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From an Ethnobotanical Perspective

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From an Ethnobotanical Perspective Conservation Value of the North American Borealfrom an Ethnobotanical Forest Perspective Author About the David Suzuki Foundation amanda Karst the David suzuki foundation works with government, business, and individuals a report commissioned by the Canadian to conserve our environment through Boreal initiative, the David suzuki science-based education, advocacy, and foundation, and the Boreal songbird policy work, and acting as a catalyst for initiative social change. the foundation’s main goals include ensuring that Canada does Author bio its fair share to avoid dangerous climate amanda Karst lives in Winnipeg and is change; protecting the diversity and a research associate at the Centre for health of Canada’s marine, freshwater, indigenous environmental resources and terrestrial wildlife and ecosystems; (Cier). her work at Cier has involved and making sure that Canadians can watershed planning, traditional foods maintain a high quality of life within the and medicines, climate change, and finite limits of nature through efficient environmental monitoring. amanda is resource use. for more information visit: métis, originally from saskatchewan. www.davidsuzuki.org Before working at Cier, she worked on a number of projects in About the Boreal Songbird Initiative ethnobotany and plant ecology in British the Boreal songbird initiative (Bsi) is Columbia, saskatchewan, Quebec a non-profit organization dedicated to and newfoundland and labrador. raising awareness, through science, she obtained her m.sc. in biology education, and outreach, of the (ethnobotany/plant ecology) from the importance of the Canadian Boreal university of victoria in 2005. forest to north america’s birds, other wildlife, and the global environment. Acknowledgements for more information visit: the author would like to thank alestine www.borealbirds.org andre, Kelly Bannister, stuart Crawford, ann Garibaldi, Cheryl Jerome, marla Suggested citation robson and nancy turner for their Karst, a. 2010. Conservation value of valuable comments on the paper. the north american Boreal forest from an ethnobotanical Perspective. Canadian About the Canadian Boreal Initiative Boreal initiative, David suzuki foundation Photos on cover: the Canadian Boreal initiative (CBi) is and Boreal songbird initiative; ottawa, Temiscamie River, Otis Mountains a national convener for conservation in on; vancouver, BC; seattle, Wa. Proposed National Park -Garth Lenz Canada’s Boreal forest. We work with Highbush cranberries conservation organizations, first nations, (Viburnum edule) -Nancy Turner industry and others – including members Cloudberries of the Boreal leadership Council – to (Rubus chamaemorus) -Amanda Karst link science, policy and conservation solutions across Canada’s Boreal forest. for more information visit: Copyright 2010 by the www.borealcanada.ca David suzuki foundation and the Boreal songbird initiative ISBN Number: 978-0-9842238-0-0 2 Conservation value of the north ameriCan Boreal forest from an ethnoBotaniCal PersPeCtive Introduction Introduction use of a wide range of Boreal plants for food, medicine, shelter, transportation, and art (andre et al. 2006, arnason et the Boreal region in north america al. 1981, Kuhnlein and turner 1991, covers a vast area (almost six million marles et al. 2000, and moerman 1998). km2) composed of a patchwork of Plants also hold spiritual and ceremonial unique habitats (Johnson et al 1995; CBi significance, important in maintaining 2005; trelawny 1988). the traditional cultural well-being and identity. territory of many indigenous1 people is within the Boreal region; there are it has been estimated that the hundreds of aboriginal communities current value of the Canadian Boreal in the Canadian Boreal (senate to aboriginal people in terms of subcommittee 1999). indigenous subsistence (plant and animal) foods connections to the Boreal landscape alone is between 261.4 million and go far beyond utilitarian purposes. not 575.1 million dollars (anielski 2005). this only have indigenous people obtained estimate does not encompass aspects all the resources necessary for survival of the indigenous relationship to the from this environment, they have also Boreal landscape in which no monetary developed a sacred cultural connection value can be placed, for example, as a to the Boreal. specifically, the Boreal has source of spiritual and cultural inspiration significant ethnobotanical (relationship Mountain River, a tributary irene oWsley and wellbeing. however, this estimate between people and plants) importance of the Mackenzie River provides an indication of the economic to indigenous people from this region. importance of this region to indigenous this ethnobotanical importance along people living there. with the collective traditional knowledge that is unique to and intrinsically tied to this region and the rich variety of Boreal plants have always played a plants from which this knowledge significant role in the cultural fabric stems, lend tremendous weight to the of indigenous people living in the significant conservation value of the region. food and beverage plants Boreal region. this paper will outline the provide significant nutritional benefits, variety of ways that indigenous people especially to predominantly meat- use the plants in the Boreal region, the based diets in the Boreal region. the significance of plants to their cultures knowledge of plant medicines and and the major threats to Boreal applications were and continue to be a plants today. fundamental component of the holistic healing practices of indigenous people. Comprehensive use of the Boreal traditional ecological knowledge can landscape in early times would not have be defined as a “cumulative body of been possible without transportation knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving and other technological materials that by adaptive processes and handed were made from plant products. it is down through generations by cultural not only the detailed knowledge of plant transmission, about the relationship of resources but the cultural values and living beings (including humans) with social practices, communicated through one another and with their environment” stories, legends, and place names that (Berkes et al. 2000). these indigenous were and continue to be essential to knowledge systems have resulted in the 1 The use of “Indigenous” throughout this paper represents Aboriginal people (i.e. Inuit, Métis and First Nations people) in Canada and indigenous people (Alaska Natives and Native Americans) in the United States. 2 Conservation value of the north ameriCan Boreal forest from an ethnoBotaniCal PersPeCtive 3 Indigenous People lives of indigenous people in the Boreal and alberta (e.g. Chipewyan). many of region. the Boreal landscape was, and the names listed previously represent in many incidences continues to act as a names that were used in anthropological grocery store, pharmacy, school, church, literature, but may not necessarily a source of strength and the place in represent the names preferred by which wisdom is attained. Boreal plants indigenous people. some groups have Plants have been an important are currently threatened by a number defined or reclaimed their own names part of indigenous Boreal cultures of factors such as habitat loss, climate for their people and languages. for for thousands of years. change, and industrial development. the example, many ojibway speakers prefer health, wellbeing, and cultural identity of to identify themselves as anishnaabe. indigenous people in the Boreal region many indigenous groups in labrador is rooted in the health of the land and and Quebec that were previously known waters. traditional ecological knowledge, as naskapi and montagnais (languages unique to each local area, must continue belonging to the Cree language family), to be lived on the land for the social, now identify as innu. the métis, people cultural, nutritional, and economic with a mix of european and first nations/ wellbeing of indigenous people, which inuit ancestry, reside in areas across the necessitates conservation of the Boreal region. the inuit people occupy Boreal region. areas north of the Boreal region, but occasionally travel south into forested areas (marles et al. 2000). Indigenous people although there is substantial cultural diversity among the indigenous people in the Boreal region in the Boreal region, there are some commonalities. in the recent past, indigenous people who reside in the most Boreal indigenous people were Boreal region are comprised of two main generally nomadic hunter-gatherers, language groups: athapaskan (Dene) astute observers, who moved seasonally in the northwest and algonquian in to follow resources (mcClellan and the southeast (marles et al. 2000). the Denniston 1981; rogers and smith two main branches of the algonquian 1981). During the long winter seasons, language family are Cree and ojibway when the land is covered in snow and (rhodes and todd 1981). Dialects of water bodies are frozen, people would Cree (e.g. Woods Cree, east Cree, often split into smaller groups to harvest attikamek) are spoken by aboriginal the fewer available resources. the main Garth lenz people living in alberta across to Traditional Dene beadwork in mode of transportation in the winter was the Northwest Territories Quebec. Dialects of ojibway (e.g. by foot, snowshoe and toboggan. During saulteaux, Central ojibwa, algonquin) the short warm summers, larger groups are spoken from saskatchewan across would often gather together, along
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