3 - First Stewards - Muir Beach AD

WAYSIDE TITLE: First Stewards - Panel Description

VIEW FROM WAYSIDE: A mix of green willows, stubby coyote brush and tall dune grasses make up the wetland before you. In the distance, the slope of a hill, red and green from the thick coverage of poison oak, separates the wetland from the beach. Even further away, you can see houses on a hillside on the other side of the beach parking lot.

TEXT: For thousands of years, the Coast Miwok thrived on this floodplain-where fresh waters and salt waters meet. They lived in more than 600 small family settlements along the coast where creek and ocean resources were most abundant. The Coast Miwok hunted, fished and harvested many of the plants growing in the area for food, medicine and other conveniences. They created a harmonious connection with nature through acute management of the landscape and by aligning their activities with the seasons.

Through keen observation, experimentation and patient long-term relationships with plants and animals, the Coast Miwok developed deep ecological knowledge-which they passed down from generation to generation. Although European settlement in the late 1700s forced them off the land, and their traditional society came to an end, they are actively engaged with the site today. Descendants of the Coast Miwok participate in research, education and preservation of sacred sites.

IMAGE LAYOUT: At the bottom of the panel is a series of three images.

DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE: An illustration of a fish dam composed of a triangular fence with a pointed net at its tip. The net and fence are in the water. Several fish are swimming inside the trap.

CAPTION: Coast Miwok families built uyu (communal fish dams) to catch kaasi (salmon) to share. The dams also allowed fish to move through the tcok (creek).

DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE: A photograph of man wearing sunglasses in front of tall marsh grass holding a plant.

CAPTION: Nick Tipon, of Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria leads an indigenous plant tour. FIGR gained federal tribal status recognition in 2000.

DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE: A photograph of a basket with a spiraling pattern of dark rectangles being held by two hands.

CAPTION: Plentiful sapa (tule) and luma (willow) enabled women and men to create cooking and seed collecting baskets, kole-kotcha (shelters), boats and mats. today these plants are re-emerging in the landscape as part of the restoration work.