Quick Summary
- Tree-planting held at the Native American Contemplative Garden
- Saplings replace 85-year-old California buckeye that broke apart
- Garden honors the first inhabitants of land that became 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis
Where others today may see only trees and water, Patwin Elder Edward 鈥淏ill鈥 Wright envisioned his ancestors hundreds of years ago living on the banks of Putah Creek where 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis would eventually be built.
PATWIN LAND
The ceremony began with a reading of the . Here is an excerpt: 鈥淭he Patwin people have remained committed to the stewardship of this land over many centuries. It has been cherished and protected, as elders have instructed the young through generations. We are honored and grateful to be here today on their traditional lands.鈥
鈥淚t was one of his favorite spots,鈥 said Juan 脕vila Hernandez, a member of the Committee to Honor the Patwin and Native Americans, referring to a small clearing along the creek鈥檚 historic channel (today it is the Arboretum Waterway).
Elder Wright, who died last September at the age of 84, and other committee members particularly liked the site for the decades-old live oak and California buckeye trees that provided a massive canopy to filter the light and create a relatively secluded space underneath.
And so it would become the , chosen by the committee of representatives of the Patwin community, and 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis faculty, staff and students, and dedicated in November 2009.
Twelve years later, the nearly 40-foot-tall buckeye broke apart, leaving a 10-foot-tall stump, about 4 feet in diameter, hollow, as it turned out. The buckeye was among the first trees to be planted in the Arboretum 85 years ago, records show.
脕vila Hernandez was among the first to take notice of the fallen buckeye, around the end of 2021, setting in motion a replacement project that culminated in a tree-planting ceremony March 4. Three saplings will vie to be the buckeye that takes over the spot overlooking the Native American Contemplative Garden.
Elder tree
The older buckeye鈥檚 stump is several feet away, after Arboretum managers and the committee decided to leave it along with some of the large limbs that crashed around it.
Assistant Vice Chancellor Kathleen Socolofsky, director of the Arboretum and Public Garden, who led the tree-planting ceremony, noted the green shoots coming out of the trunk: 鈥淚t is still living. It will be the elder looking after the next generation.鈥
She spoke to 30 or so people who had gathered around the Native American Contemplative Garden鈥檚 centerpiece: a basalt column inscribed with the names of 51 Patwin men, women and children removed from the land by Spanish soldiers and missionaries and taken to missions from 1817 to 1836.
Other basalt columns 鈥 telling other parts of Patwin history 鈥 line the garden鈥檚 path, which meanders like a creek. The path leads to a seating wall that is coiled in the way a Patwin would start to weave a basket.
History professor Ari Kelman, faculty advisor to the chancellor and provost, also addressed the gathering. 鈥淭his garden points in two directions,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t provides space for native and non-Native American people to consider the past, and it presents the possibility of creating a better future together.鈥
Collaboration continues
Renetta Garrison Tull, vice chancellor of Diversity, Education and Inclusion, thanked the Committee to Honor the Patwin and Native Americans 鈥渇or making this garden possible and bringing us back here today to honor the spirit of this beautiful buckeye tree.鈥
The committee was established in 2000 after excavation work for the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts revealed the remains of 13 Patwin.
Tull reaffirmed the commitment of the chancellor鈥檚 office to acknowledge the Patwin as the first people on the land. She said she looked forward to the committee鈥檚 continued work with members of the Native community 鈥渢o help guide the way 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis honors Native Americans into the future.鈥
In茅s Hern谩ndez-脕vila, professor in the Department of Native American Studies, among committee members past and present who attended the ceremony, said she appreciated that the tree-planting represented a renewal of the university鈥檚 commitment to the committee's work.
Speaking from her Native perspective, she emphasized 鈥渢he need for us to be recognized as the original inhabitants of the land.鈥
Kelman, speaking on behalf of Chancellor Gary S. May and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan, who could not attend due to other commitments, commended the committee for its 鈥渆ssential work鈥 over two decades. Besides overseeing the garden project, the committee guided the installation of a monument outside the Mondavi Center in 2019. More installations are planned around the campus.
Hern谩ndez-脕vila described it as 鈥渁 work of spirit, a work of the heart.鈥 Her husband, Juan, added: 鈥If we choose to sweep that history under the rug, choose to forget about it and don't put it into the curriculum, then we are in danger of losing our humanity. And that would be a dire state.鈥
Media Resources
Dateline Staff: Dave Jones, editor, 530-752-6556, dateline@ucdavis.edu; Cody Kitaura, News and Media Relations specialist, 530-752-1932, kitaura@ucdavis.edu.