2018 Wool & Fine Fiber Symposium

Introduction:
Rebecca Burgess, Fibershed

No Word For Wilderness:
Nick Tipon, Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria

Cultural Burning & Basketry:
Elizabeth Azzuz & Margo Robbins, Yurok Tribe

Central California Fire Panel:
Abran Lopez, Amah Mutsun Tribe
Joe Rawitzer, Central Coast Prescribed Fire Council
Price Sheppy, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Northern California Fire Panel:
Elizabeth Azzuz, Cultural Fire Management Council
Jared Childress, Audubon Canyon Ranch
Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Northern CA Prescribed Fire Council
Margo Robbins, Cultural Fire Management Council

Community Update:
Leslie Adkins, Heart Felt Fiber Farm

Short Film on Integrated Crop Livestock Systems (ICLS)

Integration of Crops and Animals for Soil Carbon:
Dr. Amelie Gaudin, UC Davis

Prescriptive Grazing Panel:
Christian Cain, contract grazer & shepherd
Jared Childress, Audubon Canyon Ranch
Brittany Cole Bush, Grazing School of The West
Melissa Tregilgas, Freehand Farm
Paigelynn Trotter, Sweetgrass Grazing

Preciousness of Our Materials & Functional Use Panel:
Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
Jennifer Daley, textile designer, Alameda, CA
Margot Lyons, Coyuchi, San Francisco, CA
Sierra Reading, designer & educator, Oakland, CA
Timo Rissanen, Parsons School of Design, NY
Geana Sieburger, GDS Cloth Goods, Oakland, CA
Moderator: Jess Daniels, Fibershed

Full 27-minute version of the presentation by
Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway

Hands-on Demonstrations & Marketplace Vendors

Videos by brightpathvideo.com

Church Building at the Dance Palace
(Open to the public; no ticket required)
Heart Felt Fiber Farm
Tree House Felt
Black Rock Ranch
Blue Oak Canyon Ranch
Sincere Sheep
Ewe and Me 2
Alpaca Shire
Double Diamond Alpacas
Fiber Confections
Sheep to Shop
Menagerie Hill Ranch
BioHue
Myrrhia Fine Knitwear
Red Creek Farm + Wild Oat Hollow

Lobby of the Dance Palace
(No ticket required)
Twirl Yarn
Point Reyes Books
FIDM and Santa Rosa JC

Main Lecture Hall at the Dance Palace
(Requires a ticket to the Symposium, except during the 12:30 – 2:30 break)
Bo-Rage Yarns
Bodega Pastures
Meridian Jacobs
Lani’s Lana
Warner Mountain Weavers
Vreseis Limited
Kassenhoff Growers
2NFrom
Kirabo Pastures

Back Lawn at the Dance Palace
(No ticket required)
Harvest & Mill
GDS Cloth Goods
Caprette Cashmere + Blue Barn Farm
Stonehenge Llama Ranch
Summer Solace Tallow
Ohm Gnomes
Sierra Rose Alpacas
Downhome Fibers
Starbuck Station Wools + Wild Rose Farm

Front Lawn at the Dance Palace
(No ticket required)
Freestone Ranch
Fiber Circle Studio

Spinning: Melanie Perkins

Weaving: Keyaiira

Mending: Sierra Reading

Wool Classing: Stephany Wilkes

Sheep Shearing: Matt Gilbert

Heritage Sheep Display: Pont Family Farm

Angora Rabbits: Erin Maclean

Felting: Tim Easterbrook

Flax: Chico Flax

Primitive Skills: Paleotechnics

(photo by Paige Green)

The 7th Annual Wool Symposium focuses upon soil-to-skin themes
that continue to touch all of our community members lives in significant ways:
Fire Ecology  •  Fostering Animal Integration  •  Fiber Systems  •  Functional Use of Garments

(Illustration by Laurie Sawyer)

We will deepen our understanding of human-led land management practices that include the use of fire as a tool for land regeneration. Fire has shaped the form and function of our region’s ecology for millennia to the present day. The way fire impacts our landscapes as of late, has markedly shifted. Catastrophic fires are now an omnipresent reality. As we seek solutions that heal and restore our ecosystems, we will explore fire’s historic cultural role and hear from Native California community members whose cultural fire practices have enhanced their fibersheds for thousands of years to the present day.

Speakers:

• Nick Tipon of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Tribe; Chairman of Sacred Sites
• Elizabeth Azzuz and Margo Robbins of the Yurok Tribe: Coordinators for culturally led burns
• Lenya Quinn-Davidson, UC Extension Humboldt County: Fire Ecology and Management
• Abran Lopez of the Amah Mutsun Tribe: Land Management and Fire Ecology
• Joe Rawitzer: Project coordinator for the Central Coast Prescribed Fire Council
• Jared Childress: Prescribed Fire Specialist with Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Fire Forward Program
• Price Sheppy: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

By reintegrating fiber-producing animals into croplands, we are able to graze down cover crops and the vestiges of cash crops, and bring animals into areas where fuel load reduction is greatly needed. These are vital ecological services that flocks and herds provide us today. Contract grazers are able to keep animals on the move, providing increased opportunities to thoughtfully graze and provide needed rest periods so that plant species can regenerate. Animal species that originally carried the seeds of European grasses in their manure and hides (at the point of European colonization), forever changed California’s once highly functioning perennially dominated grassland systems—and now, a new partnership between people and animals is providing a foundation for restoring systems that have been degraded. We will hear from a spectrum of young women and men who are working diligently to restore ecological function in our farm, range, and open space districts.

Speakers:

• Dr. Amelie Gaudin: University of California Davis, Gaudin Lab
• Christian Cain: Contract Grazer & Shepherd, Yolo County
• Jared Childress: Prescribed Fire Specialist with Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Fire Forward Program
• Melissa Tregilgas: Freehand Farm, Placerville
• Paige Trotter: Sweetgrass Grazing, Contract Grazer and Shepherdess in Marin & Sonoma Counties
• Brittany Cole Bush: Grazing School of The West