98th ESA Annual Meeting (August 4 -- 9, 2013)

August 03 - 09, 2013

FT 4

SEEDS Education and Outreach Initiative (SEOI) Field Trip

This year, SEOI is planning another field trip during the 2013 ESA Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, MN. The SEEDS students will tag along with ESA Members to “Dream of Wild Health” a 10-acre, organic farm in Hugo, Minnesota. DWH began in 1998 as a program of Peta Wakan Tipi, a St. Paul based non-profit that provides transitional housing for American Indian people in recovery. At the heart of Dream of Wild Health is a collection of more than 300 rare heirloom seeds that have been donated by tribes and families from around the country. The mission of Dream of Wild Health is to promote health in the Native community by expanding knowledge of and access to healthy indigenous foods and medicines. Lunch will be provided at the farm. The overall aims of the SEOI field trip is to: (1) allow ESA members to connect with the local host community of the annual meeting; (2) use the expertise of ESA to aid local community members and scientists to preserve, conserve, and restore an area; (3) leave the community with surveying skills taught by selected ESA members; (4) introduce Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) expertise to field trip participants; and (5) build and/or strengthen connections between local schools and Minnesota environmental groups, so that similar educational activities can continue beyond this trip. This is the sixth trip being organized by the SEEDS Education and Outreach Initiative, a group of students, former SEEDS participants, and SEEDS staff interested in instituting educational outreach activities at ESA annual meetings.