Culturally Modified Trees Of British Columbia

This handbook is an operational guide designed for foresters and others interested in documenting culturally modified trees, defined as trees that have been altered by native people as part of their traditional use of a forest. Examples of such trees include trees with bark removed, trees with scars from plank removal, canoe blanks, delimbed trees, Aboriginally logged trees, and trees with cultural markings. The handbook describes methods for identification of culturally modified trees in coastal and interior British Columbia and also provides information on recording of tree data, dating of cultural modifications, sample collection and processing, protection and management of culturally modified trees, and using those trees as evidence of an Aboriginal right. Includes glossary. The appendix contains criteria for identifying cultural tapering bark-strip scars.

In Faces in the Forest Michael Blackstock, a forester and an artist, takes us into the sacred forest, revealing the mysteries of carvings, paintings, and writings done on living trees by First Nations people. Blackstock details this rare art form through oral histories related by the Elders, blending spiritual and academic perspectives on Native art, cultural geography, and traditional ecological knowledge. Faces in the Forest begins with a review of First Nations cosmology and the historical references to tree art. Blackstock then takes us on a metaphorical journey along the remnants of trading and trapping trails to tree art sites in the Gitxsan, Nisga'a, Tlingit, Carrier, and Dene traditional territories, before concluding with reflections on the function and meaning of tree art, its role within First Nations cosmology, and the need for greater respect for all of our natural resources. This fascinating study of a haunting and little-known cultural phenomenon helps us to see our forests with new eyes.

"Ethnographic and archaeological data are used to demonstrate the significance of cambium utilization within the seasonal round of Carrier First Nations of the Nechako Plateau. Evidence of cambium use is found today in the form of Culturally Modified Trees (CMTs), which are to date, the most common archaeological subsistence feature found in the province of British Columbia (BC). This research investigates how CMTs fit into Carrier archaeology, and what type of information they can tell us about Carrier subsistence. Oral histories from several Carrier elders convey the importance of cambium use, and demonstrate that this resource was not used only as an emergency food. Elders explain that cambium was one of a variety of foods that the Carrier would consume over the course of the year, and contributed to the seasonal round by providing a desert and a delicacy filled with nutrients, flavor, and body cleansing attributes. Dendrochronological dates, CMT frequency data, and descriptive data are analyzed from two sites, GgSp-55 and FjSg-12 in the Carrier region."--P. iii.

From the mighty cedar of the rainforest came a wealth of raw materials vital to the early Northwest Coast Indian way of life, its art and culture. For thousands of years these people developed the tools and technologies to fell the giant cedars that grew in profusion. They used the rot-resistant wood for graceful dugout canoes to travel the coastal waters, massive post-and-beam houses in which to live, steam bent boxes for storage, monumental carved poles to declare their lineage and dramatic dance masks to evoke the spirit world. Every part of the cedar had a use. The versatile inner bark they wove into intricately patterned mats and baskets, plied into rope and processed to make the soft, warm, yet water-repellent clothing so well suited to the raincoast. Tough but flexible withes made lashing and heavy-duty rope. The roots they wove into watertight baskets embellished with strong designs. For all these gifts, the Northwest Coast peoples held the cedar and its spirit in high regard, believing deeply in its healing and spiritual powers. Respectfully, they addressed the cedar as Long Life Maker, Life Giver and Healing Woman. Photographs, drawings, anecdotes, oral history, accounts of early explorers, traders and missionaries highlight the text.

An in-depth anthology dedicated to reconciliation in human-wild forest relationships.

Volume 1: The History and Practice of Indigenous Plant Knowledge Volume 2: The Place and Meaning of Plants in Indigenous Cultures and Worldviews Nancy Turner has studied Indigenous peoples' knowledge of plants and environments in northwestern North America for over forty years. In Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge, she integrates her research into a two-volume ethnobotanical tour-de-force. Drawing on information shared by Indigenous botanical experts and collaborators, the ethnographic and historical record, and from linguistics, palaeobotany, archaeology, phytogeography, and other fields, Turner weaves together a complex understanding of the traditions of use and management of plant resources in this vast region. She follows Indigenous inhabitants over time and through space, showing how they actively participated in their environments, managed and cultivated valued plant resources, and maintained key habitats that supported their dynamic cultures for thousands of years, as well as how knowledge was passed on from generation to generation and from one community to another. To understand the values and perspectives that have guided Indigenous ethnobotanical knowledge and practices, Turner looks beyond the details of individual plant species and their uses to determine the overall patterns and processes of their development, application, and adaptation. Volume 1 presents a historical overview of ethnobotanical knowledge in the region before and after European contact. The ways in which Indigenous peoples used and interacted with plants - for nutrition, technologies, and medicine - are examined. Drawing connections between similarities across languages, Turner compares the names of over 250 plant species in more than fifty Indigenous languages and dialects to demonstrate the prominence of certain plants in various cultures and the sharing of goods and ideas between peoples. She also examines the effects that introduced species and colonialism had on the region's Indigenous peoples and their ecologies. Volume 2 provides a sweeping account of how Indigenous organizational systems developed to facilitate the harvesting, use, and cultivation of plants, to establish economic connections across linguistic and cultural borders, and to preserve and manage resources and habitats. Turner describes the worldviews and philosophies that emerged from the interactions between peoples and plants, and how these understandings are expressed through cultures’ stories and narratives. Finally, she explores the ways in which botanical and ecological knowledge can be and are being maintained as living, adaptive systems that promote healthy cultures, environments, and indigenous plant populations. Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge both challenges and contributes to existing knowledge of Indigenous peoples' land stewardship while preserving information that might otherwise have been lost. Providing new and captivating insights into the anthropogenic systems of northwestern North America, it will stand as an authoritative reference work and contribute to a fuller understanding of the interactions between cultures and ecological systems.