Ecology and Management of Pinyon-Juniper Communities Within

This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Errors identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain. Role of Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands in Aboriginal Societies of the Desert West Joel C. Janetski Abstract-Archaeological data and ethnographic accounts testify gathering and hunting. The pinyon-juniper community of the importance of resources available in the pinyon-juniper provided important resources for all. woodland to native peoples since the early Holocene. Food, shelter, raw material for tool construction, tinder, and preferred settle ment location are a few of these. Although early evidence is Ethnographic Uses of Pinyon sometimes inconclusive, information from more recent periods and Juniper argue for increasing reliance on this vegetative community and its resources through time. Food Nuts from pinyon pine, both Pinus edulis (Colorado pinyon) and P. monophylla (singleleaf pinyon), were one of The pinyon and juniper community is widespread across the most important foods for peoples of the Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin regions ofthe Desert Colorado Plateau. Wherever they were available they were West. This community provided aboriginal peoples with gathered in large quantities. But they were particularly some of the most basic raw material to sustain life. The important to the Great Basin people. Premier Great Basin intent of this paper is to review some of the ways these ethnographer, Julian Steward, calls pinyon "The most resources were used in recent times as well as the evi important single food species where it occurs ... " (Steward dence for use in the more distant past. I will focus on 1938:27). plants in the paper, and more specifically, pinyon and Pine nuts are high in protein and fats, although the juniper. Clearly many other resources (animals of vari percentages vary with the species (table 1). Singleleaf ous kinds, grasses, sage) were present, but a discussion pinyon is higher in fat and protein while Colorado pinyon is of all such resources and the ways in which they were higher in carbohydrates. The fat content exceeds that of used would take me far beyond the allotted time. chocolate and both contain all 20 amino acids required for human growth. Also, both contain tryptophan, an essential Aboriginal Peoples of the amino acid that is deficient in the diet of corn farmers CHuckell 1992:125). Singleleaf produces somewhat fewer Desert West seeds than Colorado, a tendency that is offset by the thinner hulls of singleleaf resulting in larger nutmeats. Both are The Desert West was and is home to various Shoshone (or ranked high on the list of available foods for people in the Uto-Aztekanspeaking) groups, Ute, Southern Paiute, North arid west. That is, pine nuts yield excellent returns for ern Paiute, Kawaiisu, and W~sho (Hokan speaking) in the people who gathered wild foods for a living. Great Basin and Colorado Plateau and the Puebloan (Hopi, Productivity of the trees varies also. Good crops for a Zuni, Rio Grande Pueblos) and Athabaskan (Navaho and particular tree can occur every 4 or 5 years for P. edulis and Apache) peoples of Arizona and New Mexico. Lifeways in every 2 or 3 for P. monophylla, although some nuts may be these diverse regions were likewise variable. Nearly all of produced every year. Steward (1938:27) states: "In some the peoples of the Great Basin, for example, were hunters years there is a good crop throughout the area, in some and gatherers and relied exclusively on indigenous plants years virtually none." Productivity also apparently varies and animals for their livelihood. Exception were the South with the age of the stand, with old trees producing fewer ern Paiute in the St. George Basin who raised some crops: filled hulls CHuckell1992:132). An illustration of this vari corn, squash, maybe some others. Of course, the Puebloan ability is presented by Lanner (1983:170) for a stand of peoples were farmers but, nonetheless, gathered many mOllophylla in the Raft River Mountains of northwestern native or wild resources both for food and for other pur Utah. A 5 year study reported per acre cone production as poses. The Navaho and Apache, recent migrants to the follows: 1975, 765 cones; 1976, 0 cones; 1977, 2,560 cones; American Southwest, are more eclectic in their subsistence 1978,2,325 cones; 1979,585 cones. In general, singleleaf is practices, with pastoralism mixed with some farming and more prod uctive and more predictable than Colorado pin yon (Sutton 1984). Sullivan (1992:200-201), on the other hand, has argued that archaeologists have tended to over play the variable nature of pinyon nut production. Citing In: Monsen, Stephen B.; Stevens, Richard, comps. 1999. Proceedings: various sources, he maintains that pinyon production can ecology and management of pinyon-juniper communities within the Interior be predicted rather accurately 2 years in advance and with West; 1997 September 15-18; Provo, UT. Proc. RMRS-P-9. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research considerable accuracy 1year in advance (Sullivan 1992:200). Station. Joel C. Janetski is with the Department of Anthropology, Brigham Young Gathering of Pine Nuts-Pine nuts were usually gath University, Provo, UT. ered in the early fall at about the time ofthe first frosts. Two USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-9. 1999 249 Table 1-Nutritional values of P. edulis and P. monophylla (kernels only-percentages by weight) (from Madsen 1986). Species Water Protein Fat Crude fiber Carbohydrate Ash Call100 gm P. edulis 3.0 14.3 60.9 1.1 18.1 2.7 714 P. monophylla 10.2 9.5 23.0 1.1 53.8 2.4 488 methods were employed: green or brown cone harvesting Of course, once nuts fell to the ground oreven when cones (see Madsen 1986). The former took place before the cones had opened while still on the tree, they were eagerly sought opened. The green cones were either removed from branches by other foragers (birds, squirrels, insects). using a hook or sometimes branches containing cones were Pine Nut Processing-Pine nut meats were eaten raw broken off the tree. Once removed the sticky cones were while harvesting or after toasting. But most were toasted, placed in pits and roasted until the cones began to open. hulled, winnowed, and ground into a paste for making a They were then pulled out ofthe fire with sticks, cooled, and pine nut soup or gruel. Initial roasting was done by placing opened, and the nuts were removed and tossed in a heap. a few handfuls of nuts on a winnowing tray along with hot A graphic account of pine nut harvesting by the green coals. The two were mingled while moving the tray quickly cone method is suppled by Howard Egan in western Nevada to keep it and the nuts from burning. The coals were then in the late 1800's. tossed off the tray and the nuts placed on a flat rock and Jack and I were taking a scouting trip high up in the Schell lightly crushed to crack the hulls. The cracked nuts were Creek Range of mountains, when we came across an Indian then returned to the winnowing tray and separated from who, with his [wife) and children were busily engaged the meats by tossing all into the air with the lighter hulls gathering pine nuts. The man had a long pole with a strong blown away by the wind. The meats were then toasted hook fastened to one end. He would reach up in the tree to again in a similar fashion until the nuts were hard. After the pine cones, hook the crook around the branch on which cleaning the meats with a nut paste, they were ground into they hung and pull branch and all down, the woman and children carrying them to a place and piling them up in a flour on the grinding stones. The flour was used to make heap. When they had collected as many as they wanted that soup or gruel. The soup was sometimes mixed with meat to day, the [man) has finished his part of the work and could give it more flavor. The Navajo made a kind of pine nut pass the rest of the time sleeping or hunting squirrels just butter and spread it on corn cakes. as he pleased. Pine Nut Storage-Importantly, pine nuts could be The women and children gathered a little dry brush which stored for future use. Pits or other storage facilities were up was thrown loosely over the pile of cones and set fire to. The to 5 ft in diameter, lined with rocks, grass, or bark (probably cones are thickly covered all over with pitch, for this reason juniper) and covered over with more bark, branches, dirt, they make a hot fire, the [woman) watching and stirring it and more rocks. Nuts were sometimes stored in cones and up as needed to keep the nuts from burning, as she rakes sometimes in hulls. Stored in this way, nuts lasted at least them back from the fire as a man would do when drawing through the winter. Puebloan peoples would store enough charcoal. pine nuts to last them 2 or 3 years. Great Basin tribes When the pitch was all burned off the burs or cones, the usually consumed all their stores by the late winter. [woman) spreads a blanket down close to the pile, then The importance of pinyon is reflected in myths and the taking up one cone at a time, would press them end ways fact that some groves were actually owned by families and between her hands, which opens the leaves, under which defended (Steward 1933).

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