[In 2023] The Bundle Carriers Camp was held at the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Memorial Park (the original site of the Tekawitha Orphanage and Mission School). Fifteen youth attended and were between the ages of 10 and 19. All youth are citizens of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation.

Campers spent a day at the Zani Otuwin Dakota Earthlodge village in Granite Falls, MN to learn about the goals of Makoce Ikikcupi, the Native non-profit that built the village and their mission.

The camp participants spent the day with Dakota Elders to learn about the differences in the landscapes of the woods and prairies and about the plant life in each landscape. The camp participants worked on a camp design for a 30-acre land recovery project. They shared what would be developed on the land and what kind of tallgrass prairie mapping they would use.

Campers also gave a native plant medicinal use presentation for the different plants they learned about. These presentations were shared in Dakota and English to help memorize the plants in the language. The presentations included the plant, the environmental landscape, harvesting protocol, medicinal plant uses, and seed gathering. Throughout the experience, Elders and community members knowledgeable in history, language, herbs, and Dakota culture, were included and shared their knowledge with the youth.

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