Believe it or not, the school year has just about come to an end. Mark your calendar for the end of the year Academic and Athletic Banquet on Monday May 21st, 8th Grade Graduation Wednesday May 23rd and High School Graduation Saturday May 26th.

While you have your calendar out, don’t forget to plan on attending Camas Lilly Days June 2nd and 3rd and the fun and fantastic Rodeo and Pioneer Picnic July 13th – 15th!

Click the link below for further details and information on all of the above mentioned events!

• The Weekly Beaver – Volume II Issue 45

The Camas Prairie Homecoming  is held the 1^st full weekend of June. This event happens during the Chamber of Commerce Camas Lily Day’s. 

The Shoshone- Bannock Tribes are located on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Southern Idaho, between the cities of Pocatello, American Falls and Blackfoot.  The Tribes are composed of Several Shoshone and Bannock bands that were forced to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, which eventually became the Shoshone- Bannock Tribes. Aboriginal to areas that are now the states of Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Montana.

Fort Hall Reservation was created by an Executive Order by President Andrew Johnson in 1867. What is the Fort Bridger Treaty? This is a treaty of peace between several bands of Shoshone and Bannock people and the United States of America. The treaty confirmed the Fort Hall Indian Reservation (Idaho) and the Wind River Reservation (Wyoming). The Federal government agreed to provide provisions and services.

Present Tribal Government- Created by Congress through the Wheeler-Howard Act (Indian Reorganization Act of 1934). The Shoshone Bannock Tribes Adopted a Constitution and By-Laws and a Federal Corporate Charter in 1936. The governing body is composed of seven elected Tribal Members.

check out Shoshone- Bannock Tribes website for current news highlights and community events!

http://www.sbtribes.com

Food for Survival

          Camassia quamash, known in the Shoshone language as p·sigoo (literally “water sego”) and commonly known as camas, is a traditional staple food of the Shoshone-Bannock people. Camas is a member of the lily family and grows best in open valleys and parklands between 5,000 and 7,000 feet in elevation. The plant’s prevalence throughout Idaho is evidenced by the many “Camas Prairies” and “Camas Creeks” which dot maps of the state. Native peoples dug up the plant’s nutritious bulbs in late spring and early summer. They were then baked, roasted, dried or eaten raw. North of the range of pinon pines, camas was the most important vegetal food gathered by the native peoples of southern Idaho. Shoshone-Bannocks also gathered numerous other wild roots, including sweet sage, onions, carrots, and bitterroot.1

          The area commonly known as the Great Camas Prairie, situated in modern Camas County, holds a particularly important place in Shoshone-Bannock history and life. The Great Camas Prairie was much more than a food source for the Shoshones and Bannocks. Indeed, its importance as a gathering place and crossroads for an extensive regional trade network rivaled its value as a subsistence site during the historical period. Each year in late May and June, Shoshones and Bannocks by the thousands from across their extensive aboriginal range converged on the prairie as the distinctive blue flowers of the camas came into bloom. Visitors from far and wide, including Cayuses, Umatillas and Nez Perce, also made their way to the prairie to, in the words of one Idaho territorial governor, “trade and have a general frolic.” Some Shoshone-Bannock groups remained on the Great Camas Prairie throughout the summer, leading Fort Hall agent Henry Reed to remark that they “spend from one to three months there most agreeably.”

Come on out and support your community. See old friends……….meet new ones. Relax and enjoy yourself.

• The Weekly Beaver – Volume 2 Issue 43 – Special Message Approved Issue!

• The Weekly Beaver – Volume 2 Issue 42 – Special Issue: Camas English Teacher Blurts All!

• The Weekly Beaver – Vol II No 41 – Special Butts Must Follow Issue!

• The Weekly Beaver – Volume II Issue 40 – Special Tax Appreciation Issue!

This meeting will serve as the official Public Hearing regarding this ordinance. Click the links below to download a copy of the Draft Ordinance and Staff Report.

• Draft Amendment to Zoning Ordinance #223
• Fairfield City Council Staff Report, Public Hearing April 19, 2012

Click the link below to get your copy!!

• The Weekly Beaver – Vol II No 39- Special Head for High Ground Issue!

The ICA/IMPRA Rodeo is an event of the Camas Chamber of Commerce and they’d like to invite you to share in their enthusiasm by becoming a sponsor for the event.  Sponsorship’s are available in every size and price range from a business card size ad, to chute signs to Title Sponsorship where you get your business name on all the event advertising, your flag flown at the opening ceremony, announcer recognition, program advertisement and free tickets to the event with special seating!

The link below is the official sponsorship package. Check it out, and don’t miss a fun and exciting way to advertise your business and support a great local event!

• 2012 Camas County Rodeo Sponsorship Package