The Bridge: Ancient Wisdom and Environment Protection
The relationship of Tribal people to their land and water has existed since time immemorial. Tribal systems of governance, ecological management, community and cultural practices were in place since long before the founding of the United States, and long before what we now call the environmental mo
vement. Indigenous communities are the Elders of this earth and possess critical ecological knowledge that should always be incorporated in environmental stewardship plans and practices.
Wishtoyo Foundation and Ventura Coastkeeper are building bridges between environmental protection and cultural survival, demonstrating that each is stronger with the other. Wishtoyo is the Chumash word for rainbow, and like the legend telling of the arrival of the first Chumash settlers on a rainbow bridge from Santa Cruz Island, Wishtoyo serves as a bridge to link the people of today to their environment — the land, air and water that support and sustain us.
Founded in 1997 by Mati Waiya, Chumash member of the Santa Clara River Valley Turtle Clan, Wishtoyo utilizes traditional Chumash beliefs, practices, songs, stories and dances to create greater awareness of our connection with, and dependence upon, the natural environment. Wishtoyo’s mission is to protect and preserve the culture and history of coastal communities and foster responsibility to our waters through education, research and community action. Wishtoyo launched Ventura Coastkeeper in November 2000 to spearhead citizen enforcement and watershed protection.
In 2003, Wishtoyo and Ventura Coastkeeper released, “Agritoxins: Ventura County’s Toxic Time Bomb,” a study on the health effects of agricultural pesticide use in Ventura County. Ventura Coastkeeper implements the recommendations of the report to protect nearby communities, farm workers and children from these dangerous chemicals. For example, in spring 2006, a lawsuit brought by Wishtoyo Foundation and Ventura Coastkeeper, in coalition with community-based environmental justice groups, forced California to reduce smog-forming emissions from pesticides. Ventura Coastkeeper is also fighting to uphold restrictions on the use of methyl bromide, a highly toxic strawberry field fumigant, a poison, that should be kept away from farm workers and their children, off our food and out of our streams. w
Mati Waiya is Ventura Coastkeeper