Agenda

California Native Plant Foods Celebration and Symposium
UC Davis Conference Center (550 Alumni Ln, Davis, CA 95616)
Tuesday, February 10 • 7AM - 7PM

This event is designed as an interactive, in-person experience to foster relationship-building and direct knowledge exchange.

Photographers and Videographers may also be on site to capture short clips for educational or documentary use, and will be operating with clear cultural protocols, with individuals being asked for their consent to be recorded.

In recognition of their contributions, all Indigenous knowledge holders and speakers will receive honoraria.

Honoring California Native Plants Through Indigenous Foodways

Tuesday, February 10 • 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM

7:00 – 8:00 AM | Breakfast Buffet and Registration

Breakfast generously sponsored by the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) and Sacramento Valley Chapter. Menu developed by Sara Calvosa Olson (Karuk) Culinary artist, food sovereignty educator and writer, in partnership with campus Dining Services, California Native plant foods generously donated by campus Student Farm

8:00 - 8:30 AM | Opening Welcome

Land Acknowledgement and Opening (Remarks by Daniel Potter, Symposium Chair, Professor and Chair of Plant Sciences Department, University of California, Davis)
Welcome (Remarks by Dean Ashley M. Stokes, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Davis)

8:30 - 9:15 AM | Opening Keynote: Centering Indigenous Food & Knowledge Sovereignty

Keynote Speaker: Meagen Baldy, Director of Self-Governance and Commerce for the Hoopa Valley Tribe (Honorarium generously funded by the Yocha Dehe Endowment in the Native American Studies Department).

Ali Meders-Knight | A cultural practitioner (Mechoopda, Maidu), Meders-Knight serves as Executive Director of California Open Lands, a Native-led nonprofit advancing Indigenous stewardship, cultural fire training, and post-fire landscape recovery through Tribal partnerships. With over two decades of experience learning from and working alongside Indigenous fire practitioners in Butte County, her work centers Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) as a climate resilience strategy—supporting cultural burning, restoration of fire-adapted landscapes, and the revitalization of culturally important foods, materials, and Tribal seed systems.

Transition & Morning Raffle Announcement

9:15 - 10:30 AM | Networking

Exhibits and Posters

(Coordinated by Will T. McMahan, Graduate Researcher-Graduate Group in Horticulture & Agronomy, University of California, Davis)

Cultural Demonstrations

(Coordinated by M. Kat Anderson, Research Associate, University of California, Davis)

Florence Dick | Dunlap Band of Mono Indians Tribal council member and keeper of ancestral gathering and weaving traditions; demonstrating preparation and traditional string, twine, and rope-making from flannel bush and sharing about different natural basket making material.
Gladys McKinney | Elder and traditional foods keeper, Gladys (Dunlap Band of Mono) sharing native berry tastings including sourberries, manzanita berries, gooseberries, and elderberries; as well as black walnut and pinyon nuts—essential foods that complemented traditional diets.
Lois Conner Bohna | Lois (North Fork Mono), demonstrating traditional acorn processing, providing tastings.

Educational Tables

Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF)-UC Davis

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Panel 1: Connecting Land Access and Cultural Stewardship: Accessing, Tending and Harvesting California Native Food Plants

(Coordinated by Landin Thunder Noland, Graduate Researcher-Graduate Group in Ecology and Nina Fontana, Research Faculty, University of California, Davis)

Austin Stevenot | A member of the Northern Sierra Mewuk community and a registered member of the California Valley Miwok Tribe, Austin Stevenot serves as the Director of Tribal Engagement for River Partners. In this role, he works to build meaningful, reciprocal, and long term relationships between Tribal Nations and one of California’s leading ecological restoration organizations. His work centers on ensuring that restoration is not simply ecological but cultural, relational, and grounded in Indigenous sovereignty.
Carly Tex | Basketweaver, linguist, and Executive Director of Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS), Tex (North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians) leads statewide efforts to revitalize California's Indigenous languages. With a Master's in Linguistics from University of Arizona and over 10 years of experience in language documentation, she oversees programs supporting communities in reclaiming their heritage languages. Her work bridges traditional knowledge—beginning with basketweaving at age ten—with contemporary education methods, creating accessible Western Mono language resources while serving on the Alliance for California Traditional Arts board.
Dirk Charley | A Mono/Yokut cultural fire practitioner and retired U.S. Forest Service professional, Dirk serves as Fire Tribal Liaison for the Sierra National Forest and co-leads the Sierra Sequoia Burn Cooperative. His work bridges Indigenous fire knowledge with contemporary wildland management, serving as cultural burner/safety officer with the North Fork Mono Tribes while advising Incident Command Teams nationwide. His leadership in restoring traditional burning practices to create resilient landscapes has earned recognition including the Society of California Archeologists Heritage Award and the Fresno Chaffee Zoo Community Hero Award.
Mandy Macias | Mandy is an enrolled member of the Dunlap Band of Mono Indians and a descendant of Mountain Maidu and Ohlone heritage. She is a skilled basketweaver and teacher of tribal technologies and art. Mandy is a graduate of CSU Fresno, with a degree in Anthropology which has led her to be an archaeologist and Native American advisor for programs and Agencies for over 30 years. Mandy enjoys sharing her knowledge of California Indian culture and was raised with the idea that in educating others we can convey that our culture is not a thing of the past, but that we are a living and evolving culture of the present, and the future.
Marcela Resultay-Tayaba | A member of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Marcela serves as the Habitat Restoration Specialist for her tribe. After serving as a youth intern for the tribe’s Environmental Department for five years Marcela went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences with an emphasis on Ecological Restoration as well as minors in Forestry and Natural Resources from Cal Poly Humboldt.

12:00 - 12:15 PM | Welcoming remarks

Chancellor Gary S. May | As the seventh Chancellor of UC Davis, Dr. May leads one of the nation’s most academically and socially diverse universities, with a deep commitment to public service and social impact. With Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley, his career has been defined by a dedication to inclusion, developing nationally recognized programs to attract, mentor, and retain underrepresented groups in STEM fields. An esteemed voice on higher education and opportunity, his leadership bridges technical innovation with the broader community to drive positive societal change.

12:15 - 1:15 PM | Noon Meal: A story of migration, water, and land across the Central Valley

(Catered meal inspired by the California wetlands, featuring Native ingredients prepared by Founder and Chef of My Homies Kitchen). Lunch generously sponsored by The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF)

Xef | Food justice advocate from Fresno, CA (Yokuts land), Xef’s work centers on decolonizing diets and revitalizing ancestral foodways. He is the founder of My Homies Kitchen, a low-waste kitchen and community-based movement that merges food, land, and liberation. Through his work with California Openlands, he helps reindigenize the plate—applying traditional ecological knowledge to modern kitchens and making ancestral ingredients more accessible, relevant, and rooted in today’s food systems.

1:15 - 2:45 PM | Panel 2: The Nutrition of Native Plant Foods: From Seed to Seventh Generation

(Coordinated by Cassandra J. Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Cooperative Extension in the Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis)

Cassandra J. Nguyen | Assistant Professor of Cooperative Extension in the Department of Nutrition at UC Davis, Dr. Nguyen specializes in addressing food insecurity through community-based approaches. Her research focuses on revitalizing local food systems to enhance diet quality and wellbeing among Native communities, while bridging the implementation gap between nutrition research and practice. She brings expertise in evaluating Extension programming, making her contributions vital to the symposium's focus on traditional food systems and community health.
Emilio Daniel Siaz | Fellow under the 2021-2022 Intertribal Agriculture Council Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability (IAC-INFAS), Siaz (Pit River Tribe) completed his Master's degree at California State University, Chico. His academic work focuses on integrating his studies with practical applications in sustainable and Indigenous food systems, contributing to tribal food security and agricultural resilience. As a new PhD student in the Nutritional Biology program at University of California, Davis, Siaz is looking to investigate the nutrient content of identified traditional foods to support his tribal community in protecting environmental sites that house many traditional foods.
Sage LaPena | Certified Medical Herbalist, LaPena (Nomtipom Wintu) leads the Sacramento Native American Health Center Healing Ways Program, which integrates traditional medicine into a clinical setting to improve spiritual health and well-being among patients. As a practitioner, she builds connections to community and culture through programs like Herbalism Classes, Urban Plant Walks, and a Community Garden, recognizing the unique relationship between health, environment, and traditional plant knowledge.

2:45 - 4:15 PM | Panel 3: Native Plant Foods: Market Entry and Ethical Scaling

(Coordinated by Daniel Potter, University of California, Davis; Sonja Brodt, Agriculture and Environment Coordinator and Gwenaël Engelskirchen, Sustainable Food & Farming Coordinator; Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources)

Heather Ponchetti Daly | Historian and food sovereignty advocate (Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel), Dr. Daly's work centers on understanding 20th-century Native American political history and promoting Indigenous food sovereignty. She is a faculty member at UC San Diego and is actively designing the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Lab, a research initiative that merges history, law, and traditional food practices. Through her academic and committee work (including UC NAGPRA), she helps reindigenize the academy—applying traditional ecological knowledge to modern legal and environmental studies while ensuring Native voices are centered in discussions of culture and land.
Kristall Vega | A member of the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians, has grown up surrounded by community, culture, and care. Her journey with the California Indian Museum & Cultural Center began as a young Tribal Youth Ambassador, where she helped create Acorn Bites—a healthy, culturally inspired snack reconnecting Native people to ancestral foods. Now studying Psychology at UC Davis, Kristall hopes to become a child therapist who helps Native youth heal and thrive through culturally grounded, compassionate care. Guided by her roots, she continues to weave traditional practices into modern wellness, carrying forward a deep love for her people and a vision of healing that honors both past and future generations.
Severino Gomes | Economic Development Committee Chair for the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, Gomes serves as a cultural keeper advancing abalone conservation and traditional food sovereignty. His work repatriating Kashia Pomo cultural practices encompasses bay nut harvesting, abalone habitat restoration, and intergenerational knowledge transmission, bridging younger generations with ancestral practices. Through engaging both youth and non-Kashia communities in acknowledging historical harms and restoring balance with traditional foodways, he brings essential expertise in merging economic development with ecological and cultural revitalization.
Viviana Vega | A proud member of the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians, Viviana Vega has been dedicated to serving her community through the California Indian Museum & Cultural Center since the age of twelve. As a Tribal Youth Ambassador, she helped develop Acorn Bites—a culturally grounded, nutritious snack that reimagines traditional foods for modern wellness. Now an MD Candidate in the Class of 2028 at the UC Davis School of Medicine and a Tribal Health PRIME Scholar, Viviana continues to advance community health, nutrition, and acorn-based research. Her work bridges cultural preservation and clinical medicine, centering the role of Native plant foods and Indigenous knowledge in promoting holistic, culturally responsive care.

4:15 - 5:15 PM | Panel 4: Bridging Higher Education and Tribal Communities

(Coordinated by Michelle Villegas-Frazier, Director of Strategic Native American Retention Initiative and The Nest Native American/Alaskan Native and First Nations Affairs, University of California, Davis)

Abbey Hart | Nursery Manager at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, Hart's goal is to engage and educate students and community members in the cultivation of plants that enhance our local habitats for wildlife and people. She graduated with a Masters in Ecology from UC Davis in 2021 with a focus on ecological restoration of culturally significant plants in collaboration with Native communities. She loves growing her own food and learning from others.
Ellen Sanders-Raigosa | Ellen (Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians) works as a Garden Specialist at the Potawot Community Food Garden. She is an organic farmer, traditional gatherer, and aspiring herbalist. Her work centers around food sovereignty, food security, and nutrition education. She has a passion for gathering, tending to, and building community through traditional foods and medicines. In her day to day work at the garden, she helps to grow and distribute organic produce, preserved foods, and herbal medicines to Native people throughout Humboldt and Del Norte counties. She is a former graduate of UC Davis, and received her Bachelor's of Science in Environmental Policy and Planning with an emphasis in Conservation Management in 2019.
Haiwee Fredericks | Double majoring in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems and Native American Studies at UC Davis, Fredericks (Paiute, Shoshone & Washoe) brings deep connections to Indigenous food systems as an active community member in Payahuunadü (the place where water flows) along the Eastern Sierra Mountains. She combines academic study with lived cultural knowledge and community engagement in Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives.
Sara Calvosa Olson | Culinary artist, food sovereignty educator, and writer, Sara (Karuk) is dedicated to uplifting Indigenous foodways and the reciprocal relationship between people and native plants. She is the author of Chími Nu'am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen, a resource that fuses food writing, ecological stewardship, and cultural revitalization. Panel Moderator.

5:15 - 5:30 PM | Closing Remarks

5:30 - 7:30 PM | Dinner Buffet & Networking

(Featuring California Native plant foods generously donated by campus Student Farm, menu designed by Sara Calvosa Olson in collaboration with campus Dining Services)

Activities, Learning Experiences and Exhibits

Cultural Experiences

Tribal Community Tables
Plant Specimen Exhibit from UC Davis Herbarium

Academic & Research

Community Initiatives and Student & Faculty Research Posters
Resource Table with books and educational materials

Artists

Art Collaboration | Event artwork display by:

Haiwee Fredericks | Double majoring in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems and Native American Studies at UC Davis, Fredericks brings deep connections to Indigenous food systems as an active community member in Payahuunadü (the place where water flows) along the Eastern Sierra Mountains. Growing up Nüümü, Newe, & Wá∙šiw, she combines academic study with lived cultural knowledge and community engagement in Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives. Her artistic contribution to the symposium poster reflects both traditional knowledge and contemporary expressions of Native plant relationships.
Stormi Alejandre | Bachelor of Arts candidate in Native American Studies (graduating Spring 2026), Alejandre serves as Student Director of the American Indian Recruitment and Retention (AIRR) program at UC Davis' Student Recruitment and Retention Center (SRRC). In this leadership role, she focuses on supporting Native American student success and fostering connections between Indigenous students and cultural resources. Her artistic work for the symposium poster embodies the intersection of academic achievement, cultural identity, and community representation.

Special thanks to our sponsors