Presented in partnership with the Irondequoit Conservation Board, the library will host a program about Traditional Haudenosaunee Names and Uses for Plants found at Helmer Nature Center on Thursday, April 27, at 7:00 PM.
Jessa Fisher, an Educator Naturalist at the Helmer Nature Center, will present this all ages presentation on traditional Haudenosaunee uses for regional plants. This presentation will include a brief introduction to the culture, politics, and territory of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. A general overview of ethnobotany and different aspects of plant use by the Haudenosaunee will be followed by an introduction to the language of the Seneca, the Haudenosaunee tribe who traditionally hunted and fished in Irondequoit. The names and traditional medicinal, culinary, and utilitarian uses of native plants found growing in this region centuries ago which are still at the Helmer Nature Center today, will also be covered.
If you’d like to attend this program, please register through our Event Calendar.
The Helmer Nature Center is an outdoor classroom which has been part of the West Irondequoit Central School District (WICSD) since 1973. In addition, classes, families, and groups of all ages come to the Center’s woods and wetlands from throughout the region to learn about, enjoy, and celebrate our natural heritage. The mission of Helmer Nature Center is to foster environmental awareness and promote global stewardship by offering the community experiences encountering and enjoying the natural world.
Jessa Fisher has been interested in the Haudenosaunee since her tweens when she spent her summers at her uncle’s cottage at the base of Bare Hill on Canandaigua Lake. She went on to practice applied ethnobotany with the Diné and Hopi tribes in Northern Arizona as a staff member of the Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association (AERA).
Published on April 21, 2023.
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