Stewarding Knowledges
There was a time when everything - the animals, birds, rocks, trees, lightening, clouds all had a voice and we were able to understand…
- Benny Fillmore, Washoe Elder
Independence Lake, 2023
Stewarding Knowledges 3rd Annual Washoe Lead Gathering!
TENDING GOOD FIRE IN THE TAHOE BASIN
May 16th, 2026 | 12-4pm
More information here
About Stewarding Knowledges
The Center for the Study of the Force Majeure has been collaborating with Knowledge Keepers from the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California since 2013. In 2022, we launched Stewarding Knowledges: Tending the Future. This intergenerational and community-centered initiative is rooted in Indigenous-led stewardship of Da’aw’ ‘Tahoe’—the ancestral homelands of the Wà:šiw. Working at the intersection of environmental knowledge, science, and art, the project weaves together Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), land-based education, public art, and long-term ecological restoration to support the Wá:šiw vision for a regenerative future.
Tending the Future
In 2013, Benny and Laura Fillmore attended a lecture by Center co-founders Newton and Helen Harrison about their Future Garden installation, Sagehen: A Proving Ground. This partnership has since evolved into several interrelated projects across the Washoe homelands.
The Wá:šiw homelands span six counties in California and Nevada, encircling Lake Tahoe and stretching north to Susanville. They include the Washoe and Carson Valleys, reach south to Mono Lake, and extend west into the Desolation Wilderness.
In close collaboration with Washoe Knowledge Keepers, the Center has worked across the UC Berkeley Sagehen Experimental Research Station and other public lands within traditional Washoe homelands. In 2022, our core Stewarding Knowledges team began collective research visiting the Sagehen Proving Ground and Independence Lake to connect with Washoe ancestral homelands and to examine, measure, and document the original Proving Grounds project areas.
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Stewarding Knowledges solidifies the centering of Waší:šiw voices in land stewardship, honoring their past, present, and future roles as stewardship leaders and building partnerships for a cleaner, more sustainable future for all — expanding collective knowledge at the nexus of environment, science, art, and storytelling.
Our Values
Our process is a collaborative journey to learn from and support the Wà:šiw homeland of the Tahoe Basin:
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Collaboration built at the speed of trust
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Honoring Indigenous sovereignty and land-based cultural knowledge–listening carefully and acting deliberately
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Connecting ecological futures with Traditional Knowledges
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Decolonizing approaches to land management and public education
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Using creative strategies to help us envision the future
Ecological Restoration & Future Gardens
We are working on public lands managed in part by California State Parks with contemporary stewards in the Tahoe Basin, to redesign the Future Garden at Sagehen Creek Research Station in Nevada County.
Ongoing Efforts
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Designing a new Future Garden at the Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Collection at the Gatekeepers Museum in Tahoe City, Placer County
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Propagating culturally important plant species to tend plants for the future
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Working with youth to understand fire adaptation and land-stewardship in the Tahoe Basin.
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Integrating creative thinking and practices as a process to support envisioning
Growing Meaningful Relationships
Stewarding Knowledges Team
Stewarding Knowledges is a collaboration among Washoe Knowledge Keepers, artists, scientists, educators, architects, data specialists, and storytellers.
Benny Fillmore -Washoe Elder, WEPD Resource Specialist and Wà:šiw Land Trust Board Member
Hunter Fillmore - Washoe, WEPD Resource Specialist, Pinion Restoration Project
Laura Fillmore - Artist, Educator and Pedagogy Specialist, CFM Board Member
Lisa Grayshield - Washoe, ED of Washoe Warrior Society
Brett Hall - Botanist, California Native Plant Program Director, UCSC Arboretum
Josh Harrison - Executive Director of the Center for the Study of the Force Majure
Trena Noval - Artist, Educator and Pedagogy Specialist, Principal at IDEAL Bay Area
Fernanda Lopes Ornelas - Adjunct Professor, Geospatial Analysis Lab Manager, University of San Francisco
David Saah, PhD - Professor of Environmental Science, Geospatial Analysis Lab at University of San Francisco
Seth Wachtel - Director of the Architecture and Community Design, University of San Francisco
In Memory of Robin A. Brailsford, artist collaborator and friend of Stewarding Knowledges.
Partners
Our partners are helping us shape a vision for a resilient and holistic future for the peoples of the greater Tahoe Basin.
Washiw Zulshish Goom Tahn Nu (Washoe Warrior Society)
USF Community Architecture at University of San Francisco
GeoSpatial Analysis Lab at University of San Francisco
Gatekeepers Museum, Tahoe Basin
Funders and Supporters
We gratefully acknowledge the following supporters of our work.
California Arts Council, Upstate Creative Corps
Washiw Zulshish Goom Tahn Nu (Washoe Warrior Society)
Nevada County
Arts Council
EPA Environmental
Education Program
UC Santa Cruz Office of Research Seed Funding
Foundation 36
The Tow Foundation
The Annenberg Founation
North Tahoe Community Alliance