Folsom Zoo Language Trip
We will host our third annual language outing to the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary in April 2025!
SSBMI Tribal Members and SSBMI TANF families who participate in this year's Folsom Zoo Language Trip will be able to tour the zoo and learn Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok language with the help of animal flashcards that we provide and language signage that we post around the zoo. Paricipants will also receive a language bag and custom enamel pin; this year's pin features a bobcat (tolomá in Nisenan and tóllomma in Northern Sierra Miwok). Finally, participants will enjoy various drinks provided by the SSBMI Exhibits & Collections Center and participate in demonstrations hosted by the SSBMI Language Department, SSBMI Environmental Department, and SSBMI Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Department.

Here, you can listen to audio recordings of the Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok language that we shared on zoo signage, including names for animals who live at the zoo and names for more animals and plants that you may see at the zoo. You can also check out our zoo language map.
You can also learn more about the Folsom Zoo Language Trip, where the language we share comes from, and our language materials.
The SSBMI Community has ancestral ties to the Valley and Southern Hill dialects of the Nisenan language through the Tribe's Matriarchs, Pamela Cleanso Adams and Annie Hill Murray Paris. Pamela spoke the Valley dialect and she, her brother Tom Cleanso, and her daughter Lillie Williams are responsible for passing on most of the knowledge we have of Valley Nisenan today. We have less direct information about Annie’s language; based on where she was from and documented language from her relations and associates, she likely spoke Southern Hill Nisenan.
Folsom is part of the Tribe's ancestral Nisenan homelands in the Sacramento Valley. The Nisenan language has been spoken in Folsom since time immemorial, and we are proud to be able to share the Tribe's heritage languages with you at the Folsom Zoo.
Jane Winn Lewis, a Nisenan woman from the Folsom area, called this place Poló Oo, which means "Buckeye Rock" in Nisenan. Today, you can see this name on the Polo ’Oo Boat Launch at Black Miners Bar in the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area.
Nisenan
Poló Oo
'Folsom' (literal "Buckeye Rock")