Siskiyou Crest: A Festival of Art, Culture and Science

Are you a birder? A wildflower enthusiast? A water lover who would like to snorkel for salmon in Williams Creek?
Siskiyou Crest: A Festival of Art, Culture, and Science kicks off July 14 with ten hikes and field trips led by experts on the biology, geology, and history of the Siskiyou Crest. On July 15 and 16, the festival continues at Pacifica Garden in Williams, Oregon, with speakers, panel discussions, music, poetry readings, and art displays. By celebrating the ecological, recreational, and inspirational importance of the Siskiyou Crest, the festival supports the efforts of its producer, the Siskiyou Crest Coalition, to find permanent protections for public lands on the Crest.
“The Siskiyou Crest is a vital cog in the globally significant Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion, serving as a wildlife corridor into higher-elevation, intact climate sanctuaries,” says the prominent scientist Dominick DellaSala, who will participate on two panels at the festival. “This festival, bringing together scientists, activists, artists, Indigenous peoples, and musicians, is just the right medicine to reinvigorate a protection-oriented campaign for the remarkable Siskiyou Crest.”
David Rains Wallace, Sunday’s keynote speaker, also sees the need for protections for public lands on the Crest. In an epilogue for the recent reprint of his award-winning book, The Klamath Knot, Wallace advocates for a new park in the Klamath-Siskiyou region to safeguard its rich storehouse of relict species and evolutionary stories.
Joe Scott, a Language and Culture Bearer of the Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians, will be speaking on indigenous fire science. Panels of prominent scientists will discuss the botany, wildlife, and biodiversity of the Crest, threats to the Crest and recreation on it. A show of paintings, textile arts, sculptures, photographs—all media—features art inspired by the wild nature of the Siskiyou Crest, including a video of Betty LaDuke with her turtle paintings, a video by the international film-maker Kevin Peer, photography by Matt Witt, a mosaic by Mary Driver, and works by many other regionally and nationally known artists. Both days include poetry readings and music inspired by the Siskiyou Crest. Featured musicians will be Windsong, followed by the Pozitronics, on Saturday, and, as a great finale to the festival, Alice DiMicele on Sunday. Great food from popular food trucks and children’s activities throughout the day enhance the festival atmosphere.
The festival is free. The event begins at 10 a.m. each day. Deadline for signing up for hikes is July 7. Find details at siskiyoucrestcoalition.org/festival, or email siskiyoufestival@gmail.com with questions.