Vashon 101 Series Topics
Click here to jump to talk details.
- January 12 - Dr. Steve Bergman - Vashon Geology
- February 9 - Dr. Tom DeVries - A History of Vashon's Ecology
- March 9 - Binah McCloud (Puyallup) - Fishing War Survivor
- April 13 - Dr. Bianca Perla - Contemporary Vashon Ecology
- May 11 - Brandon Reynon (Puyallup) - The sx̌ʷəbabš or Swift Water People of Vashon
- June 8 - Dr. Bruce Haulman - Vashon History: Contact to Present
- July 13 - Dr. Alice Larson - Vashon Demography: A Picture of Us
- August 10 - Dr. Patrick Christie - Improving Vashon Through Exploring Connections
All Webinars are recorded and will be posted on our Museum Talks page ASAP after the live session date.
Vashon 101 - An 8 Part Museum Talks Series
Scroll down to the “Past Presentations” section for the Museum’s archive from the last years of Museum Talks.
The Vashon Heritage Museum is proud to bring back Vashon 101 to the community. Through 2023 we’ll host a series of conversations about Vashon. It is an opportunity to further ground yourself in this place we call home.
The original Vashon 101, with the vision of “Lifelong Learning,” was the inaugural event for Vashon College in 2006. Tom and Melissa Bangasser, along with several others, including Nancy Bachant and Pam Salyer (Aspiri) and the original Board of Vashon College – with help from original faculty including Patrick Christie, Tom DeVries, Kevin Freeman, Bruce Haulman Christine Ingebritsen, Alice Larson, William Seaburg and Rich Wiley – came together to imagine and create the series to offer to the community.
The transformation of Vashon 101 for this 2023 offering is having the privilege of members of the Puyallup Tribe offering their voice, perspective, and presence to the course. We’re honored to expand and offer this holistic look at Vashon-Maury Islands.
Hosted in person at the newly renovated Vashon College space in 2006, the class wasn’t available to all who wanted to attend. We’re excited to bring the conversation back via Zoom so everyone who is interested can attend and participate. Recorded sessions are available to view.
Through the series, attendees will learn about Vashon’s Geology and Historical Ecology. In the spring the Museum offers classes about Vashon through the Fish Wars, Contemporary Ecology, and the Puyallup Tribe and the sx̌ʷəbabš. This summer we’ll host classes on more recent history, demography, culture and connections. We hope you’ll register today!
Thank you to our Sponsors
Vashon 101: Webinar Museum Talk Details
Vashon 101: Talk 1 - Vashon Geology
with Dr. Steve Bergman
Vashon Geology explores the geologic history of Vashon, the glaciation that created the Island, and the resulting issues glacial deposits of sand, gravel and till have created. In addition, the presence of the Seattle and Tacoma Faults and their potential impacts on the Island are examined.
Steve Bergman has lived on Vashon Island since 2014 and is a local geo-activist (gentleman geologist). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of two nonprofits: Zero Waste Vashon and Vashon Makerspace and participates in local geology activities, including the Antiques RockShow, curating the native rock garden and Geology portion of the Heritage Museum Natural Wonders exhibit, Ellisport Heritage Trail, Chautauqua 2017, and VUG (Vashon Union of Geologists). He was educated at the University of Dayton (BS Geology, 1977) and Princeton University (PhD Geology, 1982) and has worked in exploration research in the industry and taught at UT Dallas.
Vashon 101: Talk 2 - A History of Vashon's Ecology
with Dr. Tom DeVries
Historical Ecology explores the long view of the island's ecology, examining how the island's plant associations have successively changed in response to climate changes since the Ice Ages of the late Pleistocene.
Dr. Tom DeVries is a geologist and paleontologist with an ongoing research program in Peru. For 22 years he taught science courses at Vashon High School. Tom is a member of the Sociedad Geológica del Perú and a founding member of the Vashon Union of Geologists (VUG).
Vashon 101: Talk 3 - Fishing War Survivor
with Binah McCloud
Binah McCloud (Puyallup) is the Director of Student Success and Culture at Chief Leschi Schools. She will host this talk on Zoom about the 1970s Fish Wars--a struggle for Tribal fishing and environmental stewardship rights in the Salish Sea. She will draw from her personal frontline experience as daughter of the renowned Indigenous activist Janet McCloud.
Vashon 101: Talk 4 - Contemporary Vashon Ecology
with Dr. Bianca Perla
Modern Ecology examines what we know and don’t know about current wildlife, plants, and ecosystem trends on Vashon Island. We address questions like: Why are madrone forests common on Maury and not on the north end? How are salmon populations faring? How healthy are island watersheds, forests, shorelines and harbors? How does global climate change influence island habitats and species? And what can humans do to help island ecosystem health?
Bianca Perla has a doctorate in Ecology from University of Washington, a Masters in Animal Behavior from Northern Arizona University and a B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University. She is the founder and now Science Director of Vashon Nature Center which celebrated its 10th year in 2022. She was the lead curator for the Vashon Heritage Museum exhibit Natural Wonder: An Island shaped By Water. Bianca has authored and co-authored several books and scientific articles on a diversity of nature subjects including a recent scientific article on shoreline restoration in the journal Ecological Indicators (which includes information on Vashon beaches), Family Walks on Vashon, a book on prairie dogs called Prairie dogs: Communication and Community in an Animal Society published by Harvard University Press and more.
Vashon 101: Talk 5 - The sx̌ʷəbabš or Swift Water People of Vashon
with Brandon Reynon
Brandon Reynon (Puyallup) is the Director of Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Historic Preservation Department
Brandon Reynon talks about the culture of the Swift Water People and will discuss sx̌ʷəbabš history, sovereignty and treaty rights. Brandon will explain what treaties meant at their time in history and how they can be exercised today.
Vashon 101: Talk 6 - Vashon History: Contact to Present
with Dr. Bruce Haulman
Vashon Human History examines the major turning points that have shaped the human history of the island in an effort to understand how and why Vashon-Maury Island have become the social, political, and economic place it is.
Dr. Bruce Haulman has a PhD in History from the University of Washington. He is a retired professor of history at Green River Community College, the author of Vashon-Maury Island: Images of America ((2011) and A Brief History of Vashon (2015 in press), the President of the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Museum, on the board of Voice of Vashon, and Friends of Mukai.
Vashon 101: Talk 7 - Vashon Demography: A Picture of Us
with Dr. Alice Larson
Vashon Demographics will present a picture of who lives on the Island today. From available information we will explore population numbers, ages, race/ethnicity, family characteristics, economics, living situations, employment, school enrollment, business patterns, and other factors considering what this might mean for who lives and works on Vashon-Maury Island in the future.
Alice Larson, Ph.D., a social service researcher specializing in data development, needs assessments, and quantitative/qualitative research; has conducted a variety of projects for non-profit organizations, government agencies, and businesses around the country. Dr. Larson is considered a national expert in estimating migrant and seasonal farmworkers, assessing health care access for low-income individuals, and designing methodological techniques for describing vulnerable populations. She has spent decades assisting the U.S. Census Bureau to assure more complete counts and was responsible, with Dr. Haulman, for the Vashon Census Project, a transcription of all Census data describing Vashon-Maury Island from 1870 to 2010 (vashonhistory.com).
VASHON 101: TALK 8 - IMPROVING VASHON THROUGH EXPLORING CONNECTIONS
with Dr. Patrick Christie
Patrick will act as a respondent for each Talk, and work with Vashon 101 participants to identify themes and crosscurrents that link the various topics and presentations in the seventh and final session. In that session, we will work to envision realistic and transformative steps that we may take as a community to foster a more sustainable and just Vashon home.
Patrick Christie, is a Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and director of the UW Canadian Studies Center. He has a strong interest in and commitment to justice and sustainability. He works at the interface of oceans and coastal communities in the Salish Sea, Latin America and Southeast Asia contexts. In his teaching, research, and activism he works to support Indigenous leaders and communities who are at the forefront of fossil fuel protest movements, anti-racist policies, and inter-cultural understanding.
For more information:
https://smea.uw.edu/faculty/patrick-christie/
https://jsis.washington.edu/canada/people/patrick-christie/
