Fort Lewis College hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the long awaited Indigenous Garden opening to the south of the Art & Design Hall on Oct. 2. 

"Seeds of gratitude", were given out for free outside of the garden on behalf of Fort Lewis College Reconciliation.  

While there are places on campus for connection for Indigenous community, this is the first outdoor space that really allows for students, faculty, and Durango to connect to the land on a deeper level, Joslynn Lee, an FLC faculty member, said.

“I feel full of excitement,” Andrea Descheenie, senior at Fort Lewis College and graphic designer for the garden, said. 

The garden is intended to be a shared space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to grow a more hands-on connection to the land and the ground, she said. 

This garden has been in the making since the beginning of this institution, Lee said. 

“There’s a lot of knowledge to be shared,” she said.

This garden is a space to bring awareness to the environment and recognize that as humans need to care for the plants the same way that they care for us, Matthew Bahnimptewa, a student majoring in environmental science at FLC, said. 

Attendees watched and listened as Bahnimptwa gave a blessing to the garden to begin the ceremony. 

While this garden will provide the community many offerings, it is important that there is reciprocation, he said. 

“Always go in the mindset of greeting the plant, acknowledging that you are wanting to use the plant for certain things, and then bring an offering,” Lee said. 

Offerings can include corn pollen, tobacco, which may be found at the Native American Center located in the downstairs of the Student Union Building, she said. 

“You always want to approach the plant in a mindful, positive way, and provide an offer before taking it,” she said. “That’s the idea of reciprocity,”. 

This garden is a place of respect, not only for the people you meet there but also for the plants and the land, Bahnimptewa said. 

Many people feel immense excitement that this idea has finally become a reality, Descheenie said. 

“I'm really happy with how it turned out,” Bahnimptewa said. 

A natural dye bed that is part of the garden, cultivating plants that create natural pigments for fiber arts and crafting. Artists can come here to feel connected with the flowers before they harvest them as pigments for their crafts, Descheenie said.