to anthropologists in 1913 about Kalapuya life, stories, and language.  He was the last native-speaking member of the Ampinefu Kalapuya band and principal Kalapuya placekeeper of this area.Shawala means tarweed in Kalapuya language. Tarweed was tended and harvested by Kalapuya, and the lands around the rivers' confluence were referred to as Shawala. It was also the given Kalapuya name of the person we now know as William Hartless. Join Grand Ronde Linguist and Folklorist Jedd Schrock for a conversation about the life of William Hartless and the information about the Ampinefu Kalapuya that he shared with the world. Register!

The Kalapuya Seasonal Round at the Confluence with David Lewis - November 9, 7:00 to 8:30 pm

The Kalapuya were neither nomadic nor sedentary as they traditionally lived in the seasonal round. They moved throughout their homelands to various locations through the seasons, returning to their villages and storehouses in the winter time each year. Join OSU professor and Kalapuya member of the Grand Ronde Dr. David Lewis for a presentation about the Kalapuya and their way of life with a focus on the ecological communities at the confluence of the Willamette and Marys Rivers. Register!

Indigenous Placekeeping in Corvallis and at the Confluence - December 7, 7:00 to 8:30 pm

A conversation among indigenous artists doing recent work in Corvallis, Oregon, providing indigenous placekeeping. Join David Harrelson, Cultural Resources Department manager for the Grand Ronde Tribes, and artists Travis Stewart, Shirod Younker, Matthew Williams, Stephanie Fogel, and Anthony Hudson/Carla Rossi. Register!

For further information, contact Dave Eckert, MPG program chair, at deckert@willamettewatershed.com