This talk, presented by Bailey J. Dann and Sidney U. Fellows, will explore the deep cultural, ecological, and familial relationship between the Shoshone‑Bannock Tribes and pasigo—camas. It will highlight the reciprocal reality that for thousands of years, Shoshone‑Bannock people not only relied on camas, but actively shaped and cared for the Camas Prairie through harvesting practices, burning, seasonal movements, and kinship‑based management. Using camas as a guiding relative and teacher, the presentation will weave together traditional ecological knowledge, the disruptions caused by American settlement, and the enduring connections between people, plant relatives, and place.

Attendees will learn how Yampadai was intentionally tended by Native peoples, how that relationship was severed, and how current Tribal‑led restoration near Fairfield is renewing both the prairie and the bonds that sustain it. Ultimately, the talk invites the Wood River Valley community to see themselves as part of this shared home: not passive observers, but potential relatives to place, with responsibilities to help the prairie recover and to ensure the blue bloom endures for generations to come.

Bailey J. Dann (Shoshone-Bannock) graduated from Grinnell College in 2017 double majoring in anthropology and studio art, while also completing Grinnell’s teacher preparation program for secondary social studies education. Following graduation, she taught the Shoshoni language and fifth grade at Chief Tahgee Elementary Academy, a Shoshone language immersion school in Fort Hall, Idaho. Bailey earned her master’s degree in Anthropology at Idaho State University in 2023. Today, she is the Research and Education Specialist at her Tribes’ Language and Cultural Preservation Department, operating within the Office of Original Territories and Historical Research. Her responsibilities encompass diverse research and education projects in collaboration with tribal, state, federal, and nonprofit entities including various universities, museums, the National Park Service, and the National Science Foundation. Additionally, she contributes to documenting and monitoring cultural and historic sites within the Tribes’ ancestral homelands while developing interpretive materials for Shoshone-Bannock tribal members, students, and the wider public. Furthermore, she serves as the chair on the Chief Tahgee Elementary Academy Board of Directors and as a trustee of the Museum of Idaho, the state’s largest non-profit science and history museum. Bailey enjoys weaving willows, beading, oil painting, and harvesting foods and medicines in her free time.

Sidney U. Fellows (Shoshone-Bannock, Chippewa-Cree) works on tribal food access initiatives with an emphasis on culturally relevant foods grown in landscapes free of synthetic chemicals. Her academic training in biology and sustainable food & farms aid in her role at the Rodale Institute as an Organic Community Food Systems Consultant. She supports tribally led food projects through research, educational outreach, and technical assistance; these projects are primarily rooted in her community and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Through her work and personal experiences, she studies and participates in tribal food initiatives that incorporate her ever-growing knowledge of ethnobotany, organic farming, native plant propagation, and culture.