Inside the 13 Moons curriculum: How the Swinomish Tribe keeps traditions alive while teaching STEAM and helping to reduce chemical exposures

When Donatuto completed her project on how higher-than-average fish consumption increased the tribe’s exposure to harmful chemicals, she presented her findings to the Tribal Senate. But when she finished, the room remained quiet. After what seemed like an eternity to her, an outsider, the chairman finally spoke: her view of health was “too narrow.”

It was a watershed moment for Donatuto that led to her being mentored by the tribe’s community health specialist, Larry Campbell, for the next 25 years as she worked as the tribe’s community environmental health analyst. Together, they ended up creating a first-of-its-kind environmental health and sustainability curriculum that uses a mix of traditional and scientific knowledge to identify and reduce chemical exposures on Swinomish land.

Campbell died in 2023. Donatuto says toward the end of their time together, “with all the ancestors guiding,” they developed the 13 Moons curriculum.

Based on the lunar calendar, the curriculum integrates year-round harvest traditions with science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, or STEAM. The 116-page, full-color book features year-round activities that engage multiple generations in sharing tribal traditions and getting people outdoors — while aiming to reduce harmful chemical exposures. A plant-based and an animal-based activity is offered for each moon.

Although the curriculum focuses primarily on Swinomish traditions, it incorporates activities relevant to all Coast Salish nations, and the guiding principles used in each activity can help other tribes tailor it to their own communities. Donatuto says 13 Moons is “fundamentally an Indigenous knowledge sharing project — relatives sharing with each other how to improve food security, sovereignty and climate adaptation.”

What Are the 13 Moons?

The 13 Moons calendar, common to many Indigenous communities worldwide, follows the cycles of the moon instead of the 12-month Gregorian calendar. “The lunar phases are all connected to some kind of traditional foods or activities,” says Beth Willup, a Swinomish tribal member who became the environmental health program coordinator in early 2025 after earning a master’s degree in psychology. Donatuto trained her to take over the program before leaving for another position. The curriculum, Willup adds, “is about harvesting practices and bringing more plant foods and medicines into the classroom and the community.”

Traditions such as preserving salmon during the Moon of the Silver Salmon are included with STEAM exercises, such as testing for shellfish toxins, creating marine debris art during the Moon of the Salal Berry or learning how water quality affects fish and people during the Moon of the Blackberry.

A decade ago, as an undergraduate studying Native environmental science, Willup created the tribe’s community garden. Today, the garden is a component of the 13 Moons curriculum.

Experimenting with various oils, salts and preservation methods to make healing salves from medicinal plants is a curricular activity during the Moon of the Salmonberry. Having come full circle from the garden’s creation, Willup now mentors those who wish to work in the garden, create salves or deliver the garden bounty to elders.

Willup and a handful of other tribal members teach activities from the curriculum at the Swinomish preschool and its Boys & Girls Club — and also sometimes at community events.

Said Donatuto, “the structure is great for new teachers to have something to follow, but the most important piece is to be in the moment and follow the kids’ interests and get them outdoors as much as possible.” In other words, a teacher does not need to follow an activity step-by-step, book in hand, to embrace the spirit of the work.

The tribe published the book in 2019, but the pandemic initially limited its use. To expand its availability, the team worked with the Native Plants & Foods Institute to digitize the content as part of the National Science Foundation-funded Cedar Box Experience website, which went live in 2024. The website includes videos of Coast Salish tribal members sharing traditions and retelling legends.

Passing down traditional knowledge with 13 Moons

As the Swinomish fight to reduce harmful exposures to chemicals and the impacts of climate change on their lands and waters, 13 Moons provides a timeless resource for the tribe to pass on traditional knowledge, culture and connections. At the same time, it helps younger generations learn how science can help them advocate for their health, their way.

An ancient clam garden the community restored on the shores of Skagit Bay now plays a role in several 13 Moons activities, from gathering under the moon for a midnight clambake to painting clam shells to testing water quality.

The clam garden is the perfect example of the interconnection of Indigenous environmental health, food and culture. Climate change — caused by forces beyond the tribe’s immediate control — has led to ocean acidification, which harms juvenile salmon, a crucial component of their culture and traditions. After salmon spawn in Skagit Bay, juvenile fish mature in its estuaries before returning to the ocean. Scientists recently found that clam shells counteract rising ocean acidity. Thus, restoring this ancient practice allows the tribe to counteract climate change, which protects its food security — and the spiritual nourishment of harvesting salmon and shellfish — in both the short- and long-term.

“I think it’s important not only that we have these connections to our ancestors … but we’re able to practice them,” says Tribal Senator Alana Quintasket in a video on the Cedar Box website. “It’s restoring our health and restoring our relationships, not only with each other as humans but … [also] to our relatives of the sea. And those connections, that’s medicine for our people.”

Joe Quintasket, Swinomish community environmental health conservationist (and Alana’s father), recently took out-of-state visitors to the clam garden under a full moon. “The tide was dropping at just the right level to be out there, and … we shut our headlamps off and walked by the moonlight,” he recently recalled. “You could hear a little activity there, and we wondered what it was.” Turns out, it was a bunch of shrimp hunting and catching juvenile crabs.

It’s these kinds of experiences that Quintasket and Willup say tribal members feel excited to pass on to the next generation, while also delighting, even as adults, in being witness to natural wonders that their ancestors experienced for generations untold.