"Nature was the provider" : traditional ecological knowledge and inventory of culturally significant plants and habitats in the Atleo River Watershed, Ahousaht Territory, Clayoquot Sound
Date
1998
Authors
Craig, Juliet Ann
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Abstract
In 1995, the Scientific Panel for Sustainable Forest Practices in Clayoquot Sound recognized the valuable role of First Nations' knowledge and perspectives in working towards sustainable forest practices in British Columbia. This research project, which stemmed from the recommendations of the Scientific Panel, was developed as a collaborative, community-based research project which explored culturally important food and material plants of the Ahousaht First Nation, including traditional use and management of these plant species, their availability and abundance in the Atleo River watershed, and potential for their future use and management as well as issues surrounding such use.
Among the plants investigated in this study were species with the following culturally important values: 17 berry-producing plants, four shoot vegetables, three tea plants, two root vegetables, six species providing materials and five floral plant species. Traditional ecological knowledge of these plants held by elders and other people in and from Ahousaht is presented, including practices and strategies for sustainable plant use and management, worldviews pertaining to plants and the surrounding forests, and communication and exchange of plant and ecological knowledge. As well, results and discussion of surveys of culturally significant plants in the Atleo River watershed are presented including the relative availability and abundance of these species. Finally, issues surrounding the future use and management of these plants are addressed including over-harvesting, accessibility, the recognition of special sites, holistic management, and the integration of traditional forest practices into future management.
By reflecting on the past and assessing the present, I hope that this research can be used to provide guidance for the careful and sustainable management of culturally important plants and their habitats in the future, for the benefit of Nuu-Chah-Nulth and other local peoples