Caring For the Plants/ Caring For the Land: Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge and use of plants Nancy Turner and Fiona Hamersley Chambers, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria
Acknowledgement: Seliliye The WSÁNEC � / Saanich Nation and other First Nations of the Salish Sea, who have lived her since time immemorial and cared for the lands and waters that sustained them… And especially: Chris Paul Sr., Philip Paul Sr., Chris Paul Jr., Kevin Paul, Anna Spahan, Davis Elliott, Sr., John Elliott, Elsie Claxton, Vi Williams, Dr. Earl Claxton Sr., Earl Claxton Jr., Seliliye Belinda Claxton, Nick Claxton, J.B. Williams and Sellemah Joan Morris Thanks, too, to the many other knowledge holders and teachers from BC First Nations and beyond who have contributed to our talks!
And, Thanks so much! To: • Mayne Island Conservancy Society (Chair, Malcolm Inglis) and Trisha Glatthaar: Thanks for your hospitality! • Mayne Island Parks & Recreation Commission and Parks Canada • Elizabeth May, OC MP and Green Party • Dr. Tim Montler, Dr. Richard Hebda, Dr. Darcy Mathews, Dr. Brenda Beckwith, Kate Proctor, School of Environmental Studies, and all our friends, colleagues, students
Our Talks this evening… • Tradi&onal Ecological Knowledge, and Tradi&onal Land and Resource Management • Overview of tradi&onal management prac&ces • A few examples: camas, berries, springbank clover • Concluding remarks
Tradi&onal Ecological Knowledge � A cumulative body of knowledge, practice and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission � (Berkes 1999:8) Above: Fikret Berkes, Helen Clifton teaches granddaughter Janelle author of Sacred Ecology to pound halibut at Gitga � at seaweed camp
Aspects of Traditional Ecological Knowledge • Practical strategies and observations (what, where, when, how?) • Worldview , belief systems (respect and gratitude) • Communication and passing on of knowledge (language, stories, experience, participation) • Governance institutions (specialization, division of labour, leadership, ownership) Berries – knowing their names, where they • cyclical time frame extending far into the grow, when to pick them, how to prepare past them, taboos and traditions about them, how to look after them. Above: Violet Williams, Pauquachin, 1990
Language: Saanich Song of Swainson’s Thrush ( weweles’; Catharus ustulatus ) • nenel � q'xelíqw ('the little black/dark red- headed ones') • nenel � pq � íqw ('the little white-headed ones') • nenel � kwemíqw ('the little red-headed ones') • nenel � pxwíqw ('the little blond/golden-headed ones') • "xwexwelexwelexwelexwesh! � ( � ripen, ripen, ripen, ripen! � ) [from Elsie Claxton, Tsawout] Rubus spectabilis , and the salmonberry bird, Swainson � s Thrush Photo by Glenn Bartley
Elsie Claxton � s � 10 Barks � e.g. Medicine Medicine… She taught us just how important these medicines are for survival; one day Belinda and I went out with her to learn how to make this medicine
Deep Lessons: e.g. � [Plants]…the Covering or Blanket of the Earth � (Nlaka � pamux) � Flowers, plants & grass especially the latter are the covering or blanket of the earth. If too much plucked or ruthlessly destroyed [the] earth [is] sorry and weeps. It rains or is angry and makes rain, fog & bad weather. � (ethnographer James Teit, unpublished notes, ca. 1900)
Embedded in oral histories: e.g. Arbutus ḰEḰEIȽĆ (q w əq w əy-ílhch) “Once it rained and rained un7l the water of the sea began to rise. People twisted cedar branches into a very long rope so that they might anchor their canoes to some rock or stump…” (Diamond Jenness notes, n.d.). Christopher Paul and Philip Paul explained the rest. People 7ed their canoes to an arbutus at ̲ (lhewəlngəxw) (Mount the top of ȽÁWELṈEW Newton). Because of its generous role in saving people, Philip Paul said, they never burn arbutus….
Traditional Land and Resource Management: part of any Traditional Knowledge System • Practices to maintain, sustain and enhance resources and habitats • Working with natural processes (e.g. succession, regeneration, nutrient cycling) • Often grounded in beliefs and worldviews: responsibility and contingent proprietorship Seliliye Belinda Claxton of Tsawout harvests a strip of cedarbark after giving thanks to the tree; the tree is still living, 10 years later
Bri$sh Columbia First Peoples: Dense popula$ons using many resources from land & waters intensively The Indigenous Peoples of western North America are often called “ hunter-gatherers ,” with the implication that they simply took what resources they could find from the land and the sea. But… this is a simplistic label! Camas photo by Joseph Pallant [see M. Kat Anderson. 2005. springbank clover, Tending the Wild. Environmental camas and red huckleberries Management by Native Californians . UC Press, Berkeley]
Land and Resource Management Prac2ces • Use of fire to maintain prairies, upland meadows, and other habitats and to renew individual species • Pruning and coppicing trees and shrubs • Tilling, weeding and selective harvesting of root vegetables • Re-planting, scattering and transplanting propagules Salmonberry ( Rubus spectabilis ) v Using perennials’ capacity to regenerate through partial harvesting
Land and Resource Management Prac2ces, cont. • Creating habitat through structural alterations • Ownership and proprietorship • Distributed use and harvesting across landscapes and over Edible root of Pacific silverweed time ( Potentilla egedii ), often enhanced by “traditional root garden” • Multi-generational cultivation on the Northwest monitoring of plant and Coast animal populations
Learning about plant regenera/on from the animals… Beaver-pruned willow re-sprou1ng; Ridgefield Na1onal Wildlife Refuge
Saanich Reefnet Fishing - a way of life Willows, Salix sitchensis at Tl’ches, Chatham Island Drawing Courtesy The late Dr. Earl Claxton, Sr.showing John Elliott reefnet sites around Gulf Islands
Ceremonial Plants: First Salmon Ceremony, ȾIXEN Tsawout Seafood Festival Sword Fern SŦXÁLEM (s th xéləm) KEXMIN (q’əxmín)
Using perennial species… Plants have amazing regenerative powers; many can be used, in part, year after year, generation after generation; e.g. cattail leaves and tule stems [ SȻELEL (sk w aləl’)] Above: SȾA,ḴEN (st’ th é7qən) ( � something with hair on the top � ) – cattail; left – 4-m long tule mat, Museum of Anthropology, UBC
Case examples • Coast Salish Camas management • Berry & fruit management • Ne6les and springbank clover Camas flowers; salal; stinging nettle; evergreen huckleberries
Camas bulbs – a staple root vegetable of the south coast - Two species ( Camassia quamash , C. leichtlinii ); Lily Family (Liliaceae) - Edible bulbs: but must be cooked for a long @me to convert main carbohydrate, inulin, to fructose - Harvested by the millions annually: ~10 million per year on Vancouver Island - Maintained by burning and other means
Fer$le Plains…. • On reaching the south end of the [Vancouver] island, a decided improvement was observed in the appearance of the country. …the forest is replaced by a more open and beautifully diversefied [sic] country presenting a succession of plains with groves of oaks and pine [Douglas-fir] trees for a distance of 15 to 20 miles… The plains are said to be fertile and covered with the most luxuriant vegetation (Captain McNeill, 1831, in Rich 1941:286-287, my emphasis).
Ownership/proprietorship & control • Ownership was explained by MG and AG from Sooke (as recorded by Suttles 1952, pers. comm. to N. Turner 1996): “[T’souke people] had lots [of plots]. They didn’t dig just anywhere. Stakes marked them. Women owned them, and they would fight for their claims. If someone came on to a woman’s plot, she would quarrel. If the owner died, a near relative got the plot.”
Looking a)er the Camas beds One of Wayne Suttles � consultants stated that she was responsible for burning the camas area that belonged to her grandmother once they had finished harvesting for the season (Suttles 1974:60). Other people were allowed to harvest from this site, but responsibility for managing the resource site through landscape burning was clearly delegated to ensure that the resource would be available in following years.
Camas bulb production • Photo of Camassia leichtlinii bulbs rescued and grown with tender loving care out in coldframes at Government House (Dr. Brenda Beckwith’s work and photo)
Selec%ve harves%ng: Camas bulbs from 1 square meter of garry oak savannah at the Somenos Garry Oak Preserve near Duncan (Kate Proctor’s master’s research)
Feasting, gifting, story telling • Camas bulbs most widely traded product on S coast aside from salmon (Erna Gunther) • Featured in “The Star Husband tale” and other stories • Served at feasts and given at potlatches
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