Kalispel tribe!

​Kalispel tribe!

After our delicious breakfast cereal, we got introduced to the tribe/natural resource program by the Wildlife and water resource Director, Ray Entz. Ray entz is really cold person and has a good sense of humor. He basically brief us about everything the tribe is doing in the forestry and river. He was able to tell us that much because the tribe is really small! I found it very interesting that they do get grizzly bears and a lot of cougars! The cougar program they have is really big and important. They track the cats down and trap them so they can collar them. The tribe collars them for many reasons, one is to examine the different ways to scare them away from humans. Another is to just track them. Ray had a lot of information he shared with us but that was what I mainly got out of it. After talking for a while we had are first hands on experience at this location, we had to pull weeds out of their native tress nursery! We pull weeds for about an hr in a half! 

After Ray shared some time with us he had to leave because he’s a very busy Director so we chilled out for a bit and had lunch. Not long after lunch we had our next employee, Joel Adams, he is a Fuels Management specialist. Joel Share with us about how he works for the tribe and does a lot of forestry help, from thinning and burning. He is also on call for forest fires around. Joel also shared with us how he come to work for the tribe. His story is really good and motivating. Being a tribal member of a different tribe and finding a job at Kalispel, he says they take really good care of him. 

After our time learning from Joel about forestry and fire management of the Kalispel we decided to go explore the small reservation. We decided to got check out the powwow grounds area. Right next to the powwow grounds are the tribes bison!

After getting to see the bison we went to go swimming next to the powwow grounds in their river. The water cold it felt so nice to enjoy nice cold water! After swimming our day was just a little bit of science and some food. Nothing to exciting in the afternoon. Stay tuned for their tribal health center!