SHORELINE STEWARDSHIP PROJECT
A partnership with the Lake County Watershed Protection District
A partnership with the Lake County Watershed Protection District
Tule, Chi--Hitch and other aquatic flora and fauna of Clear Lake are vital to a healthy and whole ecosystem. There are things we can do to be good stewards of the lake and adjacent properties and public shorelines.
Come visit us at a community festival to learn more and weave from tule or create a drawing to submit to our Shoreline Stewards postcard project. Ten postcards will be selected to be printed and distributed to business, organizations, and hotels around the lake!
See a few sample drawings by participants below.
Click here to download the Blue Book of Fun to learn about Aquatic Resources of Lake County
Click here for the Shorelines Stewardship Project main page.
Come visit us at a community festival to learn more and weave from tule or create a drawing to submit to our Shoreline Stewards postcard project. Ten postcards will be selected to be printed and distributed to business, organizations, and hotels around the lake!
See a few sample drawings by participants below.
Click here to download the Blue Book of Fun to learn about Aquatic Resources of Lake County
Click here for the Shorelines Stewardship Project main page.
Corine Pearce engages community members at Big Valley Rancheria's annual Tule Boat Festival.
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"Native peoples across the land we now call California used tule to make houses, clothing, mats, baskets, and tools. Tule can be used to make a variety of baskets, from incredibly finely woven water bottles to rougher, open weave sifting baskets....." Click here to learn more about traditional practices of weaving baskets, dolls, boats, decoys and houses out of tule.
The MAC will be at the 22nd Annual Tule Boat Festival at Big Valley Rancheria and so will our friend Pomo basket weaver Corine Pearce. Weave a Chi-Hitch fish, a bird, tiny boat, or basket with us, or draw, paint, or collage a Shoreline Stewards postcard! Join us at the 22nd annual Tule Boat Festival at Big Valley Rancheria on July 25th! |
Meet Way-La Elvina Mata-Ku Brown. Way-La is MAC's contributing teaching artist and cultural educator for the Shoreline Stewardship project. She belongs to one of the oldest Tribes in Lake County, known as Elem Modun—the Water People—skilled weavers and regalia makers from the Eastern shores of Clear Lake.
Way-La has lived on the shores of Clear Lake for her whole life and shares her experiences and knowledge of living in reciprocity with the lake's ecosystems at Shoreline Stewardship community-artmaking events. Her ancestors have been here for over 15,000 years. Learn more about the East Lake Tribe here. Join us for creative engagement and learning at the Tule Boat Festival July 25 or at the Pear Festival September 27. |
The Clear Lake hitch is a large freshwater minnow found only in Northern California’s Clear Lake watershed, including Clear Lake, Blue Lakes and Thurston Lake. The silver fish is an important species to local Tribes who call it “Chi” and historically relied on it for food. Wetland habitat loss, degradation and modification throughout the Clear Lake watershed are the leading threats to the species. Drought, poor water quality, and invasive carp and other non-native fish also contribute to the species’ decline. (From https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2025-01/service-proposes-list-clear-lake-hitch)
For more information about the Clear Lake Chi-Hitch visit the Big Valley Rancheria Environmental Protection Department website. 
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