They are Still Here: Library and Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Storywalk

March 30, 2021 – Completing this spring, the public has a chance to learn more about the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan tribe’s history and present through the final phase of the project, “The Voice of the Nisenan: We Are Still Here,” in partnership with the Nevada County Community Library.

Building off of the successful 2014 grant and partnership, which resulted in a Nisenan Collection, speaker series, mobile kiosk, Nisenan-language picture book, and map of Nisenan territory, “The Voice of the Nisenan: We Are Still Here” has now brought the community a permanent “Storywalk” at the Eric Rood Administrative Center in Nevada City.

Come by for a walk on the beautiful trail at the bottom of the drive leading to the Madelyn Helling Library and enjoy a Nisenan storybook outdoors! Shelly Covert, Spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe and Executive Director California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), is a talented musician, advocate for her tribe, and, it turns out, children’s book author.

Covert, in partnership with the Nevada County Community Library and Sheri J. Tasch, Ph.D., an expert on Native American language revitalization, has written Anito’ope’ Beteyim Paiyom. The book has been distributed to fourth graders in Nevada County, with the help of the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools office, and is the storybook being displayed in the new Rood Center Path Storywalk.

Those interested in learning more about the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan tribe can find the Nisenan Collection now online, with an interactive GIS map, videos, a timeline, books, language, songs, educational materials, and other information at mynevadacounty.com/2862/Nisenan-Heritage.

This project is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

For more information about library programs, visit the Events Calendar at mynevadacounty.com/library, or call 530-265-7050. For more information about the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan, visit nisenan.org, or call 530-570-0846.