THE GEORGE WRIGHT

Volume 19 • 2002*:» Number 3

THE JOURNAL OF THE GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY

Dedicated to the Protection, Preservation and Management of Cultural and Natural Parks and Reserves Through Research and Education The George Wright Society

Board of Directors ROBERTj. KRUMENAKER • President Bayfield, Wisconsin LAURA E.S.GATES • Vice President Natchitoches, Louisiana DWIGHT T. PlTCAITHLEY • Treasurer Washington, D. C. DENNIS B. FENN • Secretary Flagstaff, Arizona

GILLIAN BOWSER • Copper Center, Alaska PETER BRINKLEY • New York, New York MARIE BERTILLION COLLINS • Piedmont, California ABIGAIL B. MILLER • Alexandria, Virginia DAVIDj. PARSONS • Missoula, Montana RICHARD B. SMITH • Placitas, New Mexico STEPHEN YVOODLEY • Hull, Quebec

Executive Office P. 0. Box 65, Hancock, Michigan 49930-0065 USA -B 1-906-487-9722; fax 1-906-487-9405 [email protected] • http://www.georgewright.org David Harmon • Executive Director Robert M. Linn • Membership Coordinator Emily Dekker-Fiala • Conference Coordinator The George Wright Society is a member of US/ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites—U.S. Committee), IUCN—The World Conservation Union, and The Natural Resources Council of America

© 2002 The George Wright Society, Inc. All rights reserved. (No copyright is claimed for previously published material reprinted herein.) ISSN 0732-4715

Editorial guidelines may be found on the inside back cover. Text paper is made of 50% recycled fibers. Printed by Book Concern Printers, Hancock, Michigan THE GEORGE WRIGHT FORUM

Volume 19 • 2002 * Number 3

Society News, Notes & Mail 2 World Heritage: Thirty Years of U. S. Participation 4 Gustavo F. Araoz Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania: A View from Overseas 12 Gintaras Matiukas, James P. Lassoie, and Daniel J. Decker The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples by the Canadian Government 22 David Neufeld Crossing Boundaries: Interpreting Resource-Related Issues 34 Cynthia MacLeod Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters: What is Known About Their Legends and Stories of Yellowstone National Park and the Complexities of Interpreting Them 40 Lee H. Whittlesey Exploiting the Human Need for Nature for Successful Protected Area Management 52 Ross J. Chapman Forest and Tree Conservation Through Metaphysical Constraints 57 Lawrence S. Hamilton

On the Cover: A view of Tytuvenai Regional Park in Lithuania. Photo by Roma Matiukiene

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 1 Society News, Notes & Mail Nash, Botkin to Address Joint GWS/CR2003 Conference Preparations are in full swing for "Protecting Our Diverse Heritage: The Role of Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites," the joint George Wright Society / Cultural Resources 2003 conference. By the time you read this, the deadline for receipt of abstracts will have passed and the Joint Conference Committee will be preparing to sift through the submissions.

As of this writing (mid-September), two of the four plenary sessions have been confirmed. Gary Nash, professor emeritus of history at UCLA, and direc­ tor, National Center for Histoiy in the Schools, will address the conference on Thursday, April 17. He co-chaired the National Histoiy Standards Project from 1992-1996 and was also instrumental in developing the Liberty Bell exhibit at Independence National Historical Park, both of which proved to be contentious endeavors. The final plenary (Friday, April 18) will be headlined by Daniel B. Botkin, professor emeritus at UC-Santa Barbara, and director of the Center for the Study of the Environment. Botkin is well-known as the author of Discordant Harmonies, published in 1991. More recent titles of his include Our Natural History: Lessons From Lewis and Clark and No Man's Garden: Thoreau and A New Vision for Civilization.

In addition to these, we are finalizing a plenary on environmental justice and parks, which will be held Tuesday the 15th, and are working on an plenary to kick things off on Monday the 14th. For the latest information on the joint con­ ference, go to http://www.georgewright.org/2003.html.

Evison Receives 2002 George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence In early September the GWS Board unanimously voted to bestow the Soci­ ety's highest honor, the George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence, on Boyd Evison for his many years of outstanding leadership in promoting research and resource management in the U.S. National Park System. Evison retired from the National Park Service in 1994 after career of more than 30 years which saw him work in a variety of parks and administrative offices, highlighted by superinten- dencies at Saguaro, Albright Training Center, Great Smoky Mountains, and Sequoia-Kings Canyon, and the directorship of the Alaska Region. He also taught at the University of Wisconsin and, after retiring, was a parks consultant in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria and the executive director of the Grand Teton Natural Histoiy Association. Among top NPS managers he was a leading advocate for resource management, inventory and monitoring, and for parks as places in which others could do research—even that which does not have imme-

2 The George Wright FORUM diate or obvious management implications.

Evison's award is for the year 2002. The Society's Awards Committee is cur­ rently accepting nominations until October 31 for the 2003 round of awards, which will be given out at the joint conference in April. Details at http://www.georgewright.org/2003awards.html.

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 3 Gustavo F. Araoz World Heritage: Thirty Years of U.S. Participation

he year 2002 marks the 30th anniversary of the World Heritage Con- vention, and we in the United States should use the occasion for cele- bration, since we were the first nation to ratify the convention, and it was American preservationists who conceived of expanding the draft conventionT from a protective tool for natural resources to include cultural her- itage. Proof that this was a good idea is the convention’s smashing success. Its ratification by 167 nations makes it the most popular pact in history.The World Heritage List has exceeded all expectations, with 721 inscriptions, of which 554 are cultural, 144 natural, and 23 a mix of the two. The nomination process has become so brisk that the World Heritage Committee has had to limit nomina- tions to one per country each year. This enthusiasm has not spread to ern development of all cities on the the United States, where interest in the planet. Alexandria, Annapolis, convention has been on the wane for Boston, Charleston, Chicago, New the past decade. Over the past 30 Orleans, New York, Newport, years, only eight U.S. cultural sites Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Fran- have been inscribed on the list— cisco, Santa Fe, Savannah, Washington scarcely a handful if we consider our ... do any of these cities have the out- country’s size and diverse cultural his- standing universal value required for tory, and especially if we compare our World Heritage listing? Probably yes, participation with nations such as and an overview of the list of World Italy, with 34 cultural sites on the list, Heritage cities in the Western Hemi- or Spain, with 33, or Mexico, with 20. sphere republics place the eligibility of But our most gaping absence from the U.S. cities in a favorable context. The World Heritage List has to do with our urban history of the World Heritage historic cities. cities of the Americas runs just as deep The map of the United States is as ours. They include 37 Colonial and studded with brilliant cities that speak Republican cities, and even one Mod- of our history, please our senses, and ern Movement city (Brasilia), that run enrich our cultural life. Some of them from the universally recognizable, played important roles in the larger such as Mexico City, to the relatively history of the world, while others are obscure, such as Santa Cruz de Mom- the result of early experimental Euro- pox (Table 1). pean settlements in the New World. Fostering participation by the Unit- American concepts of architecture and ed States in all international cultural urban planning and their application conventions is an integral part of the have had a major impact on the mod- mission of US/ICOMOS [the U.S.

4 The George Wright FORUM World Heritage: Thirty Years of U. S. Participation

Table 1. Colonial World Heritage cities in the Americas, by country.

Committee of the International Coun- our federal government. For that rea- cil on Monuments and Sites] since son, a federal agency is responsible for they provide one of the principal managing the implementation of the frameworks for international World Heritage Convention: the exchanges of information and cooper- National Park Service through its ation. For this reason, our consistent Office of International Affairs, which failure to attain the full potential bene- is both the convention’s door and fit from the World Heritage Conven- gatekeeper for all Americans. Only tion has been a nagging frustration for federal reserve lands and designated the leadership of US/ICOMOS. As we National Historic Landmarks are eligi- celebrate 30 years of the convention’s ble for nomination. The only person existence, this might be an appropriate who can lawfully nominate a U.S. site time to examine the reasons for our to the World Heritage List is the Assis- poor national performance, and to tant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, launch a national debate on how to Wildlife, and Parks. That post is cur- proceed. That debate should culmi- rently filled by Judge Craig Manson. nate in December, when US/ICO- There are 18 U.S. sites inscribed in MOS and Harvard University Gradu- the World Heritage List: ten are natu- ate School of Design will convene a ral; eight, cultural. Two additional nat- conference on New World Cities and ural sites span our northern frontier the World Heritage Convention. and are shared with Canada. All our listed sites, except for four, are nation- Background al parks. Those four exceptions are When an international convention Monticello, which is privately owned is ratified by our Congress, it binds by a non-profit organization; Cahokia Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 5 World Heritage: Thirty Years of U. S. Participation Mounds in Illinois and the Jefferson- on behalf of greater international ian Grounds of the University of Vir- involvement. But if the bills them- ginia, both of which are owned by selves have not passed, they have had state governments; and Taos Pueblo in some successes, including getting the New Mexico, which is owned commu- U.S. to pull out of the U.N. Man and nally by an independent First Ameri- the Biosphere Program and obtaining can nation. a cut in the State Department’s FY2001 budget that eliminated the Congressional Opposition and U.S. contribution to the World Her- Public Indifference itage fund. For the last six years, activity relat- ed to the World Heritage Convention This, then, might be the place to has been at a virtual standstill. There dispel some of the broadly circulated are several reasons for that, a principal misconceptions that appear to have one being the generalized public igno- driven congressional opposition to rance of or indifference towards U.S. World Heritage listings: participation in the World Heritage 1. Property of a World Heritage Convention. Another powerful reason Site is not transferred to the owner- is that a fringe element in the U.S. ship of the United Nations. Its proper- Congress has posted strong objections ty status remains unchanged. to the inscription of U.S. sites in the 2. Authority and responsibility for World Heritage List, alleging that in managing and protecting a listed site doing so we surrender our national continues to rest exclusively with the sovereignty over those sites to the national, state, or local authorities. Not United Nations, and furthermore that a single function is transferred to the it impinges on the private property United Nations. rights of the communities in or sur- rounding World Heritage Sites who 3. No instructions regarding man- may be affected by use limitation on agement or protection are given by natural sites. The congressional con- UNESCO [the U.N. Scientific, Edu- cern either sprang from or resonated cation, and Cultural Organization, well among mining, logging, grazing, which oversees the World Heritage and energy constituencies, mostly in Convention] unless the country the West. The group in Congress is requests such assistance. If and when small, but in the absence of a champi- given, these instructions are in the on for World Heritage on Capitol Hill, form of recommendations, never bind- it has met little opposition. For the last ing obligations. four Congresses, legislation has been In other words, after inscription it’s introduced and passed in the House— business as usual—there is no change but stopped in the Senate—proposing in the legal, administrative, or protec- far more stringent restrictions on our tive status quo. If an American city involvement in World Heritage. On were to be inscribed in the World Her- these occasions, US/ICOMOS has itage List, no oversight contingents often been the lone congressional wit- from abroad or from UNESCO would ness from the private sector testifying descend on the town to tell the locals

6 The George Wright FORUM World Heritage: Thirty Years of U. S. Participation what to do. In the unlikely event the tion] is requested to put together a list, town were to fail in its preservation, called the Tentative or Indicative List, the Blue Helmets will not disembark which identifies the sites that each on our shores; no black U.N. helicop- country may consider for nomination ters will enter our airspace. No extra- in the next ten years. Sites that are not national body can order changes to on the list cannot be nominated unless local ordinances, and local authority the list is amended in advance, which cannot be taken away. No internation- can be done at any time. The U.S. al body can fine or sanction a U.S. per- Indicative List is compiled by the son, municipality, or corporation, nor National Park Service’s Office of the United States government, for fail- International Affairs through official ure to comply with the convention. and non-official consultation process- The most extreme thing that could es with other agencies, experts, and happen—and only under the most interested parties, including US/ICO- egregious mismanagement — is MOS. In most countries amending the removal from the World Heritage List Indicative List is not a big problem, due to loss of significance, and that has but here in the United States proce- never occurred. dures require that, prior to adoption, What this political opposition on the list be published in the Federal the on side, and public apathy on the Register with an adequate period for other, have meant is that the National public comment. However, the Indica- Park Service has given a very low pri- tive List has not been revised since ority to World Heritage, and no nomi- 1991, when minor adjustments to the nations have been submitted by our 1982 list were published in the Feder- country in several years. The last U.S. al Register. The Indicative List is out- property listed was Carlsbad Caverns dated and in desperate need of revi- in 1995. How can the process be re- sion to reflect our evolving apprecia- activated? One approach would be for tion of heritage (Table 2). Without the White House to issue a specific public support and its resulting politi- directive to the Secretary of the Interi- cal pressure, the list is not likely to be or to pursue more proactively the opened for review. The only historic nomination of our cultural sites. But city that is on the U.S. Indicative List unless World Heritage listing can is Savannah, Georgia. It is hard to con- acquire a substantial level of political ceive that there are no others. value, this is unlikely to happen. Landmark Designation The U.S. Indicative List A third but minor obstacle to The second obstacle to the nomi- World Heritage nomination is the nation process is the content of the requirement for the candidate site to U.S. Indicative List. What is the have National Historic Landmark Indicative List? In order for the World (NHL) designation. Any historic dis- Heritage Committee to forecast the trict in an American city nominated to volume of nominations to be present- the World Heritage List has to be con- ed in the coming years, each State fined to existing NHL boundaries. Party [i.e., signatory to the conven- Because the World Heritage guide- Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 7 World Heritage: Thirty Years of U. S. Participation

Table 2. U.S. Indicative List of cultural sites.

8 The George Wright FORUM World Heritage: Thirty Years of U. S. Participation lines are strict in that district bound- in the official ICOMOS review aries really must embrace the entirety process for not meeting any of the of all the valuable urban fabric that acceptable definitions of an integral merits inscription, it may be necessary historic district. The nomination was in some cases to enlarge the NHL returned to the United States for revi- boundaries to reflect that reality. sion and re-submittal in such a way Urban nominations can be smaller that the real Savannah historic district than the NHL district, but they cannot was the basis for the nomination. exceed it. There was also an informal comment from ICOMOS that the city appears to 100% Owner Consent have sufficient significance for listing. The final obstacle to a nomination The experience proved to be traumat- of any city in the U.S. is truly a formi- ic for the local community, especially dable barrier: the National Historic those who had devoted so much time, Preservation Act, as amended, effort, and TLC to prepare and submit requires that for any site nominated to the nomination. the list there must be 100% owner consent. Everyone knows intuitively Under these circumstances, offi- and empirically that there is not a sin- cials at the National Park Service have gle historic district in the world with no choice but to take the position that universal agreement on this matter. it is absolutely impossible at this time The 100% consent differs qualitative- to accept any nomination of a U.S. city ly from that required for NHL status, without prior proof of 100% owner in that for NHL status silence from an consent, and they actively have to dis- owner is assumed to be tacit approval, courage any U.S. city from even con- whereas for World Heritage, silence is sidering it. The National Park Service the exact opposite: non-concurrence. is not to blame; they are only meeting The federal regulations require proof legal obligations mandated by the fed- of owner consent from each and every eral laws enacted by the Congress. If individual owner in written form. In there is fault, it lies in Congress, not in addition, in nominations of non-feder- our civil servants. al properties, such as an urban district, Needless to say,all of these extraor- there has to be an irrevocable pledge dinarily stern limitations are a great of preservation by the proper local frustration to all American preserva- authorities and/or the owner of the tionists who work in the international site. These pledges are examined in arena. Not a single other country in detail by the Park Service’s office of the world has such unreasonable limi- legal counsel to verify true irrevocabil- tations on its World Heritage nomina- ity. tions. The United Kingdom and In 1995 the city of Savannah tried Canada—democratic, capitalistic to circumvent the 100% owner con- countries with governing principles sent requirement by limiting their close to ours—each has two World nomination to the historic city plan, Heritage cities: Bath and Edinburgh the squares, and some public build- in the U.K., Quebec city and Lunen- ings, but the nomination was stopped burg (Nova Scotia) in Canada. Italy

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 9 World Heritage: Thirty Years of U. S. Participation alone has Venice,Vicenza, Sienna, San ernment? Well,they do not really have Gimignano, Florence, Naples, Pisa, to. The World Heritage Committee Ferrera, Pienza, Urbino, and Verona. has tacitly accepted the normal limita- France has the center of Paris, Nancy, tions of government to protect every Lyon, Avignon, Strasbourg, and the single element in a listed site. The towns of Vézélay and Provins; Spain purpose of the World Heritage Con- has 13 cities inscribed in the list; Ger- vention is to elevate the level of protec- many, four; Norway and Sweden each tion, not to impose a perfect foolproof have two. Morocco has five. There are system. There have to be acceptable private owners in all these cities, and agreements that can be reached surely not all of them would have con- between our federal government and sented if asked. Are we so different? its state and local counterparts who Are we so unique? have constitutional authority over land use. Some Rationale for Our Limitations Into the Future Why all this fear, inflexibility, and One way to overcome the 100% excessive precaution? It is a drastic owner consent requirement would be and sweeping response to the issue of to amend the National Historic the constitutional rights of the states Preservation Act to alleviate the per- and private property owners. Since ceived burden of the federal govern- under international law the federal ment, such as permitting nominations government is the entity responsible of historic cities on the Indicative List for the safekeeping of all U.S. sites on that have proven majority levels of the World Heritage List, there is a con- popular and owner support, as is cern that if a private owner or a munic- presently required for NHL status. ipal government were to default on Another path may be to override the their preservation pledge, internation- National Historic Preservation Act al law would obligate the Feds to step through specific legislation enacted by in and assume full responsibility for Congress that would allow Specific the site’s conservation, thus forcing it Town, USA, to proceed with only a to override state and local authority, majority of owners consenting, per the and perhaps individual property same requirements imposed for NHL rights. Another fear is that because of status. But some legal experts opine the federal government’s obligation to that such a law would be immediately protect these sites, any activity affect- challenged as unconstitutional, since ing the site’s significance in a negative the 14th Amendment provides equal way, but somehow allowed at the local rights for all under the law. level, could bring about lawsuits Obviously, better options need to against the federal government that, be explored by legal experts. But this again, would demand their interven- will only come about if there is strong tion in municipal matters. support from the public and a strong How do other countries manage alliance of historic American cities to this dilemma facing every central gov- change a system that limits our citi-

10 The George Wright FORUM World Heritage: Thirty Years of U. S. Participation zens’ power of choice. Given the imposed limitations on the part of the potential list of benefits for each com- U.S. government constitutes an overt munity or site listed, the issue of negation of the spirit and the aims of a World Heritage goes far beyond the convention that we have pledged to interests of the preservation communi- abide by. ty: it concerns city managers, mayors, At the beginning I wrote that we council members, local businesses, should be proud that the U.S. was the and all the citizens who want to make first nation to ratify the World Her- their town a better place. itage Convention. Thirty years into One could interpret the sternness the convention, we might also be very of Congress as a mere manifestation of angry that our country is not meeting how seriously the United States takes its full moral obligation under the con- its compliance to international law vention and, more seriously, that it is under the conventions that we choose preventing Americans from exercising to ratify. But this is only the legalistic our rights over the future of our own view, for it could also be argued that cultural heritage and our country’s the exaggerated strictness of the self- historic communities.

[Ed. note: This article originally appeared in the newsletter of the U.S. Committee for ICOMOS, January–March 2002, and is reprinted here by permission. For the record, in 1997 and 1998 the George Wright Society sent written testimony to Congress supporting World Heritage in response to the House legislation mentioned above.]

Gustavo F. Araoz, U.S. Committee, International Council on Monuments and Sites, 401 F Street NW, Room 331, Washington, D.C. 20001-2728; [email protected] F

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 11 Gintaras Matiukas James P. Lassoie Daniel J. Decker Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania: A View from Overseas

Introduction ithuania is among the countries of East and Central Europe that are in transition from authoritarian regimes to more liberal governments based on free markets and democratic processes. This transition is affecting all public and private institutions, including those charged with steward- shipL of natural resources. In this new era, public involvement in natural resource conservation is on the rise. Management of protected areas, accordingly, is changing from top-down administration and strict protection to a more collabo- rative approach that seeks to meet public demand for outdoor recreation and promote sustainable uses. In addition to internal challenges, Lithuania, like all the countries applying to the European Union, must also comply with interna- tional recommendations and requirements for managing protected areas.

Figure 1. Tytuvenai Regional Park, Lithuania. Photo by Roma Matiukiene.

12 The George Wright FORUM Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania The system of nature protection thus the management of protected areas and their management is still areas began abruptly, without experi- evolving in Lithuania. Challenges ence. include a lack of a clear strategy, polit- Lithuania’s protected areas are ical and personal influence on man- roughly comparable to four categories agers’ activities and priorities, low par- of protected areas described by ticipation by local communities, lack IUCN–The World Conservation of research and monitoring data, and Union (IUCN 1994b). Six strict insufficient management capacity. reserves, five national parks, 30 Many of these problems have been regional parks, and 290 other reserves addressed satisfactorily by other coun- represent the country’s most valuable tries. Examining models used success- landscapes and natural ecosystems fully elsewhere can help identify cost- and constitute 11.2% of the total area effective approaches for Lithuania. (Table 1). This article recommends ways to Strict reserves exclude develop- improve protected area management ment and management activities. in Lithuania, based on the experience National parks have mixed regimes: of developed Western countries, pri- no or minimal management in conser- marily the practices used in New York vation zones, management for visitors’ State. needs in recreation zones, and regulat- Table 1. Protected areas in Lithuania.

Protected Areas in Lithuania ed management in forestry or agricul- After the restoration of Lithuania’s tural zones. Partial nature and culture independence in 1990, the reprivati- reserves protect specific parts of zation of land required a review of ecosystems and landscapes. Regional conservation priorities. Regional parks integrate development and con- parks were created over a very short servation. period of about two months in 1992, Not all the areas are intended to before the law on private land restitu- protect nature. Of the six strict tion was adopted. The hasty forma- reserves, two are cultural. Of the five tion of the park system left many polit- national parks, one is historical, and of ical and ecological problems to be rec- the 30 regional parks, there is also one onciled after the system was created, historical park. Other protected areas

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 13 Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania are managed for a variety of natural ment in Lithuania in six domains: features: geological (10), geomorpho- administration, management, advisory logic (46), hydrographical (35), soil boards, work force, stewardship, and (12), botanical (38), wetlands (27), zoning and borders. theriological (1), ornithological (6), herpetological (2), ichthyological (11), Administration entomological (20), botanical–zoolog- Centralization. In most countries, ical (20), landscape (61), cartographi- protected areas are both established cal (1), and cultural (10). and managed by the central govern- ment; some countries give authority to Lithuania’s regional parks are regional or local governments (Leit- equivalent to protected landscapes mann 1998), or the administration (IUCN category V; IUCN 1994b). may be mixed. The administrative Such areas encourage sustainable method depends mainly on political development and support traditional and social traditions. land uses and promote the well-being Decentralized management is used of local communities. Their relative by Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, importance in Europe is shown by the Switzerland, and the United King- numbers: Protected landscapes dom. The majority of European coun- account for only 15.3% of the world’s tries, like the United States and Cana- total protected areas but 66.8% of da, use a mixed model: the central Europe’s. Many protected areas in government establishes and manages Europe are small, close to urban or areas of national importance but may industrial areas, and surrounded by share responsibility for managing par- incompatible land uses. Sustainable tial reserves and protected landscapes development within and outside the with regional and local governments. parks is becoming a significant issue, Lithuania has a very centralized and these parks are pilot areas for system: almost all protected areas are implementing and disseminating sus- established and managed by the cen- tainable practices in the surrounding tral government. Because the country communities (Gambino 2000). is small and has a long tradition of Most American state parks are very strong centralized governance, this small, entirely public, and focused on system is acceptable to its citizens. recreation. But the Adirondack State Collaboration with local authorities Park in New York, with its size, range might be strengthened by allowing of activities, mixed ownership pat- local governments to approve the terns, inholdings, and side-by-side strategic and management plans of the conservation and development, pres- protected areas within their jurisdic- ents management challenges compara- tions. ble with those of the parks in Lithua- Consolidated management. Cur- nia. We use the experience of the rently, management of protected areas Adirondack State Park and other pro- in Lithuania is split: One historical tected landscapes in developed coun- national park and two cultural strict tries to formulate recommendations reserves are managed by the Ministry for improving protected area manage- of Culture, and two regional parks are

14 The George Wright FORUM Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania managed by local governments. thus depend on revenues from com- In the Adirondacks, dividing man- mercial use of forests. To separate pro- agement among separate agencies tection and recreation from forestry, a complicates the implementation of a new, independent Department of Pro- general environmental policy (Meyers tected Areas should be established and Green 1989). To improve man- under the Ministry of Environment, agement of the Adirondack State Park, with a distinct mandate and mission. it has been recommended that all state and private lands be administrated Management together by the same agency (Com- Regional management. New York mission on the Adirondacks in the offers a very efficient model for the Twenty-First Century 1990). management of state parks: regional- Similarly, Lithuania’s nationally ization. The state’s parks are organ- protected areas should all be managed ized into 11 regions, each with its own by the same agency, with consistent administration, accounting, general regulations and goals. maintenance, and police. Regional management, rather than Equivalence of boundaries. The each protected area being operated boundaries of many regional parks in independently, promises many bene- Lithuania do not follow administrative fits for protected area management in divisions. That some regional parks Lithuania. It permits the sharing of belong in two districts complicates equipment and facilities, eliminates management. The same problem duplication of accounting functions, exists in New York state, where makes the best use of limited scientific Department of Environmental Con- and cultural resources, and facilitates servation regions and the Department establishment and implementation of of Economic Development regions do regional programs and large-scale not coincide with park boundaries. projects. Developing common management In Lithuania, ten regions could be strategies and coordinating activities created, each with a national park or are therefore difficult (Commission on regional park (Kurtuvenai, Kauno the Adirondacks in the Twenty-First Marios, Panemuniai, Birzai, and Century 1990). Krekenava) as its headquarters. The Administrative and development regions could also manage the partial districts and regions should coincide reserves within their boundaries. Cur- with the protected areas’ boundaries rently, no agency has direct responsi- where possible. Either the boundaries bility for these 300 areas. of the regional parks or the adminis- Collaborative management. trative borders should be reviewed Although the regional parks in Lithua- and changed. nia are established and funded by the Separation of forestry and con- government, they must meet the servation. Lithuania has one Depart- expectations of local communities. In ment of Protected Areas and Forestry the last decade, planners, managers, within the Ministry of Environment. and politicians have changed their The financing of conservation can focus “from the products of their

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 15 Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania activities (plans, projects, regulations, to include local authorities, communi- and realizations) to the process by ties, and nongovernmental organiza- which they are achieved” (Gambino tions (NGOs) in the decision-making 2000, 56), and parks everywhere now process. involve local residents in collaborative Evaluation of effectiveness. The management. “Protected areas in management of protected areas is Europe will only survive and flourish complex. Traditional functions if they are supported by local people. include establishing protected areas, Joint management will be the way of demarcating borders, detecting and the future” (IUCN 1994a, 10). enforcing violations of regulations, Communities can be involved in and planning and implementing man- natural resource management by dif- agement activities. Integrated manage- ferent means and at different levels. ment functions include attracting Chase et al. (2000) describe a scale funding from government agencies from “expert authority” through pas- and private investment, collecting user sive-receptive, inquisitive, and transac- fees, maintaining relations with local tional approaches to co-management. and external stakeholder groups, car- The United States is at the far end of rying out administrative functions, this scale and “co-management ... is providing tourist services, and facili- already occurring in certain situations tating research (Kramer et al. 2002). throughout much of North America” (Chase et al. 2000, 215); Lithuania is Management effectiveness depends still closer to the authoritarian on many variables besides the capabil- approach. ities, activities, and efforts of the man- Both local communities and pro- agers. The most important matters for tected areas benefit from collaborative assessment are management plans, management. Local communities can clarity of desired outcomes and evalu- obtain direct and indirect financial ation criteria, and feedback (Hockings benefits from planning and manage- 1998). ment activities. Managers can gather Currently, evaluation criteria in additional information, make better Lithuania are not clear and are not decisions, implement ideas, and build based on objective and measurable trust with local communities, all yield- variables of performance. Moreover, ing a better management environment the agency evaluates all parks equally, (Lauber and Knuth 2000). even though the smallest (Rambynas) The Lithuanian government in its has two employees and an annual environmental strategy recognizes the budget of about 25,000 Litas (US$1 4 need to encourage joint management Litas), and the most developed (Kur- of protected areas. This process will tuvenai) has a staff of 16 and an annu- take time, but an intermediate solution al budget of 600,000 Litas. Managers is the strengthening of advisory boards should know what outcomes are (see below). Guidelines for co-man- expected, and the agency should take agement should be developed, and into account the capacity of the regional parks should be encouraged regional parks.

16 The George Wright FORUM Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania

Advisory boards who are approved by the governor Though variations exist, all fifty (Adirondack Park Agency 2000). U.S. states have organizations that The formation of Lithuania’s advi- oversee their park systems and man- sory boards should be changed. Board agement. Advisory boards have no members should be recognized spe- direct decision-making power, but cialists and respected authorities in they can usually influence decisions fields related to park management, and that are made (McLean and Smith they should be appointed by the 1990). mayor of the county and by the gover- Decision-making power.Innor of the region. A rotation period Lithuania, an advisory board analyzes would mitigate the effect of political the state of each park and its activities changes. The chair of the board could and presents conclusions and recom- be selected by board members but mendations to the park’s managers. should be approved by the head of the The park director is the chair of the agency. Managers of the regional park advisory board; in effect, then, she should participate in the board meet- analyses her own results and then ings to facilitate a two-way flow of makes recommendations to herself. communication between the managers Regional parks’ advisory boards and advisors, perhaps as ex officio should be able to influence the deci- members, but not having voting rights. sion-making process. Following the If a regional management model experience of New York state, the (see above) were implemented, region- boards should review and approve al advisory boards could be formed, annual budgets, reports of activities, perhaps with the chairs of the individ- and plans for the next year, and the ual park boards as members. comments should be presented to the Strengthening the boards. Cur- agency. The advisory boards might rently, Lithuania’s regional parks also regularly evaluate the parks and report on the previous year’s activities their managers’ performance. To to the Department at the end of Janu- assure objectivity, the advisory board ary. On the basis of this report, the should be independent of park man- park’s future financing and even staff agement (i.e., park managers should salaries are determined. The results not be board members). are then presented to the park adviso- Representation. Currently, ry board, which has no opportunity to Lithuanian boards comprise mid-level effect changes. workers from regional and local gov- The process should be changed so ernments, regional environment and that management plans have the culture conservation agencies, state approval of local authorities, land forest enterprises, and representatives owners, and land users. Properly of the regional park; they serve regard- formed and representative, boards can less of their expertise or even interest reflect the positions of major stake- in park management. The Adirondack holders on different matters. An advi- State Park’s board members, by con- sory board with representatives of trast, are high-level representatives local governments, NGOs, and inter-

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 17 Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania est groups ensures public participa- local residents. tion and collaborative management on Flexibility. Regional parks in a small scale. Lithuania have very similar staff con- Regional parks should present figurations despite significant differ- annual reports and proposals for the ences in size, facilities, visitor num- next year to their advisory boards, get bers, ecological and cultural features, members’ approval or comments, and and the presence of settlements and incorporate suggestions before the offi- inhabitants inside their boundaries. cial presentation to the Department. Managers’ flexibility in selecting the The boards should meet at least twice most appropriate staffing structure a year: in February–March to present should be greater. The number of the results from the previous year, and positions should be based on the eco- in September–October to present the logical, cultural, and social context next year’s activity plan. and the stated goals for the protected Work Force area. Development. Increasing manage- Seasonal and temporary posi- ment capacity is crucial for Lithuania’s tions. The recreation season in protected areas. Both the regional Lithuania lasts three to four months; parks and the Department of Protect- there are almost no facilities for year- ed Areas and Forestry suffer from round uses. Hence, regional parks staffing problems. need recreation managers, ecologists, In regional parks, most employees and rangers only seasonally. The use have biology and forestry back- of part-time and seasonal employees in grounds, but “managing parks calls the Adirondacks can be a model for more for the skills of working with Lithuania. people, organizing and financial University students could be skills” (Beresford and Phillips 2000, offered summer internships. Volun- 16). The agency should therefore teers and part-time workers could fill change its recruitment and develop- summer jobs. Foresters who work pri- ment strategies to ensure that man- marily in winter and high school agers of protected areas have the nec- teachers with two months of vacation essary management skills, cultural and could be attracted to working in social skills, technical skills, and abili- regional parks during the summer. But ty to guide policy development (Shep- again, managers must be allowed to pard 2001). Along with the matters of use their staffing funds more flexibly protection and recreation, staff should and independently. focus on improving the social and eco- Sharing specialists. Some parks nomic conditions for people living do not have the professionals they within the protected areas. Training of need to manage their resources well. A regional park staff should focus not regional management model would only on general management, biodi- permit better use of staff and increase versity conservation and monitoring, the potential pool of specialists by recreation, and visitors’ needs, but also locating the regional headquarters in on public relations with tourists and the major parks, which are served by

18 The George Wright FORUM Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania nearby towns. (Beresford and Phillips 2000). Devel- Even within the current structure, it oping planning schemes for regional is possible to improve the situation parks is included in Lithuania’s envi- through job sharing and exchanges, ronmental strategy. particularly for planners, ecologists, Nevertheless, only about half the and rangers. Some parks have archi- regional parks have developed man- tects and planners who could lend agement plans to date, mostly because expertise to neighboring parks, for of financial problems. At present, a example, and an entomologist could plan for each national and regional swap positions with an ornithologist park shows its functional zones—the from another park. type and intensity of development, if any.Management of the regional parks Stewardship is thus based on zoning, and these The European Union defines pro- schemes indicate only preliminary tected areas as centers for promoting a zoning and have no legal power. general nature conservation policy. Lack of individual planning docu- But regional parks exist in a social and ments thwarts the realization of the cultural context and must not become parks’ potential. A real working docu- islands (Council of Europe 1998). ment—the unit management plan— Their main purpose—superseding the should be prepared for each unit of traditional goals of conservation and land (Thorndike 1999). public enjoyment—is improving social Given the lack of resources to pre- and economic conditions for local pare management plans, however, a communities (Gambino 1998). partial planning method may be used, Although stewardship of natural in which units are prioritized. Lands resources is a widely used tool for with conservation easements and managing protected areas, it repre- those with designated scenic, wild, sents almost unused potential in and recreational value have priority Lithuania. Along with the potential (Commission on the Adirondacks in financial benefits, regional park man- the Twenty-First Century 1990). Pri- agers can offer local governments and vately owned parcels do not need to be residents assistance in dealing with evaluated in the first stage if the activi- regulations and restrictions. And ties on this land do not conflict with when regional parks have the technical park objectives (Meyers and Green and intellectual capacity, they should 1989). provide technical assistance for plan- ning and zoning administration (Com- Borders. The borders of the mission 1990). Lithuanian regional parks and sepa- rate zones are often arbitrary—one of Borders and Zoning the legacies of the parks’ rushed cre- Management plans. IUCN strong- ation. Borders do not follow adminis- ly recommends that each protected trative divisions or, often, natural area have a management plan (IUCN boundaries. 1994b). Such plans are essential if the Boundaries should be reviewed, as areas are to achieve their stated aims the management plans are prepared.

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 19 Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania The relationship between the parks The borders of the zones and units and their natural and cultural context within the parks are problematic, too. is important when delimiting a pro- Although the general pattern is consis- tected area (Gambino 1998). Adjacent tent with zoning models used in other cultural and natural assets may be countries, zones and units should included in the park if the administra- reflect natural borders, land uses, tive, ownership, and ecological situa- property rights, and the goals of man- tion permits. agement.

Figure 2. Tytuvenai Regional Park, Lithuania. Photo by Roma Matiukiene.

References Adirondack Park Agency. 2000. Rules and Regulations. Albany: State of New York Executive Department, Adirondack Park Agency. Beresford, M., and A. Phillips. 2000. Protected landscapes: A conservation model for the 21st century. The George Wright Forum 17:1, 15–26. Chase, L.C., T.M.Schulser, and D.J. Decker. 2000. Innovations in stakeholder involvement: what’s the next step? Wildlife Society Bulletin 28:1, 208–271. Commission on the Adirondacks in the Twenty-First Century. 1990. The Adirondack Park in the Twenty- first Century. Albany: State of New York. Council of Europe. 1998. Protected areas: centres for propagation a general nature conservation policy. Environmental Encounters 70. Gambino, R. 1998. Parks and protected areas in Italy: an overview. The George Wright Forum 15:2, 30–42. ———. 2000. Parks in the future: a European perspective. The George Wright Forum 17:2, 52–58. Hockings, M. 1998. Evaluating management of protected areas: integrating planning and evaluation. Environmental Management 22:3, 337–346. IUCN. 1994a. Parks for Life: Action for Protected Areas in Europe. IUCN Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas. Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, U.K: IUCN.

20 The George Wright FORUM Improving Protected Area Management in Lithuania

———. 1994b. Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories. IUCN Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas and World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, U.K: IUCN. Kramer, K., J. Langholz, and N. Salafsky. 2002. The role of the private sector in protected area establish- ment and management: A conceptual framework for analyzing effectiveness. In Making Parks Work.J.T. Terborgh and C. van Schaik, eds. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 128–152. Lauber, T.B.,and B.A. Knuth. 2000. Citizen Participation in Natural Resource Management: A Synthesis of HDRU Research. Human Dimensions Research Unit Series Publication no. 00-7. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University. Leitmann, J. 1998. Options for managing protected areas: lessons from international experience. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 41:1, 129–143. McLean, D.D., and S.H. Smith. 1990. Impacting on Recreation and Park Legislation. Reston, Va.: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. Myers, P., and S. Green. 1989. State Parks in a New Era. Volume 1: A Look at the Legacy.Washington, D.C.: The Conservation Foundation. Sheppard, D. 2001. Twenty-first century strategies for protected areas in East Asia. The George Wright Forum 18:2, 40–55. Thorndike, E. 1999. New York’s Adirondack Park: where U.S. wilderness preservation began. International Journal of Wilderness 5:1, 9–14.

Gintaras Matiukas, former director of Tytuvenai Regional Park in Lithuania; cur- rent address: Basanaviciaus 25-4, Vilnius, Lithuania; gmatiukas@ hotmail.com James P. Lassoie, Cornell University, 10 Fernow Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853; [email protected] Daniel J. Decker, Professor, Cornell University, 245 Roberts Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853; [email protected] F

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 21 David Neufeld

The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples by the Canadian Government

Introduction he government of Canada uses the national commemoration of the past to create a national image of the country. National commemora- tion highlights values and establishes the boundaries of community— recognizing, valuing, and protecting cultural interests by selecting an Ticon to represent the nation’s past. In fact, this selection makes the icon “our” past. A designation of national significance is the construction of national iden- tity; it is an expression of power. However, the highlighting of national values through commemoration also tends to obscure other icons or bend them to the national purpose. Edward Said stresses the significance of commemoration: “[T]he construction of identity is bound up with the disposition of power and powerlessness in each society, and is therefore anything but mere academic woolgathering” (Said 1978, 332). This paper examines the disposi- Creating the Shared tion of powerlessness in the commem- Canadian Past and Future oration process. By reviewing the his- The Canadian government estab- tory of the national commemoration of lished a program to create a national aboriginal people in Canada’s North, history early in the last century. The it becomes possible to see who have Dominion Parks Branch, established been left out of the national identity in 1911 as a part of the Department of and who have been conscripted to fill the Interior, inherited the responsibili- needed roles in the national self- ty for the care of Canada’s historic image. It also follows the fortunes of places. The Historic Sites and Monu- northern aboriginal people as they ments Act was passed in 1919 to regu- take action to regain control of their larize the identification and intent of past, and explains how they are work- these national historic sites (Anony- ing at achieving national acceptance mous 1996, 333-334). The act also on their own terms. The paper also created the Historic Sites and Monu- reflects upon how Canadians were ments Board of Canada (HSMBC). able to accept this social injustice and The board, consisting of knowledge- are only now slowly recognizing able individuals, was appointed to changes to the national identity. advise the responsible Minister on

22 The George Wright FORUM The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples noteworthy aspects of Canadian histo- industries as the Atlantic cod fishery ry and to recommend meaningful ways (Innis 1940), the timber trade (Lower of commemorating it. 1933), and the mercantile empire of Until well into the 1930s, the board the St. Lawrence valley (Creighton consisted only of members from east- 1937). All of these works focused ern Canada, the political heartland of upon the importance of the St. the country. These members were Lawrence as the core of the Canadian driven by a combination of nascent economic and political system. The nationalism rising out of Canada’s resulting historiographic direction, contribution to the First World War described as the “Laurentian thesis,” and a sense of responsibility for the became the unchallenged analytical cultural leadership of the country framework for the study and under- (Taylor 1990, 75). Not surprisingly, standing of Canadian history to the the common traditions commemorat- 1960s. ed in this period reflected those of the The Laurentian thesis grew out of white European culture that had pio- the primary concern of Canadian neered the St. Lawrence Valley and intellectuals in the first half of the cen- the Maritime provinces. tury: the fixing of Canada as a distinct The national commemoration pro- and organically logical country in its gram was, and remains, a concrete rep- own right. The idea, emphasizing the resentation of a created past—a past trans-Atlantic economic and political shaped and molded so that it will help linkages, also incorporated the trans- create and maintain a nation. The continental transportation system of board’s early vision of “common tradi- rivers and, later, railways, built upon tions” emphasized the heritage of the trade and communication. These trans-Atlantic cultural ties to western defined what seemed the logical Europe, the geography of the country, boundaries of Canada. The thesis rest- and its “natural” boundaries, thus jus- ed upon the importance attributed to tifying both its existence and its differ- the major metropolitan centers shap- ence from the Americans. This vision ing the country: London, Montreal, was drawn from contemporary Cana- and Toronto. These centers of agency dian intellectual activity. extended links outward into the Harold Innis’s seminal work in the periphery of the country, knitting it 1920s and 1930s, describing the eco- into a single national entity. nomic history of Canada (e.g., Innis The Laurentian thesis was also a 1930, 1936), connected the exploita- distinct nationalistic reaction against tion of the country’s originally abun- the republican environmental deter- dant natural resources with the impor- minism of Frederick Jackson Turner’s tance of the trans-Atlantic communi- frontier thesis and the resulting con- cation links back to the center of the cept of an America free of European British Empire in England. His subse- influence. However, by emphasizing quent work, and that of his intellectual the importance of the connection to offspring, expanded the trans-Atlantic the Metropolitan centers, the Laurent- idea to include such other staple ian thesis was anti-regional in under-

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 23 The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples standing Canada (Morton 1946). ty in the region (Zaslow 1971, 251- Commemorations arising from this 255, 264-268; Zaslow 1988, 199-202; historiographic representation of the Fogelson 1983, esp. chapters III and country tended to emphasize both the V; Anonymous 1957). By the end of role of the expanding center (rather the 1920s, however, Canada’s Arctic than that of the regions) and the logi- claims seemed secure and the cal and natural character of this rela- HSMBC celebrated by designating tionship. Parry’s 1819 winter camp at Winter This approach had significant con- Harbour on Melville Island as a site of sequences for northern aboriginal national historic significance. Between people: they were either rendered then and 1945, four subsequent com- invisible or incorporated as compo- memorations of British exploration of nents of the national vision. In nation- the Arctic and the Northwest Passage al commemoration, the North as a continued the government’s use of whole was regarded as merely an northern historic sites as statements of adjunct to the development of central Canadian Arctic sovereignty and the Canada. By 1955 the HSMBC had “logical” northern boundaries of the identified twenty-five northern icons country. of national historic significance (Table The Laurentian thesis clearly 1; see Parks Canada 1999; Neufeld framed how nation-building con- 2001). For the purposes of this essay, tributed to Canada’s national identity. northern sites were loosely defined as The interests of the center of this those north of 60˚ and those south of national history paradigm, the St. 60˚ that had direct or significant con- Lawrence Valley, were thus well repre- nections to the North. These northern sented in national commemorations. commemorations were exclusively in In contrast, the North was perceived the Canadian Northwest and the Arc- only as a place subject to the interests tic. The fur trade in the northern parts of the core. To the middle of the 20th of the western provinces accounted for century, it was the Laurentian thesis ten of the twenty-five. Another four and the imperatives of Dominion gov- celebrated the extension of southern ernment interest that shaped the com- Canadian administration into the memoration of northern history. The North. The sites highlight the com- historic sites program was thus uti- mercial links across the Atlantic and lized exclusively to explain the promi- the extension of the power of the nence and importance of the South, Metropolis bringing meaning to the that is, it was used to give power to the North. South and, because no northern per- Another nine designations spective was addressed, to make the described British voyages of Arctic North powerless. And even after the exploration and discovery. From the mid-1950s, when more prominence 1870s, when the British government was given to northern sites, it was to transferred its claims over the Arctic to expand the South’s importance, not to Canada, there had been periods of recognize the North’s. acute concern over national sovereign- The management of the national

24 The George Wright FORUM The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples

Table 1. National commemoration in Canada’s North, 1920-1955.

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 25 The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples commemoration program was vested development” (quoted in Lothian in the Department of the Interior. It 1976, 23). Thus the well-being of was a natural fit—the commemoration northern aboriginal people was inex- program existed to describe what tricably linked to the desired econom- Canada was and should become, and ic development of the North by south- the department existed to alienate ern interests. Crown lands and resources so that In addition to this economic devel- Canada could become what it was opment vision, there was also a more supposed to be: an economic power- active state role in daily life. The pro- house of North America. Not surpris- vision of such social interventions as ingly, the national commemoration expanded educational infrastructure, program was often used to forward old-age pensions, Medicare, and fami- departmental objectives. ly allowance (a cash payment made From the late 1940s, there were sig- monthly to mothers to ensure that nificant changes in Canadian social each child had access to good food and economic development policies and clothing) effectively redefined that affected northern aboriginal peo- what it meant to be a Canadian in the ples. The North continued to be per- 1950s. The new Canadian vision of ceived as an area without a past, an citizenship—to be a productive partic- area whose only significance was as ipant in an economically dynamic part of Canada’s distinct and inde- social democracy—was, like the earlier pendent identity. As the fifties extension of southern Metropoli- boomed, the North was increasingly tanism, simply another example of the seen as the country’s future. The stun- cultural emasculation of northern abo- ning victory of John Diefenbaker’s riginal people. The universality of Conservatives in 1958 was built par- these services had unintended cultural tially upon his promotion of a “north- consequences for aboriginal people. ern vision” for Canada. Gordon While the benefits to individuals were Robertson, Deputy Minister of North- obvious, the new definition of citizen- ern Affairs and Natural Resources, ship undermined the specific cultural concluded a presentation in 1960: institutions and relationships that “We own the north.... It belongs to us. shaped the cultural identity of north- Canadians for this reason, must look ern communities. The new programs to the north to see what it is good for, established a tension between a uni- to see how to use it” (Robertson 1960, versal model of morality and the 362). In 1966, Prime Minister Lester defense of particular cultural values in Pearson voiced similar sentiments the North (cf. Marshall 1978 and Fis- when he declared that “the joining of cher 1998 for parallel situations with [the departments of] Indian Affairs the Roman Catholic Church in Que- and Northern Development is a bec and American Peace Corps volun- national step which cannot but teers overseas, respectively). The lack strengthen both the well being of of northern representation or consul- Canada’s indigenous peoples and the tation on issues of northern concern cause of northern expansion and by state programs, including national

26 The George Wright FORUM The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples commemoration, effectively denied ry, national commemoration helped the region anything beyond a support- create, and maintain, the Metropolitan ing role in Canadian history. In fact, vision of an empty land, one which the commemorations were for the noted the aboriginal presence only as a South. contrast to the strengths of the immi- This general perspective of the grant population and through its com- North as vehicle for southern interests memoration program regularized this was cogently reinforced in May 1963 state of affairs as the norm. Northern with the release of the Baker Report heritage, especially the heritage of abo- (Baker 1963). After a two-year study, riginal peoples, remained invisible. William Baker, a parks and recreation The social consequences of these atti- planner acting as consultant to Parks tudes would eventually lead to organ- Canada, recommended an aggressive ized political protest and legal chal- program of national park and historic lenges to the Canadian state. site development in the North to meet The Federal Commemoration of the recreational needs of southern Northern Aboriginal History, Canadians and to prod northern eco- 1956-1997 nomic development. In his review of How have northern aboriginal peo- the draft report, the History Division ples been nationally commemorated chief for Parks Canada noted that “the within this Metropolitan paradigm of primary objective of the Historic Sites “national history”? Has national com- Division is the commemoration of his- memoration actually contributed to tory. The weight of its work is thus the destruction of aboriginal culture directed to those parts of Canada through its power of defining what has which have been settled the longest. meaning and what has not? On this scale, the Division ranks the Northern aboriginal commemora- north last. Furthermore, because it tions are fairly recent additions to the places its primary emphasis on the system. As we shall see, today, nation- commemoration of sites, events, build- al historic sites in the North do not ings and people, rather than in the commemorate only newcomers. How- commemoration of ways of life as ever, from the time of the first such such, it has found little reason for tak- commemoration in 1956 until about ing much interest in the north” (Parks 1990, every one of the 20 northern Canada 1963). There was no history aboriginal designations focused on the in the North, and from the southern importance of northern indigenous intellectual perspective, there were no peoples from a newcomer perspective aboriginal people there either. (Table 2; Figure 1). An analysis of Edward Said identifies this denial these early designations illustrates of history as a tool of an imperialist three general themes: culture contact, power seeking to gain control over and shared activity, and archaeological understand a foreign region. The cre- sites, each reflecting the structure of ation of a past is to gain control over the Laurentian thesis. the present (Said 1978, 66, 108-109). The first commemoration noting Thus, by denying the North its histo- aboriginal presence in the North was

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 27 The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples

Table 2. National commemoration in Canada’s North, 1956-1997.

the 1956 designation of Samuel The shared or cooperative nature of Hearne’s discovery of the Copper- cross-cultural northern resource mine River. The role of the exploitation was also identified in the Chipewyan chief, Matonabbee, in 1976 and 1985 commemorations of guiding Hearne and negotiating with eastern Arctic whaling. In all of these other northern people for him, was instances it is the support of indige- noted. Matonabbee was subsequently nous peoples in the exploration of given his own commemoration for this their homelands and the exploitation assistance to Hearne in 1981. The of northern natural resources by Euro- theme of aboriginal support for Euro- Canadians that is being commemorat- pean visitors exploring the North was ed. These kinds of commemorations, also noted in the 1976 Arctic explo- stretching between 1956 and 1985, ration commemoration. Five years define the North, making it a part of later, specific commemorations to Canada. honor the service of two Inuit couples Another set of designations in this to northern explorers were also made. period rises from the efforts to estab-

28 The George Wright FORUM The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples designated by the HSMBC, 1956-1997. by designated Figure 1. Northern aboriginal sites

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 29 The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples lish a long history for Canada. Based only on the receiving end of alterations upon the material culture of people wrought by contact and trade with from long ago, the national program’s newcomers. And there was no sense interest in archeological heritage stems that the designations and the re-cre- from a 1961 report (HSMBC 1961) ation of their past would have any prepared by A.R.M. Lower, one of effect upon them. Without any under- Innis’ students of the staple industries. standing, newcomers perceived con- Lower concluded that most Indian temporary aboriginal people as hol- sites were archeological in nature. He low, stripped of religion or spiritual recommended that the program con- structure, and thus “close to anarchy sider only Euro-Canadian contact and suicide.” In the end they were cast with aboriginals as history and that as victims; unable to save themselves, “representative remains” of burials, it was only humane for church and the pre-historic economy, and sites government to step in and ensure that related to community life, traditions, their cultural demise was painless and religion be considered for com- (Said 1978, 271). memoration. By themselves the national com- Archeologists, following up on memorations addressing northern Lower’s recommendations, obtained aboriginal people did not create this national designations of northern sites situation or the attitudes leading to it, between 1969 and 1978, seeking to but they were an accurate reflection of profile their research into the populat- and active participant in a broad social ing of the Canadian Arctic. The iden- and cultural milieu that did create and tification of Dorset and pre-Dorset accept this situation. The commemo- remains near Churchill, Manitoba, rations helped perpetuate stereotypes was commemorated in 1969, while the of the dying culture and reinforced the roles of the Bering-Yukon Refugium social and political structures develop- and the Thule migrations in shaping ing and implementing those policies Arctic populations were commemo- of Indian assimilation and destruc- rated in the late 1970s. These designa- tion. This acceptance of how Canada tions publicized the importance of became and was a country had signifi- these places and things and the ideas cant consequences for aboriginal peo- of the archeologists forwarding them. ple. By establishing a broad under- Thus, these national historic designa- standing of our national community, it tions in the North also helped create was possible to minimize any sense of and sustain the Canada of the Lau- individual responsibility or morality rentian thesis. that might address this destruction of In all of these designations north- the discrete cultural identity of aborig- ern aboriginal people were seen either inal peoples. There was a sense that as subjects of newcomer actions, or the boundaries of the community did dead and gone. There was no sense not include those under threat, that that aboriginal people had any effect they could be safely ignored as they upon the course of history, with their did not come under the protection of apparently timeless lifeways being our care—or often even our conscious-

30 The George Wright FORUM The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples ness (Brittain 2001). already gained by aboriginal political Conclusion and legal actions? Since the mid- There was a growing aboriginal 1980s, the HSMBC has pondered the restiveness through the 1960s. Abo- direction of the national designation riginal people, drawing upon the uni- program. Reflections on why First versal liberal principles of social jus- Nations were neither represented— tice, developed and forwarded their nor especially interested in being rep- own agendas for cultural survival resented—ultimately led the HSMBC (Nagel 1996). In Canada, the Depart- in November 1986 to recommend that ment of Indian Affairs’ White Paper of the aboriginal communities them- 1969, with its bald statement of an selves be consulted to see what might assimilationist agenda, inspired Cana- be commemorated. dian First Nations (as the country’s Northern aboriginal communities aboriginal people have come to be have always been conscious of the known) to organize political and legal importance of their cultural heritage. challenges to this prevailing attitude. Their struggles to preserve languages, Over the course of the following three to reintroduce traditional place names, decades there has been a gradual, and to control their relationship to though often grudging, federal recog- their traditional lands are all evidence nition of aboriginal rights and cultural of the contribution of a firm cultural existence as treaties have been revisit- identity to community health and cul- ed and land claims addressed. Aborig- tural survival. First Nations have a set inal political activity, with its major of tools for cultural reproduction, and judicial victories and substantive land the national commemoration program claim agreements for First Nations, can be interesting to First Nations only has begun to alter the broad Canadian if it is a useful mechanism for achiev- understanding of aboriginal people ing community objectives. As north- and their place, and rights, within the ern First Nation communities evolve national cultural mosaic. The First to meet contemporary changes in self- Nations success has begun to alter government and education methods, institutional agendas and the social they are also exploring the value of expectation that accepted Indians as designations for their own purposes. remnants of a dying culture. With these cultural values foremost in National commemoration of abo- mind, national historic sites need to riginal people has also undergone a deliver programs for community significant change. Questions of the youth, support for elder involvement, legitimacy and utility of a commemo- and a calendar of activities to reach out ration set within a hostile national his- to their own community.The commu- torical paradigm have led to a rethink- nity priority is the identification of cul- ing of the purpose of designation. tural values and the passing on of What social and cultural purposes identity to the young. Thus, federal would a commemoration serve for a recognition of these cultural values First Nation? What can it offer in can be a community tool for the “cre- addition to the national recognition ation” of northern aboriginal identities

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 31 The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples on their own terms and for their own cultural gifts from the First Nations to purposes. National commemoration all Canadians. And in the tradition of also offers a platform to gain acknowl- potlatch gift-giving, the acceptance of edgment of their existence by out- gifts entails the acceptance of obliga- siders and broad respect and support tion. Our obligation as a country is to for their interests (Nagel 1996, 27-32). remake our past so that no member is First Nations have seized the power of left out, so that no member bears the their past: they are creating their her- costs of carrying a national vision for itage and history to serve their purpos- others, so that we have a sense of our- es, not the purposes of a national gov- selves as part of a common communi- ernment, nor the perceptions of a ty,so that we expand the boundaries of social majority. our local community to include every Between 1990 and 2000 seven element of the national community. northern aboriginal national designa- The national commemoration pro- tions were made. Six of these were gram, reflecting Metropolitan Cana- nominations from communities for da’s political and social interests, elements of their past or their home- worked diligently to construct a lands that they felt deserved broader national entity, defining and highlight- recognition for both community and ing the icons of meaning, applying a external purposes. The Harvaqtuur- universal principle of what it means to miut Inuit in Nunavut have marked be Canadian, of Canada as being out a traditional summer hunting something other than a republican camp, Fall Caribou Crossing, to high- America. It created power, but in the light their close relationship with the process also created powerlessness. It caribou. In the Northwest Territories, built a community, but it did so by the Sahtu Dene at Sahyoue (Grizzly establishing rigid boundaries of histo- Bear Mountain) and Edacho (Scented ry and clear criteria for belonging. Grass Hills) and the Gwichya This left out many parts of Canada Gwich’in at Nagwichoonjik (Macken- and accepted a host of evils within our zie River) have both identified large national community. As we have portions of their traditional cultural become more secure with our national landscape where mythic heroes creat- identity, we are gradually becoming ed the world, where they met their more like a real community, one in neighbors and other newcomers, and which “the obligation to assist others where their grandparents, parents, in danger or distress is a powerful and, now,they and their children live a imperative” (Brittain 2001). The life of richness, spiritually and physi- national commemoration program cally connected to their lands. The continues to play an important role in national designations of these places this creation of a new and more inclu- should be recognized as important sive Canadian national community.

References Anonymous. 1957. Documents Concerning Canadian Sovereignty in the Arctic. Northern Affairs Library, Ottawa, JX4044.D63. ———. 1996. Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada—an introduction. In The Place of History— Commemorating Canada’s Past. Thomas H.B. Symons, ed. Ottawa: The Royal Society of Canada. 32 The George Wright FORUM The Commemoration of Northern Aboriginal Peoples Baker, William. 1963. Prospects for National Park Development in Parts of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Ottawa: Parks Canada. Brittain, Victoria. 2001. Review of Stanley Cohen, States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering. Reviewed in Manchester Guardian, 19 April. Creighton, Donald. 1937. The Commercial Empire of the St. Lawrence, 1760-1850. Toronto: Ryerson Press. Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. 1969. White Paper on Indian Affairs. Ottawa: Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Fischer, Fritz. 1998. Making Them Like Us: Peace Corps Volunteers in the 1960s.Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Fogelson, Nancy June. 1983. Arctic exploration and American-Canadian relations, 1900-1932: a period of expanding national interests. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cincinnati. HSMBC [Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada]. 1961. Minutes, May 1961. (On file with Parks Canada, HSMBC Secretariat, Ottawa.) Innis, Harold. 1930. The Fur Trade in Canada. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. ———. 1936. Settlement and the Mining Frontier. Canadian Frontiers of Settlement Series Vol. 9 (W.A. MacIntosh and W.L.G. Joerg, eds.). Toronto: Macmillan. ———. 1940. The Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. Lothian, W.F. 1976. A History of Canada’s National Parks.Volume 2. Ottawa: Parks Canada. Lower, Arthur. 1933. The trade in square timber. Contributions to Canadian Economics 6. Marshall, Dominique. 1978. The language of children’s rights: the formation of the welfare state and the democratic experience of poor families, Quebec, 1940-1955. Canadian Historical Review 78 (Fall). Morton, W.L. 1946. Clio in Canada: the interpretation of Canadian history. Canadian Historical Review 15:3. Nagel, Joane. 1996. American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Red Power and the Resurgence of Identity and Culture. New York, Oxford University Press. Neufeld, David. 2001. Parks Canada and the commemoration of the North: history and heritage. In Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History. Kerry Able and Ken S. Coates, eds. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press. Parks Canada. 1963. Memo of January 1963. National Archives of Canada, RG84, Series A-2-a, Vol.1983, f.U2-20 pt. 2. ———. 1999. Register of Designations. Ottawa: Parks Canada. Robertson, Gordon. 1960. Administration for development in northern Canada: the growth and evolution of government. Journal of the Institute of Public Administration in Canada 3:4 (December). Said, Edward W. 1978. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon.

David Neufeld, Parks Canada, Western Canada Service Centre, #205 – 300 Main Street, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 2B5 Canada; [email protected]

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Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 33 Cynthia MacLeod Crossing Boundaries: Interpreting Resource-Related Issues

ational Park Service (NPS) interpretation of resource-related issues has made a necessary and notable expansion at Richmond National Battlefield Park in the twenty-first century, as we strive for better understanding of the Civil War by a diverse audience. NDuring the American Civil War, from the first battle of Manassas until the guns fell silent four years later, the cry of the Union armies was “On to Rich- mond.”Richmond’s battlefields and related resources have a myriad of deep and abiding stories to tell visitors. NPS involvement in the history of management plan (GMP). A central the preservation and interpretation of concept in the new GMP was that at Richmond’s Civil War battlefields Richmond National Battlefield Park, began in 1936 when battlefield land there is an opportunity and an obliga- that had been saved privately was tion to convey to visitors at least an given to the Commonwealth of Vir- introduction to the full and deep ginia, which in turn gave it to the fed- meaning of the Civil War. Not only are eral government. Congressional legis- there strategic explanations for the lation authorized a huge boundary for battles at Richmond, but also the bat- donation of land to commemorate the tlefield stories merge with the Confed- more than 30 battles in the vicinity of erate capital’s industrial, economic, Richmond. Only about 500 acres con- political, and social fabric. The con- stituted the land that was actually pre- centration of diverse Civil War served at that time, however, in a still- resources in the Richmond area is rural landscape. unparalleled. Understanding why the The first visitor center was built in battles occurred at Richmond and the 1940s on an 1864 battlefield, in a who was involved contributes to a vis- small building, with sons of veterans itor’s grasp of the complexity of the offering their interpretations of the American past and provides a means military actions and soldier valor. In to appreciate strengths and shortcom- 1959, the main visitor center was ings in our collective heritage. Rich- moved to the city of Richmond in mond National Battlefield Park is a anticipation of the centennial anniver- prime place for helping visitors to sary of the Civil War. The emphasis of understand specific earthworks and the interpretation was still on the mili- tactics as well as individual tragedies. tary tactics and strategy and the well- Richmond National Battlefield Park is known names of the war. also a prime place for helping visitors From 1992-1996, the park strug- to understand why the Civil War hap- gled with formulating a new general pened, and so why more than 620,000

34 The George Wright FORUM Crossing Boundaries

Figure 1. Tredagar Visitor Center, Richmond National Battlefield Park. (National Park Service photo.) men died, and what the legacy of the partnership with the private sector war means to us today.The interpreta- came to fruition with the dedication of tion was planned to be expanded not the new Richmond National Battle- to substitute social history for military field Park visitor center at Tredegar history but to relate each to the other Iron Works. We had spent $3 million when possible. and two years on the exhibits. We had Richmond’s identity as the former started with formulating interpretive capital of the Confederacy has over themes and objectives. First, we want- time variously been celebrated, excori- ed to have visitors begin to acknowl- ated, and ignored by its residents. The edge or affirm in their minds the same has been true for many battle- watershed nature of the legacy of the fields around Richmond. In planning Civil War. Also, we wanted them to the twenty-first-century visitor center, register that Richmond was at the we wanted all people to be invited in, heart of the Civil War and that the to be able to find something of rele- related resources are overwhelming. vance to them in this facility and also We didn’t want visitors actually over- in the battlefield resources. Key to the whelmed, so we crafted an orientation success of the project are: (1) its loca- to be seen soon after they enter the tion on the James River waterfront, building. which is part of a multi-million-dollar A visitor has a variety of options for renovation project with an emphasis orientation and introduction to on history, and (2) its location in the resources in the map room. He or she famous Tredegar Iron Works, the can engage a ranger or volunteer in “iron maker” to the Confederacy, with discussion or can immerse him- or a rich legacy itself of industrial, social, herself in the two large wall maps that labor, and political history. identify separately the 1862 and 1864 In 2000, our planning and our battles. The 1862 Seven Days Battle

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 35 Crossing Boundaries and the 1864 battles occurred on lized as necessary on the battlefield. much of the same acreage; each has a Soldiers had lots of down-time on number of complex stories and are their hands as well as moments of cri- easily confused by the first-time visi- sis and action. Unusual artifacts are tor. Individual battles and troop move- displayed here to give visitors a clue ments are illustrated by a digital, mov- about instruments of war and the ing map that has proven to be a genius of their invention. For instance, favorite of visitors young and not-so- pontoon boats were lashed together to young. Significantly,there are six more create the base of floating bridges large wall maps that orient a visitor to across the many rivers in Virginia, and the political sites of the capital of the were used extensively by Union and Confederacy, wartime homes and Confederate forces. Another display neighborhoods, churches and ceme- case that intrigues visitors contains teries, hospitals and prisons, monu- flag staffs, without the flags, captured ments and other sites, and Civil War- at Appomattox Courthouse. Flags related museums and collections. Our were extremely important to armies hope is that by this point, we have and regiments: medals of honor were achieved the orientation and motiva- earned for their rescue and capture, tion objectives for the visitor, particu- and their symbolism took many forms larly for Richmond’s battlefields but in the Civil War as in other wars. Tre- including a wide range of related inter- degar made over 1,100 cannon for the ests. Confederacy, and the park displays A motivated visitor may explore the eight of them, including one of the rest of the Tredegar visitor center, largest and the smallest, a rare bronze moving to the lower level, dubbed the tube, displayed side-by-side. When “War Room.” A 27-minute film there the movie is not showing, casualty sta- in an open auditorium offers more ori- tistics run on the film screen to remind entation and specifics on Richmond’s visitors of the cost of war. Grim images battlefields and their context, although reinforce the tragic drama that played by means of media different from out on the battlefields. those of the middle level. The audito- The third floor of the visitor center rium also contains somewhat unusual was designed to be the most museum- museum objects displayed to provoke like section of the facility as well as the different ways of thinking about the greatest work-horse for carrying the inventions and horrors of war. For multiple themes and reaching the instance, a case of shells and bullets, emotional objectives. Called “Rich- some embedded in pieces of trees, are mond Speaks,” the exhibits are divid- captioned with a video label: “While ed into the military stories and the some men made their living making home front or civilian stories, but we artillery, guns, and ammunition, those hope the interrelationship is apparent same products cost other men their through the duplicative timelines and lives.” There are dice, cards, a drum, the meat of “April Essays” for each and a Bible displayed together, the cel- side. History is a continuum and its ebratory, profane, and the sacred, uti- threads are not easily confined to sep-

36 The George Wright FORUM Crossing Boundaries arate spools. Military strategy,political tary chronologies as well as the inter- leadership, industrial strength, scien- relationship among the political and tific innovation, home front condi- military victories and defeats and tions, and individual motivation and home front struggles and perceptions. personalities all affected what hap- Particularly in light of racial strife pened on the battlefields. and distrust in Richmond and recent It was imperative that we set the history involving media hype over the stage for the exhibits by framing the public display of an image of Robert war in the “why” and the “so what.” E. Lee among other historic visages, So, there are almost literal bookends the prologue was especially difficult to to the exhibits that explicate the craft. We did not want to pull punches causative issues, the larger war aims, but we did not want to exaggerate or effects, and accomplishments and fail- oversimplify the reasons for the war. ures. Other important interpretive The prologue as written seems to have objectives were to provide an opportu- hit the mark properly and crosses a nity to understand political and mili- necessary boundary in connecting

Figure 2. Dressed in mourning black, two war widows make their way through the devasta- tion that befell Richmond during the Civil War. (National Park Service photo.)

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 37 Crossing Boundaries resources with greater meaning: prologue, he or she reads that soldiers The Civil War (1861-1865) joined the armies for a myriad of rea- remains the central event in Amer- sons, often unconnected with the overt ican history. Richmond was at the racial issues and rather related to the heart of the conflict. More than seventy years after the adoption of more theoretical reason of either pre- the Constitution, a nation founded serving the Union or preserving states’ on principles of liberty and equali- rights. The dense texts, April Essays, ty still allowed human enslave- timelines, variety of artifacts, and pho- ment and quarreled over the bal- tographs all layer together, but sepa- ance between state and federal powers. These interrelated issues rate with concentration to provide vis- led to Constitutional crises that itors with a smorgasbord and a rela- were merely patched over, satisfy- tively complete introduction to the ing neither North nor South. The Civil War history of the area. The reac- growing nation became increasing- tion has been tremendously positive. ly divided over the existence and expansion of slavery. People spend hours in the Tredegar Lincoln’s election to the Presi- visitor center. We did not have to dency in 1860 convinced many stretch to have something for every- southern leaders that their slave- one; there really is more than plenty based economy and social order for everyone’s particular interest in would soon be threatened by fed- eral restrictions. Seven states Richmond’s Civil War history once quickly passed articles of seces- you can get past the traditional “Lost sion and created the Confederate Cause” filter for the past. My favorite States of America. After the new part of the visitor center is the “voices” Confederacy fired on a federal fort component, which reflects the larger in Charleston harbor and Lincoln called for troops to preserve the themes through individual stories Union, Virginia joined the Confed- conveyed by a selection of letters, eracy and prepared to resist inva- diaries, remembrances, and newspa- sion. per correspondence. Richmond, the Confederate The other bookend, the “Epi- capital and industrial center of the South, was a major objective of logue,” brings the visitor back out to Union strategy for four years. As the overarching theme of “so what,” war began, neither side anticipat- with the help of an enormous photo- ed the brutal clashes, long sieges, graph of Richmond’s turning basin, and home front destruction that which was for ocean-going ships that brought death or injury to more than one million Americans and transferred cargo between the canal devastation to a broad landscape, and the James River. The Epilogue is much of it in Virginia. somber in tone and factual in content Within the bookends, we bring the but is designed to raise the conscious- interpretation back to the resources, ness of the reader to reflect on the state the battlefields of Richmond, Virginia. of the reunited nation in 1865 and And then, we focus closer, on the indi- today: vidual soldiers. Beginning as a war to deter- mine the preservation or the divi- As the visitor approaches the mili- sion of the United States, the Civil tary side of the exhibits adjacent to the War ended in emancipation of four

38 The George Wright FORUM Crossing Boundaries

million Americans as well as Civil War battles erupted around preservation of the Union. Three Richmond in 1862 and 1864, and the Constitutional amendments—the threat of them was ever-present from Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fif- teenth—promised former slaves 1861 to 1865. The memory of them freedom and rights as citizens. has been seared on the descendants of The war decisively answered the all involved and all who have heard the question of whether states might stories. How time and history have leave the Union and shifted the treated those memories has differed, balance of political power toward the federal level. evolved, been hidden, and been exag- But much remained unre- gerated depending on the audience as solved in Richmond and in the well as the particular era and story- nation. The war did not solve teller. The National Park Service must issues of racial prejudices, nor did tell all true stories, as well as provide it establish final meanings for freedom and equality in the United thorough and honest frameworks and States. These meanings began to contexts for the history of Richmond’s evolve in law, practice, and history. Civil War battles. Equally important, After April 1865, Richmond wit- NPS must preserve the actual nessed both commemorations resources of the battlefields; and most and celebrations of the Civil War. Many white Richmonders tended important, we must provide a link graves and erected memorials, between the stories and the resources while blacks celebrated emancipa- in order to encourage the most thor- tion with parades and religious ough understanding of them, their services. How well Richmonders, time, and ourselves today. The more and the rest of America, could overcome their divisions was a context we can provide for a diverse challenge for the future. public to see themselves in the history, the more relevant the resources will be to them.

[Ed. note: this paper was originally given at the 2001 GWS Conference.]

Cynthia MacLeod, Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, 3215 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23223- 7517; [email protected] F

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 39 Lee H. Whittlesey Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters: What is Known About Their Legends and Stories of Yellowstone National Park and the Complexities of Interpreting Them

The thermal wonders of the Park did not frighten the native peoples of the region. Euro-Americans originated this idea and it must be dispelled before we can understand the true nature of Yellowstone’s human past. —Joseph Weixelman, “The Power to Evoke Wonder” (1992)

hat did the Indians say about Yellowstone? They must have told stories about its strange wonders, but what were those stories? His- torians have long wondered. Answers have been slow to appear. WNative Americans probably had many more tales, legends, and myths about the Yellowstone country than the few we currently know of, but thanks to Peter Nabokov and Larry Loendorf, we now know more than ever before about some of those early Yellowstone stories. Prior to the emergence of their manuscript American Indians and Yellowstone National Park: A Documentary Overview, his- torians trusted only one Indian legend relating to Yellowstone; that is, they knew of only one that appeared to be genuinely Indian rather than “white” (the Ralph Dixey story discussed below). Moreover, before the Nabokov book appeared, only small, unsatisfying tidbits of Yellowstone information were known to us in general about the Sheepeaters, Shoshones, Crows, Bannocks, Blackfeet, Flat- heads, Kiowas, Arapahoes, Nez Perce, Assinboines, Northern Cheyennes, Gros Ventres, Sioux, and other tribes who inhabited the upper Yellowstone country and its edges at various times prior to 1870. But now, because of that book, we know more than ever before about how these tribes related to Yellowstone. There seems to have been an effort attempting to completely segregate the by early whites in Yellowstone Nation- place in culture from its former Indian al Park to make the place “safe” for inhabitants, including their legends park visitors, not only by physically and myths. If historians cannot con- removing Indians from the park and clusively prove that whites conspired circulating the rumor that “Indians to do this, many of us who have spent feared the geyser regions,” but also by years studying Yellowstone’s literature

40 The George Wright FORUM Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters certainly cannot escape the overarch- it in a rare book that came to the park ing feeling that something like that via the massive collections of Jack and happened. Superintendent P.W. Nor- Susan Davis of Bozeman, Montana. ris’s 1870s statements that “these The source is a man named John primitive savages” feared the geyser Hamilcar Hollister who visited Yel- regions are well known. Even as early lowstone in 1883 with the well-known as 1895, historian Hiram Chittenden Rufus Hatch party. Hollister pub- could not find much about what Indi- lished an account of that trip in 1912, ans thought about Yellowstone nor and in it he told the now disreputable about what they told whites of it. “It is story of Indians fearing the park’s a singular fact in the history of the Yel- geyser regions. But following that lowstone National Park,” wrote Chit- story,Hollister stated that his attempts tenden, “that no knowledge of that to find Indian legends about Yellow- country seems to have been derived stone had been unsuccessful. He, like from the Indians.... Their deep silence me many years later, wondered why he concerning it is therefore no less could not find such Indian legends of remarkable than mysterious” (Chitten- Yellowstone. He then made the follow- den 1895: 8, 99). ing statement that appears in no other One wonders whether Chittenden known place in Yellowstone literature: (like so many later writers) simply … there are but few [published] could not find information about Yel- Indian legends which refer to this purposely [!] unknown land. Of lowstone Indians, or whether the Indi- these I have found but one [other ans would not talk to him because of than for the Indians-fearing-the- religion (we know that many tribes geysers story], and that is this—- considered Yellowstone sacred) or that no white man should ever be because of other reasons (see the fol- told of this inferno, lest he should enter that [Yellowstone] region and lowing paragraph), or whether he pur- form a league with the devils, and posely fostered this thinking for by their aid come forth and destroy motives of his own. At this late date it all Indians. Hence the trappers, is difficult to point fingers at our who were the first white men to “white” forebears and accuse them of enter these western lands, learned little or nothing [about Yellow- such conspiracies, but that belief must stone] from that source [Indians] figure at least a modicum into the fact (Hollister 1912: 145). that until American Indians and Yel- This is a fascinating assertion that lowstone was written, we knew less we can prove neither absolutely true about Indians in Yellowstone than nor absolutely false. Hollister does not about Indians anywhere else in the tell us whence he obtained this sup- American West. posed legend of Yellowstone, but the It now turns out that there may be a fact that he apparently heard it in fascinating reason after all for Chitten- 1883, very early in the park’s history den’s comment concerning Indians’ when hundreds of pre-1872 Indians “deep silence” about Yellowstone. I were still living, gives me great pause. I searched for this information for near- believe that we must consider this ly thirty years and only recently found story as possibly true until such time

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 41 Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters that we get good information debunk- secret on purpose. Considering how ing it. In light of all that we know about we white people have spoken “with how fervently some Indian tribes forked tongue” in the past, I certainly believed in the park as a sacred place, would not blame them if they would the idea of not revealing it to whites not tell us. makes total sense. Of course we have One final point with regard to Hol- no idea exactly which tribes Hollister lister. A critic has suggested that Hol- referred to, and, again, we do not lister’s use of the word “devils” here know whence he obtained the legend. might somehow negate his statement If true, the Hollister rendering of this because it might show that the Indi- Native American story represents a an(s) he talked to were “Christian- very large and possibly final piece of a ized.” Here is why I believe Hollister’s long, incomplete puzzle relating to statement is not negated by that. Yellowstone, i.e., the fact that some Christianization and the accompa- tribes may have kept the place a secret nying linguistic translations about it and why they did it. back and forth from Indians to whites The idea that at least some Indians and vice versa were (and are) very (we do not yet know which tribes complicated things. And white men might have had such a policy or how were notoriously poor at understand- many such tribes there were) might ing Indian religion, whether it had have kept the existence of Yellowstone been “Christianized” or not. Note that a secret for religious reasons squares historian Colin Calloway says many well with both known native proclivi- white men tended to dismiss Indian ties for not telling certain things to religion as “devil worship” (Calloway white men and with Chittenden’s 1997: 68). Thus, just because Hollis- 1895 perception of a deep Indian ter used the term “devil” does not silence about Yellowstone. It also mean we should jump to conclusions begins to explain why historians about what he meant or what the Indi- Nabokov and Loendorf, Aubrey an(s) he spoke to meant. For all we Haines, Joseph Weixelman, I, and oth- know, Hollister simply mistranslated ers have all had a fair amount of diffi- what the Indian(s) told him into culty finding good numbers of litera- “white-man vernacular.” ture connections between Indians and Secondly, Indians did not always Yellowstone. Finally, it explains why “buy into” Christianization. In this we have so few known Indian legends case, if they did not buy into it, then about a place that must have generated their comments to Hollister were dozens or hundreds of such legends probably still based upon their intact among ancient natives. Thus, we now native religion. Even if their buy-in to must, in my opinion, begin asking our Christianity was partly complete, they Native American friends whether still might have been using a religion there is anything in their oral tradi- that involved pieces of their original tions to confirm this, and hope that religion and hence their statement on one or more of them will tell us the taboo might still have made it whether they indeed kept the place through Hollister to us as a true state-

42 The George Wright FORUM Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters ment. Other than for this story, there was, Indians’ buy-in to Christianity ran until the production of American Indi- the gamut from “not at all” to “partly” ans and Yellowstone, little reliable to “completely.” That is a point Cal- information or documentation on leg- loway makes over and over again in his ends, myths, or other folklore that may chapter on religion entitled “A World have been communicated by Indians of Dreams and Bibles.” His chapter about the present Yellowstone Nation- discusses the complex interplay al Park. Even after the emergence of between Indian religion and Christian the Nabokov and Loendorf’s book, religion in the new world. Calloway the “Coyote” Yellowstone stories that mentions instance after instance have been bandied about by both wherein Indians simply played along Indian and popular “white” writers with white Friars and Fathers (merely remain controversial in that historians mouthing their words and phrases in disagree as to which are genuine and order to placate them, or remaining which are made up by whites. silent, which the Fathers often incor- And, too, we now know that there rectly took to mean tacit agreement) are a great number of other so-called before returning to their old ways of Indian stories that can be totally dis- religion. In many other cases, Indians missed as tales made up by whites to simply took pieces of the white man’s explain what Indians “should have religion and incorporated them into thought” about Yellowstone. Again, an already-established native religion. the most common example of such That often meant that the native reli- misinformation is that Indians “feared gion was essentially left intact with the geyser regions as inhabited by evil only a few baubles-and-bangles-and- spirits.” Virtually all of the stories crucifixes thrown into the mix. A few included in Mary Earle Hardy’s Little attempts by whites at Christianization Ta-Wish: Indian Legends from Geyser- undoubtedly worked, wherein Indians land (1913) and La Verne Fitzgerald’s were mostly or totally converted, but Blackfeather: Trapper Jim’s Fables of we cannot assume that this was the Sheepeater Indians in Yellowstone general rule, as many white people (1937) are, in the opinion of this his- have assumed. torian, “white baloney,” that is, faked We now move to other known Indi- Indian tales. At the least, if they are an legends about Yellowstone. For real, there is no documentation to many years, Yellowstone historian prove it. emeritus Aubrey Haines believed that With all of that as background, we only one Indian legend relating to Yel- now begin looking at Indian legends in lowstone was genuine. It is a tale of the the Yellowstone country by examining origin of the Snake and Yellowstone the known Indian names for the place. rivers, apparently truly handed down Nabokov and Loendorf, after years of in Shoshone and Bannock families looking at the ethnological, anthropo- and published in Ella Clark’s Indian logical, archeological, and historical Legends of the Northern Rockies literature and interviewing dozens of (Haines 1982; Clark 1966: 174-177). tribal members, have concluded that

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 43 Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters certain Indian tribes did have names to stop it. He piled up rocks to hold for the upper Yellowstone country. the water back, but the water broke his Most of those names referred to the dam and rushed on. That is where the park’s hot springs and geysers. The Upper Falls is today. The man ran on Crow Indians called Yellowstone ahead of the water and again built a “land of the burning ground” or “land dam of rocks, but it did not hold the of vapors” while the Blackfeet called it water back either. That is where the “many smoke.”The Flatheads called it Lower Falls is today. The water kept “smoke from the ground.” The on rushing and formed the Yellow- Kiowas called it “the place of hot stone River. The man then ran to the water.”Only the Bannocks had a name opposite side of the fish basket and fol- that did not call to mind the park’s lowed its waters downstream, building thermal regions: “buffalo country.” several dams of rocks, but the water Additionally, the Crows specifically would not be stopped. Those broken called the Yellowstone geysers “Bide- dams are the site of American Falls Mahpe,” meaning “sacred or powerful and Shoshone Falls today on the water.” Snake River. The big fish basket that As for the stories themselves that the man tipped over is Yellowstone might have been told about Yellow- Lake while the old woman with the stone by the Indians, the Ralph Dixey fish was Mother Earth. The man him- story is thought to be genuine. It is a self was Ezeppa or Coyote (Clark tale concerning the origin of the Snake 1966: 191-193). and Yellowstone rivers and long Until recently this Dixey story was known to have been handed down in arguably the only known, genuine the Shoshone tribe (both Ralph Dixey (truly known to have been told by and his Bannock wife stated that this Indians) Native American story about story was handed down in both of Yellowstone National Park. But there their families). The story begins with is now new evidence (per Nabokov “long ago there was no river in this and Loendorf) not only as to the fact part of the country. No Snake River that Indians told stories about Yellow- ran through the land.” A man came stone but also as to what some of those from the south who was always stick- stories were. In particular we now ing his nose into everything. He trav- have several “new” (actually old) sto- eled north past the Tetons and went ries known to have been told by the up onto a mountain in what is now Crow tribe. called Yellowstone. There he found an A Crow narrative from a man old lady with a basket of fish. Hungry, named Sharp Horn, who passed it he asked her to boil some fish for him. down to his son who passed it to his She offered to make him food but grandsons, concerns the mythic deeds warned him not to bother her basket. of a character named “Old Woman’s He did not listen, stepped on the edge Grandchild” and how at least two of of the basket, and spilled its water and Yellowstone’s geysers were supposed- fish. The water spread all over. The ly created. This Crow said that in one man ran fast, ahead of the water, trying of the thermal regions of the park, Old

44 The George Wright FORUM Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters Woman’s Grandchild fought many teenth-century white guys who first beasts and turned them into moun- discovered dinosaur fossils? Or did tains and hills after he killed them. A Indians themselves find dinosaur fos- large buffalo bull that he killed was sils and generate stories about them turned into a geyser formation that long before the nineteenth-century continued to blow out hot air. Near it white guys found the “terrible he placed a mountain lion, also a lizards”? Did Indians perhaps have geyser formation blowing hot air, in contact with the nineteenth-century order to keep the buffalo bull from white-guy dinosaur hunters and mere- coming back to life (Nabokov and ly generate the story after talking to Loendorf 1999: 107). them? Or is this story just pure Another mythic tale, told by the “Native American baloney,” a faked Crow and associated with the park, Indian tale? There are no easy concerns Yellowstone Lake and what answers to these questions. happened to the dinosaurs. A thun- From Hunts-to-Die, a Crow Indian derbird grabbed a Crow Indian by his born about 1838, we have it that his hair and took him to “Overlook tribe believed there were spirits in Yel- Mountain,” on the southeast side of lowstone geyser areas who were Yellowstone Lake, and placed him in a benevolent and helpful rather than nest there. The thunderbird told the malevolent and dangerous. This tends Crow that he wanted him to help him to correct what is perhaps the worst fight the giant water beast that lived in piece of supposed Indian information Yellowstone Lake and which ate the about Yellowstone—-the long-surviv- thunderbird’s young. The Crow built ing but incorrect notion that Indians a large fire and heated many rocks and feared the geyser regions. Even though boiled much water. When the beast this piece of white baloney has been came out of the lake and climbed up thoroughly discredited by Weixelman, the mountainside, the Indian pitched Haines, and Nabokov and Loendorf, hot rocks and hot water into its we can look for it to continue to mouth. Steam came out of the mon- appear in the shallow, unresearched, ster’s mouth and it tumbled down the and thoughtless writings of popular mountainside and into the lake. Sup- journalists for years to come. It posedly this was the last “dinosaur,” belongs in the same class of malarkey and steam vents around Yellowstone as the notion that “Yellowstone Park Lake may be remnants of this event, a was once called Colter’s Hell” myth from Crow history (Nabokov (Nabokov and Loendorf 1999: 83; and Loendorf 1999: 107-109). Mattes 1949). Of course, as Paul Schullery point- The incorrect notion that Indians ed out to me when we discussed this feared the geyser regions seems to subject, the very idea of dinosaurs and have originated in Euroamerican liter- Indian tales generates numerous ature from a note that William Clark immediate questions. Is this tale per- added to his notes after 1809 when he haps younger than other such Indian returned to St. Louis. It is not known tales? Is it only as aged as the old nine- whence Clark obtained this informa-

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 45 Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters tion, but here is the relevant quote “was one of the greatest Kiowas who (complete with misspellings and ever lived.” The Kiowa informant incorrect syntax and punctuation): called him “Kahn Hayn” for the pur- At the head of this [Yellow- poses of the story. He said that when stone] river the nativs give an Doh Ki, the Kiowa equivalent of the account that there is frequently herd a loud noise, like Thunder, Great Spirit, put people on earth he which makes the earth Tremble, had no homeland for Kiowas, so he they State that they seldom go promised them a homeland if they there because their children Can- could make the difficult sojourn not sleep—-and Conceive it pos- through a barren and desolate vol- sessed of spirits, who were averse that men Should be near them canic land where clouds of steam shot (Haines, 1974: 4). from holes and fissures in the ground. Unexpectedly, the Kiowa tribe is Doh Ki called all of the Kiowas around now known to have oral traditions one particularly disturbing steaming associated with the upper Yellowstone pool, a deep caldron of boiling water country. The Kiowas, who eventually that surged and smashed against settled in western Oklahoma, were jagged rock walls and made fearsome earlier located in the present Crow sounds as if a great beast were just country near the headwaters of the below the surface. Most of the Kiowas Yellowstone River. Lewis and Clark ran away, but a few remained, includ- found them below there in 1805 “in ing Kahn Hayn. Doh Ki then pointed seventy tents,” somewhat near the Yel- to the fearsome pool and said that the lowstone Valley. One of their descen- land there would belong to the tribe of dants, N. Scott Momaday, has written any man who would dive down into it. that around the time of the Revolu- While some of the Kiowas did not tionary War the Kiowas migrated from want this hot land, Kahn Hayn knew a place near the “headwaters of the that Doh Ki was a benevolent spirit Yellowstone River.” In this earlier his- whose rewards were always good and tory they were friends and trading lasting, so he decided to take Doh Ki’s partners with the Crows, but neverthe- test. He dove into the boiling pool and less it was an unexpected surprise for was immediately panic-stricken. He Nabokov and Loendorf to find that the burned and ached and thrashed and Kiowas had traditions associated with lost consciousness. Suddenly he felt present Yellowstone National Park himself being lifted from the water by (Nabokov and Loendorf 1999: 93- the hands of many Kiowas who were 96). yelling excited, victory cries. As he Nabokov and Loendorf found what looked about he saw that Doh Ki had so far may be the most important piece vanished and that the landscape was of Indian “interpretation” associated no longer barren and desolate. Instead with present Yellowstone National it was covered with rich forests, lush Park. It is the legend told by the meadows, cascading streams, and Kiowas about their origins in the pres- large animals. This spot in the present ent park. It concerns a man whose Yellowstone National Park was now name no Kiowa remembers but who the most beautiful and abundant of all

46 The George Wright FORUM Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters— places on the earth, and it became the anyone who has spent a small amount homeland of the Kiowas. of time reading Indian legends and The Kiowas today have a name for myths can easily make up new ones in the place where these mythic events the same vein as the genuine ones that supposedly occurred. It is at the Drag- they have just read. I could certainly on’s Mouth Spring near Mud Volcano do it easily, and, in my opinion, this in the park, and the Kiowas call it would be the very type of thing an “Tung Sa’u Dah” which means “the English teacher or journalist might be place of hot water” (Nabokov and tempted to do in “doctoring” Indian Loendorf 1999: 97-100). stories that did not otherwise quite Historians have long argued about “work” for them. Because Clark talked whether Ella Clark’s tales of Yellow- to a lot of Indians and produced three stone in her book Indian Legends of books on Indian legends in the North- the Northern Rockies (1966) are gen- west, I have no doubt that some if not uine tales passed down by Native many of her stories are indeed gen- Americans or whether Clark made uine. But she did such a poor job of them up herself, either partially or telling us where they came from that I fully, by being careless in how she remain suspicious of some of them. translated the stories, by failing to tell As it turns out, however, probably us enough about who her Indian the best known of Clark’s Yellowstone sources were, or both. Haines and I legends may well be a genuine Flat- take the side that we should not always head tale. It is the one that she calls trust Clark, an English teacher with lit- “Coyote’s prophesy concerning Yel- tle or no training in history or anthro- lowstone Park,” and according to her, pology.We believe that she was prima- it goes like this: rily interested in the stories themselves In generations to come this and not in whether they were truly place around here will be a treas- Indian rather than made up by whites, ure of the people. They will be in whether they had been genuinely proud of it and of all the curious things in it—-flint rocks, hot passed down orally through Indian springs, and cold springs. People history, or in how carefully she trans- will be proud of this spot. Springs lated them. will bubble out, and steam will On the other hand, Nabokov and shoot out. Hot springs and cold Loendorf take a more charitable view springs will be side by side. Hot water will fly into the air, in this of Clark’s book. As anthropologists, place and that place. No one they see in her stories a thread of con- knows how long this will continue. sistency to other parts of Native Amer- And voices will be heard here, in ican folklore (especially, they say, that different languages, in the genera- of the Blackfeet and Flathead) and tions to come (Clark 1966: 103). they tout that connection as evidence As one might expect, less-discern- that Clark’s stories may be genuine ing writers, especially journalists, have Indian tales (Nabokov and Loendorf glommed onto this story like flies to a 1999: 129-132). carcass. They have not been able to But of course one can argue that resist it, in the apparent belief that

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 47 Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters surely the story contains some kind of self, “How Coyote Became a Sachem,” ancient Indian wisdom about Yellow- as the source. Worse, the story does stone that accords with the later not appear in a pamphlet by Pichette “good” judgments of whites about the found and cited by Nabokov and place, and which must thus somehow Loendorf. Thus, while I am suspi- give dramatic credence to those judg- cious of this Yellowstone legend, if it ments. I remain suspicious of the truly came from Pichette or Wheal- story, because it sounds fake and don, it must be a genuine Flathead because Clark did such a poor job of story rather than a piece of white documenting it. It is exactly the type of baloney. contrived-sounding piece that white Another of Clark’s stories, “Defi- writers would make up as a faked Indi- ance at Yellowstone Falls” (1966: 361- an legend. It is written too slickly and 362), is a fascinating mystery. It is the has too much perfectly balanced supposed Crow legend of thirteen drama in it to ring true as a real Indian Crow braves and five Crow women legend (which generally are neither taking a raft over Lower Falls to their slick nor perfectly balanced). The pre- deaths in a suicide story that Clark diction about the pride of future gen- says originated because the Crows erations sounds European. The busi- wanted to escape the U.S. Army. She ness about future voices in different attributes it to Charles M. Skinner’s languages seems beyond the reach of Myths and Legends of Our Lands the normal Indian legend. (1896), and indeed a look at that book But, again, the story may well be reveals that Clark merely rewrote genuine. Clark claims (1966: 79) that Skinner’s “A Yellowstone Tragedy” most of her Flathead stories came from (Skinner 1903: 204-206). Pierre Pichette or Bon Whealdon. We do not know whence Skinner Pichette was a completely trustworthy got the story,but he may have gotten it source, because he was a blind Indian from Charles Sunderlee. Sunderlee’s who spent at least fifty years of his life version appeared many years earlier in becoming an authority on the tradi- a purported news story in a Helena, tions and culture of his people. Clark Montana, newspaper (Helena Daily would have us believe either that Herald,May 18, 1870) under the Pichette told this story to her from one headline “A Thrilling Event on the handed down to him by elders in the Yellowstone” (Kearns 1940). There, summer of 1953 (the year before he Sunderlee listed the five members of died), or else that Bon Whealdon told his party and claims that they wit- it to her. Whealdon came to Montana’s nessed the event above Lower Falls on Flathead reservation in 1907, and he April 2, 1870. Suspiciously, none of too spent many years gathering infor- the five men he mentioned appeared mation on the Flathead culture. in the 1870 Montana census. Haines Unfortunately,Clark not only does not dismissed the Sunderlee story as fic- tell us exactly from where she got the tion inspired by Clark’s Crow Indian story or when, but her citation (1966: legend (Haines 1974: 40-41; 1977: 366, 376) lists only an article by her- 339n49).

48 The George Wright FORUM Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters At first I thought that Sunderlee’s never heard it in any other form newspaper story might have inspired a (meaning from Crow elders or other- fake (white) Indian legend that Skin- wise in Crow oral history). He agreed ner and Clark passed on. After all, with Pretty-on-Top’s assessment of there is no hint of U.S. Army soldiers Crows generally not committing sui- chasing Crows in the upper Yellow- cide, and expanded on that, saying stone country in 1870, as Skinner and that those beliefs were based in Crow Clark say, and in fact Sunderlee says religion. McCleary says that the Crow nothing about soldiers being present. belief was and is that if one commits And, too, Sunderlee’s story is 26 years suicide, one’s spirit will remain on older than the first known appearance earth rather than ascending to some of the legend (some of its details seem promised land, so they do not general- at least partially convincing as a news ly commit suicide. McCleary was also story). But later I found that it was not suspicious of the idea of Crow Indians that simple. being on rafts or boats, because “they Two present-day Crow experts tend to avoid boats and water and get- know nothing about this supposed ting onto water” (Pretty-on-Top 2000; legend. When I ran the story past Bur- McCleary 2000) ton Pretty-on-Top, the current chair- But even with all of this evidence person for the Crow Tribal Cultural for the proposition that Clark’s “Defi- Committee at Hardin, Montana, he ance” legend is false, Haines points told me that it sounded like “hog- out that Clark got a number of her wash” to him. “Crow people do not Indian stories from military man Lt. kill themselves,” he said to me. He also James A. Bradley. A look at Bradley’s stated that he knew of no Crow histo- long Crow discussions makes it clear rians nor “tribal elders” that had ever that Bradley did get a lot of stories, leg- passed this story on in oral history as a ends, and general information during Crow legend, at least to him. While he the period 1871-1877 from Little Face was not familiar with Clark’s book, he and numerous other Crows (Haines stated that he had read numerous 2000; Bradley 1917: 197-250). If comparable works by white authors, Clark truly got the story from Bradley and he stated that all too often he (and one of his stories bears some would have to “put these books down resemblance to it) rather than pirating without finishing them” because they it strictly from Skinner, then perhaps were filled with so much bad informa- the Crows do (or did) have such a sui- tion. I also spoke to Tim McCleary, cide legend even though certain Crow head of General Studies at Little experts have never heard it. All in all, I Bighorn College, Hardin, Montana, do not know what to think about this and a Crow expert. He too was suspi- convoluted mess. cious of the Clark “legend,” but cau- These problems with both Clark’s tioned me about how easy it was to be “Defiance at Yellowstone Falls” and wrong about such things, regardless of her “Coyote’s prophesy concerning which side one is on. He had read the Yellowstone Park” point up the diffi- Clark version of the legend but had culty of determining whether or not

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 49 Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters some reputed Indian legends are truly heard it but only that he remembers Indian. They also point up how easy it hearing it. And, too, I am a lot more is for any of us to get confused when willing to believe that the story is truly white baloney, known or suspected, established within the tribe if I also enters the picture. For those of us who hear from several other tribal members do not always trust the vagaries of oral that they heard it from their forebears. tradition (was the story passed down Finally, we should end by making correctly by one person and was it one thing perfectly clear even if some remembered/retrieved correctly by of this is murky. While Indians appear another, especially over many genera- not to have feared the Yellowstone tions?), having to worry about white geyser regions, we know that many baloney adds one more complex and tribes revered them. Revere and fear troubling wrinkle to the equation. are two different things, reverence And these problems also point up referring to beliefs in something the reasons why all researchers, sacred. There is much evidence put including those who talk to Indians forth by Weixelman, Haines, and simply to write down their stories, Nabokov and Loendorf that a number must be meticulous in documenting of tribes considered the Yellowstone their sources. We must be certain that country sacred and used it as a vision- we ask the tribal person conveying the questing, prayer-making, and gift- story to us (1) from whom he heard bequeathing place, and there is much the story and (2) whether others in his other material in their writings that tribe have also heard it. These two disproves the theory that Indians questions are important because they feared Yellowstone. give us clues as to both the antiquity of These few known Indian stories the story and how widespread it is (or then, and probably dozens or even was) within the tribe. For example, I hundreds of others that are now lost to am a lot more willing to believe Joe us or perhaps still in the oral tradi- Medicine Crow’s story if he tells me tions, were among the first known that he heard it from his 100-year-old attempts to interpret the strange Won- grandmother than if he tells me he derland country at the head of the Yel- isn’t quite certain from whom he lowstone River.

[Ed. note: This paper represents the first chapter, with title and text somewhat modi- fied, from the author’s upcoming book Yellowstone’s Horse-and-Buggy Tour Guides: Interpreting the Grand Old Park, 1872-1920, which is as yet unpublished. The paper will also appear in the forthcoming proceedings of the 6th Yellowstone Science Conference, to be published later this year by the Yellowstone Center for Resources and the GWS.] References Allen, C., and A. Pinkham. 2001. Personal communication to author from Allen and Pinkham, Nez Perce elders, 27-28 August, at Nez Perce symposium in Yellowstone. Bradley, Lt. J. 1917. Bradley Manuscript F. Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 8, 197-250. Calloway, C.G. 1997. New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.

50 The George Wright FORUM Native Americans, the Earliest Interpreters Chittenden, H. 1895. The Yellowstone National Park. Cincinnati, Oh.: Robert Clarke Company. Clark, E. 1966. Indian Legends of the Northern Rockies. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press. Fitzgerald, L.V. 1937. Blackfeather: Trapper Jim’s Fables of Sheepeater Indians in Yellowstone. Caldwell, Id.: Caxton Printers. Haines, A.L. 1974. Yellowstone National Park: Its Exploration and Establishment.Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. ———. 1977 [1996]. The Yellowstone Story. Boulder, Colo.: University of Colorado Press. ———. 1982. Letter to author, 9 July. (In author’s files.) ———. 2000. Letter to author, 14 March. (In Yellowstone National Park history files.) Hardy, M.E. 1913. Little Ta-Wish: Indian Legends from Geyserland. Chicago: Rand McNally. Hollister, J.H. 1912. Memories of Eighty Years: Autosketches, Random Notes, and Reminiscences. Chicago: N.p. Kearns, W.E.1940. Historical items on Yellowstone from earliest Helena Heralds. Yellowstone Nature Notes 17:3/4 (March-April). Mattes, M. 1949. Behind the legend of Colter’s Hell. Mississippi Valley Historical Review 36 (September), 251-282. McCleary, T.2000. Personal communication to author, February. Nabokov, P., and L. Loendorf. 1999. American Indians and Yellowstone National Park: A Documentary Overview as “Restoring a Presence.” Unpublished draft manuscript. Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.: Yellowstone National Park Research Library. Pretty-on-Top, B. 2000. Personal communication to author, February. Skinner, C.M. 1896. Myths and Legends of Our Lands. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. Weixelman, J. 1992. The power to evoke wonder: Native Americans and the geysers of Yellowstone National Park. Master’s thesis, Montana State University, Bozeman. Lee H. Whittlesey, Yellowstone Center for Resources, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190; [email protected] F

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 51 Ross J. Chapman Exploiting the Human Need for Nature for Successful Protected Area Management

Nature’s Importance to People or the purposes of this study, “nature” is defined as wilderness, semi- wilderness, and non-built places, and the components of nature such as wildlife. Many researchers have provided evidence that people need nature (Driver et al. 1987; Driver, Nash, and Haas 1987; Ewert 1996b; FKaplan and Kaplan 1989; Kaplan and Talbot 1983; Leopold 1966; Maslow 1962; Manfredo, Vaske, and Sikorowski 1996; Mannell 1996; Montes 1996; Schroeder 1992; Schroeder 1996; Ulrich 1984; Wilson 1984). In addition, there are now many studies on the outcomes desired from recreational experi- ences in outdoor environments. According to Kaplan and Kaplan (1989, 141), the themes of stress mediation, competence building, and the search for envi- ronmental diversity dominate the literature. They also state: “Nature is a valued and appreciated part of life.... Nature seems ... important to people.... Human functioning is impacted by its evolutionary origins which speaks loudly for our strong connection to nature in our primitive role before technological advances” (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, 1, 7). Ulrich (1984, 420) demonstrated Maslow (1962, 40) details peak expe- that nature content in a hospital riences as “moments of highest happi- patient’s view contributes to faster ness and fulfillment” that are often recovery.Many studies provide further achieved by a nature experience and evidence for the importance of nature other experiences such as creative to people (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, movement and intellectual insight. 2). Craik (1970) suggests that human Kaplan and Talbot (1983, 178) beings have deeply rooted definable declare that “the wilderness inspires and measurable psychological dispo- feelings of awe and wonder, and one’s sitions toward the physical environ- intimate contact with this environment ment—dispositions that help drive leads to thoughts about spiritual environmental attitudes, preferences, meanings and eternal processes.”Indi- and behaviors. He also reported that viduals feel better acquainted with the deepest and strongest attachments their own thoughts and feelings, and between people and natural environ- they feel “different in some way— ments may give birth to spiritual expe- calmer, at peace with themselves, more riences in which people feel a sense of beautiful on the inside and unstifled” connection with a larger reality that (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, 141). gives meaning to their lives. Schroeder

52 The George Wright FORUM Exploiting the Human Need for Nature (1992) added that in some cases, peo- fit into the world ecosystem are still ple report that natural areas provide vague. According to Edward O. Wil- them a sense of refuge and an escape son, the originator of the biophilia from the pressures of urban environ- hypothesis, the more we know of other ments and daily routines. life forms, the more we respect our- Dwyer, Schroeder, and Gobster selves: “Biophilia ... is the innately (1991) stated that research on peo- emotional affiliation of human beings ple’s experiences of natural environ- to other organisms” (Wilson 1993, ments shows that strong emotional ties 31). exist between people and elements of Biophilia: Is the Need natural settings such as trees and for Nature in Our Genes? forests. Montes (1996, 109) adds that Kellert and Wilson (1993) have some scientists have argued that natu- stated that there is an inherent human ral environments are preferred by need for contact with a variety of life many people over indoor or highly forms, which includes wildlife. Their urbanized settings because the former biophilia hypothesis asserts the exis- offer therapeutic advantages. Driver tence in humans of a biologically and co-authors (1987) felt that nature based, inherent need to affiliate with experience provided benefits while life and life-like processes. According- built environments had constraining ly, human identity and personal fulfill- or deleterious qualities. Others have ment depend on our relationship to argued that “the way in which humans nature. The human need for nature is are programmed by evolution causes linked to the influence of the natural people to experience and perceive nat- world on our emotional, aesthetic, ural environments in a way that pro- cognitive, and spiritual development; motes relaxation and restoration; to it is not restricted to our material realize nature benefits is, in a sense, exploitation of nature. Biophilia, then, built-in” (Mannell 1996, 412; quoting is the natural emotional affiliation of Hartig and Evans 1993). human beings with other living organ- Some researchers have suggested isms. that some aspects of connecting with A core premise of biophilia is an nature, such as wildlife viewing and intrinsic, genetic predisposition to other forms of contact with wildlife, react to biological phenomena. Evi- are essential to human well-being dence supporting such a premise (Katcher and Beck 1983; Kellert and would add weight to the argument that Wilson 1993; Leopold 1966; McVay the wildlife component of nature is 1993; Soulé 1991; Ulrich et al. 1991; essential to human well-being and Wilson 1993). McVay (1993, 3) has growth. An inborn need for wildlife proposed that we have a “Siamese” and nature justifies conservation as connection to wildlife, but that we do both a biological and social impera- not totally understand our human– tive. The question is whether bio- animal interactions. Our capacity for philic responses reside in our DNA survival is impressive so far, but our and, therefore, our minds, and if they perceptions of who we are and how we do, whether and to what degree such

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 53 Exploiting the Human Need for Nature primitive responses and behavior have processes (Wilson 1984). This will been affected by a few millennia of allow us to place preservation of the agriculture and technology (Soulé protected area first while incorporat- 1991). More research is needed in this ing the human need to affiliate with area. intact ecosystems. More and more studies point to the biophilia hypothe- Therapeutic Effects of Nature sis as a major reason people visit pro- Katcher and Wilkins (1993) have tected areas. People seem to have a stated that certain natural stimuli, built-in need to connect with nature. including wildlife viewing, have strong Protected area managers can incor- therapeutic effects that are beneficial porate this human need for nature into to individual health and to society. their planning documents and every- Even if this is plausible, conservation- day management. They can do this ists are still concerned that electronic starting at the protected area planning substitutes for nature (for example, document level by incorporating the virtual reality) will some day displace biophilia hypothesis into their park the need to experience real animals vision. They should start with the and real nature (Katcher and Wilkins premise that a primary reason people 1993). More study is needed in this visit protected areas is to have a bio- area as well. philia connection. This means that all Another important area lacking visitor services must be focused on study is the question of whether natu- this end. It may, for example, mean ral or human-made sounds are more lowering the speed limit on a parkway relaxing (Soulé 1991). The sound of a to allow for a greater biophilia connec- rose-breasted grosbeak singing during tion between visitor and wildlife. It a wildlife viewing experience, for may mean rethinking visitor services example, may provide a person with and dropping some, if necessary, in greater innate satisfaction than does favor of more environmentally friendly the sighting of a bison through a car and ecologically enhancing methods window. The interplay of a multitude of recreation. For instance, power of other variables that influence our boating was banned from Elk Island choice of recreational preference sug- National Park (Alberta, Canada) in gests the extreme complexity of 1979; as a result, red-necked grebes understanding the wildlife viewing and many other species of waterfowl phenomenon. returned to the park in greater num- Conclusion: Biophilia and bers. Protected Area Management A case study for inclusion of the To successfully manage protected biophilia hypothesis in the planning areas, we must include human dimen- process has been completed at Elk sions. Of the vast field of human Island. The park is a wildlife sanctuary dimensions, we can focus on the bio- formed in 1905. The new park man- philia hypothesis, which asserts in agement plan has been rethought to humans a biologically based, inherent place emphasis on ecosystem preser- need to affiliate with life and life-like vation and rehabilitation, and includes

54 The George Wright FORUM Exploiting the Human Need for Nature a strong biophilia hypothesis connec- Canada are pursuing the same path of tion. Previous plans placed recreation placing ecological integrity first, as at the same level as ecosystem protec- opposed to placing visitor opportuni- tion, and the park tried to fulfill the ties at the same level as the ecosystem. role of being all things to all visitors, Despite the wealth of literature on even allowing such ecologically non- biophilia, to many skeptics the bio- conforming facilities as a dance hall. philia hypothesis is just wishful think- Now, wildlife viewers—those trying to ing. The criticism is also sometimes have a biophilia connection—have made that biophilia is either unintelli- been identified through extensive sur- gible or self-evident to indigenous veys as being a major user of the park. people. While initial contacts with As well, traditional human-induced aboriginals seem to indicate that they involvement in shaping the ecosystem do have a biophilia connection, more has been identified, such the aborigi- work needs to be done in this area nal use of fires. Other national parks in (Chapman 2002).

References Chapman, R.J. 2002. Personal communications with indigenous people regarding the biophilia hypothe- sis. Driver, B.L., P.J. Brown, G.H. Stankey, and T.G. Gregoire. 1987. The ROS planning system: evolution, basic concepts, and research needed. Leisure Sciences 9:3, 201-212. Driver, B., R. Nash, and G. Haas. 1987. Wilderness benefits: a state of knowledge review. In Proceedings: National Wilderness Research Conference: Issues, State-of-Knowledge, Future Directions. R.C. Lucas, comp. General Technical Report INT-220. Ogden, Ut.: U.S. Department of Agriculture–Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, 294-319. Dwyer, J.F., H.W. Schroeder, and P.H. Gobster. 1991. The significance of urban trees and forests: toward a deeper understanding of values. Journal of Arboriculture 17:10, 276-284. Ewert, A.W. 1996a. Human dimensions research: perspectives, expectations and the future. In Natural Resource Management: The Human Dimension. A.W. Ewert, ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 258- 263. Hartig, T., and G.W. Evans. 1993. Psychological foundations of nature experience. In Behavior and Environment: Psychological and Geographical Approaches.T.Gärling and R.G. Golledge, eds. Advances in Psychology, Vol. 96. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 427-457. Kaplan, R., and S. Kaplan. 1989. The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press. Kaplan, S., and J.F. Talbot. 1983. Psychological benefits of a wilderness experience. In Behavior and the Natural Environment.I.Altman and J.F. Wohlwill, eds. New York: Plenum, 163-203. Katcher, A., and A. Beck. 1983. New Perspectives on Our Lives with Companion Animals. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Katcher, A., and G. Wilkins. 1993. Dialogue with animals: its nature and culture. In The Biophilia Hypothesis. S.R. Kellert and E.O. Wilson, eds. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 173-197. Kellert, S.R. 1993. The biological basis for human values of nature. In The Biophilia Hypothesis. S.R. Kellert and E.O. Wilson, eds. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 42-69. Leopold, A. 1966 [1949]. A Sand County Almanac; and Sketches Here and There. New York: Oxford University Press. Manfredo, M.J., J.J. Vaske, and L. Sikorowski. 1996. Human dimensions of wildlife. In Natural Resource Management: The Human Dimension. A.W. Ewert, ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press,.53-72. Mannell, R. 1996. Approaches in the social and behavioral sciences to the systematic study of hard-to- define human values and experiences. In Nature and the Human Spirit: Toward an Expanded Land Management Ethic. B.L. Driver, D. Dustin, T. Baltic, G. Elsner, and G. Peterson, eds. State College, Penna.: Venture, 405-416. Maslow, A. 1962. Toward a Psychology of Being. Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand. McVay, S. 1993. Prelude: A Siamese connection with a plurality of other mortals. In The Biophilia Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 55 Exploiting the Human Need for Nature Hypothesis. S.R. Kellert and E.O. Wilson, eds. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 3-19. Montes, S. 1996. Use of natural settings to promote, maintain, and restore human health. In Nature and the Human Spirit: Toward an Expanded Land Management Ethic.B.L. Driver, D. Dustin, T. Baltic, G. Elsner, and G. Peterson, eds. State College, Penna.: Venture, 105-115. Schroeder, H.W. 1992. Symbolism and the experience of depth in natural landscapes. Paper presented at the North American Symposium on Society and Resource Management, Madison, Wisconsin. ———. 1996. Ecology of the heart: understanding how people experience natural environments. In Natural Resource Management: The Human Dimension. A.W. Ewert, ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 13- 27. Soulé, M.E. 1991. Conservation: tactics for a constant crisis. Science 253, 744-750. Ulrich, R.S. 1984. View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science 224, 420-421. Wilson, E.O. 1984. Biophilia: The Human Bond with Other Species. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ———. 1993. Biophilia and the conservation ethic. In The Biophilia Hypothesis. S.R. Kellert and E.O. Wilson, eds. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 31-41.

Ross J. Chapman, Elk Island National Park, Site 4, Rural Route 1, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta T8L 2N7, Canada; [email protected]

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56 The George Wright FORUM Lawrence S. Hamilton Forest and Tree Conservation Through Metaphysical Constraints

Here stands a silent grove black with the shade of oaks; at the sight of it, anyone could say, “There is a spirit here!” — Ovid (Fasti 3. 295-296)

Introduction ll cultures of which I am aware have separate, dedicated, hallowed nat- ural spaces. They may be mountain summits, caverns, headlands, springs, or pools. They are very often single trees, tree groves, or forests. Faulstich (1998) suggests that this reverence and love of natu- Aral places be called “geophilia,” and says that we need natural landscapes, not only as terrain, territory and resource, but as cognitive sustenance. Edward O. Wilson (1984) suggests the term “biophilia,” which implies that we have a genet- ic basis for a love of nature. For some traditional cultures, e.g. North American First Nations or aboriginals, all land and water are a sacred environment, as are the associated flora and fauna and the overarching sky.But even among such cul- tures there are special places or manifestations of additional significance. This paper will deal with trees and groups of trees as such manifestations or places of significance. Most people feel kindly disposed servation and preservation, rather than to, or even “love” trees, since they pro- utilization. vide them with many directly useful Trees, groves, or forests become resource products. Moreover, they are sacred through a recognition of some a habitat for desired fauna; protect kind of power that they express. This watershed lands, streamsides, and power may evoke in us attitudes of springs from erosion; provide shade worship, awe, or fear (many other for humans and their animals; and are emotive feelings have been suggested, a source of aesthetic enjoyment. A util- but these three span a spectrum which itarian attitude often results in their is sufficient for this paper). Sacred being removed in order to convert individual trees and groups of trees them into useful material. Other rela- have characterized almost every cul- tionships toward trees, however, ture and religion where trees are capa- involving respect, awe, worship or ble of growing. Even in virtually tree- fear, will be referred to as “sacred,” less deserts, the date palm became the and usually result in tree or forest con- Tree of Life to early Semites and

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 57 Forest & Tree Conservation Assyrians (Altman 1994). To our of these trees and groves. My first ancestors who lived closer to the earth encounter with sacred forests, and the than many of us do today, or to tradi- stimulus of my interest, occurred in tional societies even now, trees were Venezuela in 1974, when I encoun- often not only essential providers of tered María Lionza. She is the forest resources, but became powerful sym- goddess who is depicted astride a bols of fertility, generosity, perma- tapir, and is still worshipped and held nence, birth and growth, refuge, heal- in fear by a rather substantial number ing, strength, energy, beauty, and of Venezuelans. The forest abode of inspiration. Moreover some species María Lionza is tropical rainforest of and some individual trees or groves 40,000 ha and has not been entered were regarded as cosmic centers, the for slash and burn agriculture (conuco) abodes of gods or powerful spirits by campesinos because of the dire (such as dryads), and homes of the misfortune that befalls anyone who ancestors. These trees, groves, and cuts or burns her trees. The forest was whole forests were protected because officially gazetted in 1960 as the María of these metaphysical aspects, very Lionza National Monument and is one often to the entire exclusion of any uti- of the best protected areas in the lization. However, some were carefully Venezuelan park and reserve system used for specific purposes, such as (Hamilton 1976). What follows deals collecting medicinal plants for healing with metaphysical relationships or for repair of a temple or shrine. between people and nature. The meta- Unfortunately, these sacred trees physical constraints providing for tree have all too often been destroyed, in and forest conservation usually have as the name of religion and in the name of a result a long-term utilitarian benefit. progress, because they were consid- They often were “codes of conduct” ered primitive or pagan remnants of a towards nature—perpetuated by wise conquered culture. In Guatemala, the shamans, whether they be ancient Maya-revered kapok tree (Ceiba pen- seers or witch doctors or modern ethi- tandra) is removed in modern land cists such as John Muir. clearing or for construction, though I I contend that the more we know know of one tree which was saved due about these sacred trees, groves, and to local protest: the road makes a forests, the better can we understand strange diversion around it. In the 8th their conservation status, their likely century, the oak of the god Thor at future without intervention, and possi- Geismar was cut down by the Christ- ble methods of perpetuating their con- ian, St. Boniface; and the Grove of servation. In this process a classifica- Trminsul, or Yggdrasil, the Universal tion or typology of these would appear Tree, the most sacred place of the Sax- helpful. Such a suggested typology ons, was destroyed at the order of would include: (1) cosmic species; (2) Charlemagne (Hughes 1991). trees of unusual size, age, or species; Many legends also recount the (3) historic trees; (4) sacred groves unfortunate events that often befell and temple groves; (5) temple-support those who did not respect the sanctity forests; (6) trees and groves of malevo-

58 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation lence; (7) patterns of landscape har- And indeed today in parts of mony; (8) forests of healing or sanctu- Africa, the bodies of certain important ary; (9) restoration and dedication individuals are placed in the hol- forests. It must be noted that these are lowed-out trunk of the baobab as a not discrete classes, but grade into coffin to symbolize the communion each other, just as groves grade into between the vital forces of the plant forests. gods and the body of the departed Classification (Altman 1994). Cosmic species (trees of life). The In classifying sacred mountains, cosmology of many early cultures Bernbaum (1997a) has a category he involved a mythical tree which was the calls “mountains as centre”—for axis of the world, with branches reach- example, Kailas in Tibet and Gunung ing far into the heavens and roots pen- Agung in Bali—as representing the etrating into the underworld. An cosmic axis around which the universe excellent discussion of this topic, with is organized. Cosmic species of trees examples from Norse, Russian, Baby- have some of this same meaning. The lonian, Indian, Aztec, Mayan, Egypt- mythical Yggdrasil of the Norse was ian, Greek, Chinese, and many other an ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior), and all cultures has been presented by Alt- ash trees took on some of the awe of man (1994) in a book entitled Sacred this cosmic tree. The first tree of the Trees. He classifies cosmic trees into world to the Mayans was the Ceiba three groups: world trees, trees of life, pentandra,the silk-cotton tree, or and trees of knowledge. For the pur- bombax. There are many other well- poses of this paper these distinctions known cosmic species. One of the are not made, but a few examples will most revered is the pipal, or bo, tree serve to illustrate the metaphysical (Ficus religiosa), whereunder the Bud- relationship that resulted in the physi- dha received enlightenment; conse- cal species manifestation of these cos- quently all pipal trees are considered mic trees becoming “no” trees—so holy by Buddhists everywhere. The revered that they were strongly pro- mythic world tree of the Hindus is tected by the culture involved. The represented by a banyan (Ficus ben- life-force aspect is evocatively sum- galensis) which protected the infant moned by Mathiessen (1972) in his Lord Krishna. Even today, no Hindu book The Tree Where Man Was Born: or Buddhist shrine is complete with- out a pipal or banyan tree planted The tree where man was born, nearby. Moreover, these fine, wide- according to the Nuer, still stood within man’s memory in the west branching trees have become natural part of the south Sudan, and I assembly points for village meetings, imagine a great baobab thrust up community events, and dispensation like an old root of life in those wild of justice. All species of Ficus in South grasses that blow forever to the Asia seem to be revered because of horizons, and wild man in naked silhouette against the first blue their association with various deities sky. That bodeful man of silence (Chandrakanth and Romm 1991). It is and the past is everywhere in of interest to note that biologists have Africa.

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 59 Forest & Tree Conservation now recognized the importance of the given special meaning by virtue of its genus Ficus as a keystone mutualist of appearance, large size, and longevity. great significance to maintaining bio- Certainly today, thousands of visitors diversity (especially of frugivorous (are they “pilgrims”?) come from far insects, birds, and mammals) in tropi- distances to view the famous Curtain cal forests. Fig tree on the Atherton Tableland of Members of the genus Quercus,the Queensland, Australia, and many oaks, were trees of life to Greeks and tourists in Honolulu wander in awe early northern Europeans. This was through the aerial roots and trunks of the tree symbol of Thor, Jupiter, and the fine banyans on the grounds of the Zeus. It was believed that Zeus could `Iolani Palace. But the banyan has communicate to mortals through the other metaphysical properties that oak tree, and a sacred oracle grove was promote its conservation wherever protected at Dodona, Greece (Altman Hindus live. This is the tree of immor- 1994). Other cosmic trees have to do tality or tree of life (also of love, fertili- with knowledge or wisdom, one of the ty, protection and healing) and is pro- most well known being the one which tected throughout India, Sri Lanka stood in Christianity’s Garden of and Nepal. Eden and which bore the forbidden In the United States, very large fruit of knowledge of good and evil. It trees, such as the sequoia (Sequoiaden- is thought that the apricot, pomegran- dron giganteum), or very old trees, ate, or fig should be the representation such as the bristlecone pine (Pinus of this fruit, even though northern aristata), are given protection in many artists and writers have usually depict- places, including Sequoia National ed it as an apple. This is a vast subject, Park and the Forest of the Ancient but these few examples will have to Bristlecone Pine, respectively. Some suffice. individual trees are named (the Gener- Trees of unusual size, age; special al Sherman sequoia; The Patriarch species. Unusually powerful patterns bristlecone), and seem to command in trees, such as old, hoary, spreading- special awe to beholders, who attempt crowned trees, tall, sun-dappled to capture their “essence” on film, or woodland groves, or dense ancient who, preferably, sit and look in con- forest, have always invoked in men and templation. Hoary, wide-crowned, women (and even technologically ori- stout-branched oaks have, by virtue of ented people today) a feeling in which these characteristics, become revered their self-importance is at least tem- and protected. Perhaps for this reason, porarily shed and they feel connected and also because of its production of to some greater context in which they mistletoe the oak was adopted by the are embedded. Such trees and groves Druids as the most sacred tree. One of become objects of awe and are saved the two famous Druidic oaks (which from the axe (and nowadays from the subsequently attained Christian signif- chainsaw and bulldozer). Perhaps the icance as “Gog and Magog”) near banyan tree (Ficus bengalensis), with Glastonbury, England, was over 2,000 its strange pattern of aerial roots, is years old and 3.4 m in diameter when

60 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation

Figure 1. The Patriarch Tree, a bristlecone pine over 4,000 years old, is protected in a “Forest of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine.” (Photo Lawrence S. Hamilton.) cut down finally in 1906 (Altman man 1994). When the early European 1994). Oaks also achieved sacrality in colonists came to America, treaties other metaphysical terms, as in the and charters were signed under the oracle grove of Dodona, Greece, branches of large elms and oaks (e.g., where priests and priestesses would Treaty Elm and Charter Oak), which go to consult Zeus and hear his mes- were then preserved as trees of special sages in the rustling of the wind. significance. Their large size and his- Historic trees. Many significant torical connections made them events in history have taken place revered until their demise. It is of under the shade of specific known interest to note that their wood was trees, and these trees have taken on a often used to make objects of public symbolic affection or reverence, asso- importance, and the “power” kept ciated with the event that occurred active in this manner. Moreover, there. The North American Iroquois seedling descendants of many of these Confederacy was founded and nur- historic trees are lovingly planted in tured under a tall white pine (Pinus public and private places to keep the strobus) called the Great Tree of Peace, tree spirit alive. and the trunk symbolized the law and In Central Europe, the most vener- its branches meant shelter and protec- able oak in many towns and villages tion for the six nations, or tribes (Alt- became the site of justice where the

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 61 Forest & Tree Conservation magistrate sat when he passed judg- water for the citizens of El Hierro. ment (Altman 1994), and these trees Many other fountain trees exist were preserved as “justice trees” around the world in areas of low rain- under which many agreements were fall but having fog which is captured made, involving only the spirit of the (e.g. Chile, Peru, Oman, Cape Verde). tree rather than the presence of a Indeed, in dry country, any tree or lawyer. Altman also writes of the cane- cloud forest that supplies water should lo or cinnamon tree of the Mapuche be revered and conserved. people of Chile and Argentina, who Sacred groves and temple groves. believe that no one can tell a lie under Almost all ancient peoples of whom its shade, and all promises made there we have knowledge demarcated some must be kept. areas of forest that held special mean- Sometimes a grove or forest sym- ing as places of worship. Sir James bolizes a historic event that is hon- George Frazer in The Golden Bough ored. A treaty of brotherhood after (1935) has given an elegant account of long strife was agreed to in Sikkim in this process and of how “in them no 1463 in a forest area called Kabi- axe may be laid to any tree, no branch longchuk by the Bhutia and Lepcha broken, no firewood gathered, no peoples (Chakraborti and Bose 1995). grass burnt; and animals which have They reported that as of 1995 no taken refuge there may not be molest- felling of trees is allowed, and local ed.” In this he alluded to the Kikuyu belief is that anyone damaging trees tribe of Africa setting aside groves. will become sick. There is no grazing. Such sacred groves worldwide were Though small in size (6.5 ha), the surely our first and best biodiversity almost total protection has maintained preserves. Gods or goddesses lived a rich mix of tree and other plant therein, or could be induced to appear species, including three orchid or give messages, if the worshippers species. Each year the motivation for danced hard enough, sang well protection is strengthened by a broth- enough, or prayed enough. In the erhood ceremony in the grove. worlds of ancient Greece and Rome, In the water-scarce Canary Island these special groves (each tree with its of El Hierro, a laurel tree (Ocotea own wood nymph or dryad) were foetens) is commemorated on the coat often enclosed by stone walls that pro- of arms (and as a taxicab logo) because tected them from grazing animals, and of its long history of capturing cloud they were called temenos,a cut-off water, and is called the fountain tree, place, i.e., a sacred enclosure Garoe (Gioda et al. 1995). It was used (Skolimowski, undated). In Latin the by pre-Hispanic populations as a term was “templum,” the original root water collector until 1610 when a hur- of the word “temple.” In these open- ricane removed it. “Garoe” means air sanctuaries and places of worship, sacred or holy tree. In memory of this shrines—and, gradually, elaborate Garoe, another laurel was planted at temples—were often constructed, or the same place in 1945. Today,this is a sacred stones were contained therein. new fountain tree producing potable These gave further protection to the

62 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation surrounding trees, plants, and ani- scape, since any product removal is mals. religiously restricted (Gadgil and Var- There is indeed in Europe a strong tak 1976). In one instance, Nair and visual connection between sacred Mohanan (1981) discovered four groups of trees and temples. Evans threatened plant species in two sacred (1901), in his study of the Mycenean groves in Kerala. Pei Shengji (1993) tree and pillar cult, suggested that points out that the temple yards of wooden and stone pillars resembling Buddhist temples in Yunnan, China, tree trunks were thought to be able to maintain biodiversity of many useful harbor the souls of sacred trees and plants for ritual, edible, or ornamental the god or goddess therein. One sus- purposes, and has documented this pects that the Greek temple with its amazing variety. In the United King- myriad stone columns may have been dom, a Living Churchyard program an architectural way of symbolizing a has developed in recent years to sacred grove (Harrison 1992). Even arouse interest in nature conservation the Gothic cathedrals of Europe with in church and chapel yards and ceme- their imposing columns may have teries (numbering over 20,000 sites in symbolic (as trees) as well as architec- England alone). Since most of these tural value. And, conversely, when were carved from ancient forest and impressed with the lofty trunks of meadows, they often contain plants trees (e.g., a California redwood now locally rare, and some of the grove), people are prone to talk about largest trees in the environs may be “cathedral groves,” and experience found there. feelings akin to religious reverence. In Japan, shrine and temple groves Sponsel and Natadecha-Sponsel in both the Shinto and Buddhist faiths (1993) pointed out that Buddhist tem- are extremely common, and Oyado- ples in Thailand were often built in mari (1990) estimated that the total forests (wat pa), and by association area of shrine groves was 117,300 ha the surrounding forest became sacred as of 1980. She indicated that these space. These forest temples ranged in areas not only provide an important size from 0.5 ha to 8 or more ha. The reverential landscape for the shrines or authors suggest that there are approxi- temples, but that they are used as mately 37,000 temples in Thailand, places of festivals and community almost all of which have a sacred tree gatherings. An old Japanese proverb or a sacred forest. In some heavily says that spirits left alone cast no transformed landscapes, the few natu- curse, and hence these shrine groves ral forest areas remaining are temple were in the past seldom touched for forests, as in Lebanon, where they fear of evil spells. In the urban areas of occur within monastery walls. Else- Japan today these groves are often the where, as in the Western Ghats of only green fragment of semi-wild India, the sacred groves, although they nature in a sea of concrete and stone. may or may not have temples or In the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, shrines within, represent the last ves- where the many sacred groves appear tiges of wild biodiversity in the land- as vegetative islands in an intensively

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 63 Forest & Tree Conservation used landscape, like spiritual oases classics attest to their age and univer- (Mansberger 1991), they usually con- sality. The origin of the many sacred tain unhewn sacred stones represent- groves and holy forests scattered over ing clan or family ancestral guardian the landscape of India is well recount- deities, but sometimes contain shrines ed by Wachtel (1993), who summa- or sculptures. In most cases they are rized the story from the Ramayana. located at sites of visual prominence, They are supposedly clumps of an or the site of a spring or a traditional Himalayan mountain torn up by the trail crossing or a stream ford. Mans- monkey general Hanuman in order to berger pointed out that they are in situ bring sacred medicinal plants to the storehouses of useful plants that are wounded man-god-king Rama. In fly- otherwise rare or absent in the valley ing 3,000 km with the mountain and (150 different species representing back (after the healing plants were one-tenth of all plant species in the taken), bits of mountain and vegeta- Valley). He recognized that they are tion dropped off and became the also important as repositories for reli- sacred groves. These holy forests are gion and culture. In the Khumbu often today still a source of healing region of Nepal, sacred groves around plants. In the Coorg district of Kar- monasteries and temples are better nataka state there were at least 600 preserved than forests protected by sacred groves of various sizes, ranging the Nepali government or in Sagar- from a single tree to an area of 40 ha matha National Park (Stevens 1993). and totaling in all at least 4,050 ha Temples have, in some places, pro- (Chandrakanth and Romm 1991). moted the planting of trees around Here local people worship to appease them to enhance their spiritual integri- the local and family deities and their ty and force. This seems to be particu- ancestors. larly the case with Shinto temples, Sacred groves have been perhaps where awe-inspiring groves of Cryp- best documented and studied in the tomeria were planted (Oyadomari field in India and Nepal. Madhav 1990). These entranceway trees Gadgil has been a leader in India in induced an appropriate mood of wor- documenting the raison d’être, distri- ship in the temple visitor, even before bution, and status of the sacred groves entering the temple. Chandrakanth in several regions. He and Vartak and Romm (1991) describe how par- (1975) for instance, describe two ticular species in specific orientations groves, one of which is sacred to the to one another and to the temple are goddess Janni and the other to the planted in Karnataka state, India, as goddess Kalkai. A recently published “star,” “zodiac,” and “planet” forests. UNESCO-sponsored book, Conserv- Sacred groves, without shrines or ing the Sacred for Biodiversity Man- temples, are manifestations of the agement (Ramakrishnan et al. 1998), human spirit and human imagination contains an imposing set of descrip- as abodes of deities or ancestors in tions and case studies of sacred groves very many cultures around the world. in India (plus a few sections on groves Early Greek, Chinese, and Sanskrit elsewhere), and is a welcome and sub-

64 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation stantial addition to the literature. In of which were of the guthi type rather Nepal, Ingles (1990) has recently sum- than sacred forest where no harvesting marized much of the knowledge and went on. Products from these forests documentation of sacred groves and included wood for use in cremations, carried out extensive field study of the for idols, for temple repair, for con- present management in 26 of them. struction of orphanages or schools, One of the most interesting studies of and fuelwood for cooking in religious sacred forests has been carried out festivals. Some forests were harvested among the Dai people of Yunnan in to provide cash for funding temples, or southern China by Pei Shengji (1993). for performance rituals. The hill-top forests here are where the It is of interest to note that the gods and ancestors reside, and any Wood Committee of the International gathering, hunting, wood chopping, Council on Monuments and Sites or cultivation are strictly taboo, thus (ICOMOS) has embarked on an his- protecting essentially 1.5-2.5% of the toric forest preserves project. This total area of the prefecture of promotes the use of authentic wood Xishuangbanna. Indeed, Frazer, in his restoration in temples or other signifi- great work The Golden Bough,gives cant cultural structures, especially examples of sacred groves from every those associated with World Heritage inhabited continent. Other chapters in Sites. In order to achieve this, the proj- this volume bring into the available lit- ect seeks to identify and protect near- erature many new examples of sacred by existing groves or forests, or to groves, and moreover indicates their plant such preserves for the future. In value as reservoirs of biodiversity as many cases these will be de facto tem- well as places where traditional cultur- ple-support forests, for many of the al values are reinforced. World Heritage structures are reli- Temple-support forests. Also in a gious in nature and constructed with sense “temple groves,” but susceptible wood. to harvesting, are those which are set Trees and groves of malevolence. aside as forests dedicated to sustain a In many places trees are protected out temple nearby or its rituals. Such tem- of a fear of misfortune befalling the ple-support forests may be managed person who injures or cuts the trees, for narrowly economic objectives if the or who otherwise does not treat the temple needs money (Chandrakanth trees circumspectly. Of course, any and Romm 1991). For instance, some tree or grove that is the abode of, or is in Karnataka, India, are managed to beloved of, a deity often has penalties fund temple trusts. In Nepal, the guthi associated with any human harm to it. forest is managed to provide forest But the essence of the relationship in products to a religious center, and vil- these cases is ostensibly one of rever- lagers refrain from using the forest oth- ence or worship. erwise because it is sinful. Ingles Another class is oriented chiefly to (1990) did an interesting survey and the metaphysical influence of malevo- analysis of the management and condi- lence or punishment. The forest of tion of religious forests in Nepal, most María Lionza in Venezuela, already

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 65 Forest & Tree Conservation mentioned, seems to be less a place of posedly the tree on which Judas Iscar- worship than a place where harm iot hanged himself after betraying befalls those who disturb this forest, Jesus. The Basoga people of central where the goddess roams. Africa believe that when any tree is cut There are many examples of indi- down, the tree spirit is angered and vidual tree species being associated can cause the death of the tribe’s chief with misfortune because the spirits or a member of his family; a medicine that dwell therein are quick to anger if man appeases the tree spirit before the insulted. Of course, any sacred tree tree is felled (Altman 1994). This that was violated brought on penalties. same metaphysical relationship exist- Buddhist monks in Thailand are ed between some trees (especially cot- today taking advantage of this phe- tonwoods, Populus spp.) and several nomenon by wrapping important trees North American First Nation peoples, in their orange robes so that it is a spir- and such trees were only cut down itual crime to destroy them, thus sav- after a ceremony to appease the spirits. ing them from the axe or chainsaw— I have also heard of a tree of the rain- and with them some of the surround- forest of Ghana and neighboring ing forest (Ekachai 1990). But else- countries that has a reputation for evil where there seems to be something power because it is toxic to almost all almost like malevolence involved. In other plants (presumably through Ecuador, for instance, the compadre allelopathy) and creates a mini-desert aluvillo tree (Toxicodendron striatum) around itself. I seek confirmation of reportedly imparts a rash to anyone this and the name of the species who does not take off his or her hat in (though the one given to me was greeting when passing under the Oukoybaka aubrevillia). canopy (McComb 1998, personal Some forests have been avoided by communication). Also in Ecuador, the people due to the real or imagined Ceiba pentandra (a cosmic tree in presence of beasts, witches, or evil some places) has within it a small man spirits. While many investigators (a supi) who protects forest fauna. actively seek in remote forests a sight Hunters become confused by the of yeti (Nepal), Sasquatch (western sound of him banging the tree with his North America), a bigfoot (China), axe and begin to wander in decreasing Mapinguari (Brazil), and others such spirals toward the tree. When they creatures elsewhere, many folk shun reach the tree the supi changes to a these forests out of fear, and they snake, a boa, and the hunter is never remain safer from logging and land seen again (McComb 1998, personal clearing. Old European legends and communication). fairy tales often depicted gnarled, dark Trembling aspen trees (Populus forests where evil spirits lurked— tremuloides) have been considered haunted forests. The Grimm brothers’ bad luck trees by French-Canadian collection of fairy stories out of Ger- wood cutters. The redbuds or Judas many perpetuated for many children trees (Cercis spp.) are considered an attitude that the forest is a place of cursed by many, because it was sup- enchantment where misfortune or

66 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation misadventure are common. In Europe that these trees and forests were better these superstitions have largely disap- left alone. peared, though in remote areas one Patterns of harmony in the land- still hears stories of trespassers having scape. The human spirit is more tran- misadventures or disappearing. quil, and feelings are more kindly, In some villages of Kerala state, when there is a “fit” or harmony India, rattan (Calamus spp.) is between elements in a landscape, thought to be associated with snakes, including the relationship of human and since snakes have a strong reli- built environment to the mosaic of gious connection, locals do not har- hills and dales, fields and forests— vest the very useful rattan out of fear domesticated and wild places. Forests, (Mohanan and Muraleedharan 1988). groves, windbreaks, and even scat- They do, however, use a tribal group tered trees have important roles here called Ulladans to do the harvesting— in engendering positive feelings and suffer any evil consequences! toward the environment. Where such In Pohnpei, Micronesia, Pohn- tree elements do give harmony, in peians have an ambivalent attitude some places and times, tree landscapes about the nanwel (upper wild lands), have been conserved. In particular, the but the principal one is that of fear of placement of groves with respect to supernatural dangers from the eni wind direction, water source protec- spirits therein (Anson and Raynor tion, and aspect has given rise to what 1993). While they will enter the nan- have been termed “spiritual land- wel for short periods to extract scapes” in China. These have devel- resources, they are unwilling to live in oped using geomancy and driven by it. Even when in this forest, they do the mystical insights of feng shui, not call each other by name but shout which arose as early as the Sheng in brief animal cries, for fear that an eni dynasty, 1766-1123 BC (Rossbach may identify that person and lure him 1983). or her to some unlucky or disastrous “Feng” (wind) and “shui” (water) experience. This belief has slowed were forces to be reckoned with, and markedly the rate of conversion of this when these forces were ignored in car- upland forest to agroforestry and rying out landscape-modifying activi- cropping. ties, the human occupants or users However, just as it is with the weak- suffered, and when they were harmo- ening protection provided by worship nized, people prospered. Modern-day and reverence, fear of the mysterious soil and water conservation advocates and malevolent in nature is being dis- might think about adopting some of sipated by science and rationalism. the feng shui approach since they Allelopathy seems to be a much more often deal with wind and water ero- satisfactory explanation for sparse or sion processes and control. Lovelace no growth around some tree species (1985) described the application of than is evil emanation. And, increasing feng shui to the interpretation and technology—the power of machines— manipulation of landforms, vegeta- has overpowered the uneasy feelings tion, and hydrology to ensure the well-

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 67 Forest & Tree Conservation being of villagers in South China, and sensory pleasures (Ekachai 1990). illustrated the concept, which includ- ed the location of a tree grove with Great religious figures and philoso- respect to water source, settlement, phers have gone to the wilderness or and grave sites. In many places, these the forest, or contemplated beneath feng shui groves constituted the only great trees, in order to heal a troubled samples of the original native vegeta- spirit or to find peace and sanctuary. tion. These groves became sacred to In many cases these places have the Hakka people, and even today become sacred sites, or, as in the case both natural and human-made feng of the Buddha, all trees of the species shui forests are given the utmost pro- under which he attained enlighten- tection as the home of spirits (Ni Gen- ment have become sacred. Modern jin 1994). The Hakka also realize the urban people often find the need to importance of these forests in conserv- turn to trees and wildlands to achieve ing water and soil and in preventing respite from the noise, pollution, shallow landslips on the mountain crowds, and stresses of their lives. slopes. They believe that the trees Forests that provide refuges from the secrete natural disinfectants for dis- pressures of industrial society are eases, as well as producing rich becoming increasingly important and anions, which are a longevity element. being given protection. A Texas A&M Chandrakanth and Romm (1991) feel University environmental psycholo- that de facto feng shui patterns are at gist has found that even the sight of work in Vietnam and Nepal. Perhaps it trees (in a city) can quickly lower a is overdue in the Western world to person’s blood pressure and relax adopt concepts of landscape harmony muscle tension and brain wave pat- in the conservation of strategic trees, terns, which indicate reduced stress groves, and forests. Perhaps one even (Wexler 1998). Even in the mid- sees it in practice, for intuitive ecolog- 1800s, Henry David Thoreau fled to ical reasons, in some of the splendid Walden woods to simplify his life; forest mosaic landscapes of the United there, partly through what might be Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. termed “forest therapy,” he developed Forests of healing and sanctu- his extremely moving philosophy. ary—wilderness.A Buddhist monk, Thoreau wrote in 1851: “From the Phra Paisal, was quoted in the forest and wilderness come the tonics Bangkok Post as saying: and barks which brace mankind” (Thoreau 1893). The forest commands a magi- cal, mind-calming power which is In all countries of the world, it is conducive to the meditation important that forest areas of healing process. Deep concentration and sanctuary be set aside and pro- becomes easier. When your mind tected from logging, clearing for con- is at peace, life becomes one with version to other uses, motorized trav- simplicity. This is the first level of the relationship between forests el, and the noise of technology. Fortu- and dhamma. Lack of inner peace nately this is being done as govern- accounts for a person’s constant ments respond to public clamor for hunger for external arousals and such places, and even the private sec-

68 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation tor has joined in. I regard all of these well as reservoirs of biological diversi- declared and protected wilderness ty and places where evolutionary areas, primitive areas, core zones of processes can continue without warp- national parks, and the like as exam- ing by human action. Currently in the ples of this class of metaphysically United States a network of enthusias- protected forest. Perhaps even the tic groups, highly motivated by “bio- nature-tourism sites, though having an philia” or “geophilia,” but firmly sci- economic role, may also have some ence-based in conservation biology, elements of re-creation as well as are attempting to enlarge and link recreation. Faulstich (1998) opines existing wild protected lands into that nature tourism (one of the fastest large wildland ecosystems and corri- growing sectors of the global econo- dors. They are united under the my), however dysfunctional, has umbrella of The Wildlands Project evolved as a means to reconnect us and are attempting an intriguing, with the sacred landscapes of our her- almost spiritual, crusade for wilder- itage. While we may dismiss the ness recovery. This includes, as an tourist experience in national parks as example, a continuous corridor from somewhat superficial, it reveals the Yellowstone National Park in power of landscape, trees, and wildlife Wyoming USA to the Yukon in Cana- to reflect the myths of who we are and da (Wild Earth, undated). This con- where we belong. cept is gradually spreading to other It is this love of nature, and the countries, as a vision of large species- desire to maintain as much of it as pos- and gene-conserving ecosystems or sible free from the major imprint of bioregions is captured by others. A human activities, that spawned the vision of a more-or-less continuous wilderness movement in the United linked series of protected areas along States. This resulted in the establish- the Andean Cordillera is being pro- ment of a National Wilderness Preser- posed by Jose Pedro de Oliveira Costa vation System in 1964. Currently, (Brazil) and Danilo Silva (Ecuador). around 5% of America’s land surface And, in their wilder moments, James is in wilderness status. This movement Thorsell (formerly IUCN’s World has spread to other countries where Heritage advisor) and the author are the history,geography,and population talking and writing about a Conserva- situation has been favorable for dedi- tion Corridor of the Americas, from cating large blocks of forest land as Tierra del Fuego to the Bering Sea. A wilderness or strict reserve (e.g., MesoAmerican Biological Corridor of Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Rus- connected wild lands has been sia). The core areas of biosphere endorsed by the seven Central Ameri- reserves around the world are also can governments, and would be an essentially dedicated to strict protec- important middle segment of this Cor- tion in order to let natural processes ridor of the Americas. function largely uninfluenced by In a paper originally entitled humans. Such areas often provide “Wilderness is Where my Genome forests of healing and sanctuary, as Lives,” but now in his book Traces of

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 69 Forest & Tree Conservation an Omnivore,Paul Sheppard suggests tree. In the United States, offspring that “although we may define our- from famous trees are perpetuated and selves in terms of culture, language, offered as planting stock for these spe- and so on, it is evident that the context cial occasions. The American Forestry of our being, now as in the past, is Association is currently offering wilderness—an environment lacking descendants of the George Washing- domestic plants and animals entirely, ton tulip tree (Liriodendron tulip- and to which, one might say,our genes ifera), for instance. look expectantly for those circum- “Forest monks” are promoting tree stances which are their optimal planting in Thailand as a mark of ambiance” (Sheppard 1996). Indeed, respect toward nature and other living our previously mentioned Thoreau things (Sponsel and Natadecha-Spon- said: “In wildness is the preservation sel 1993). Pei Shengji (1993) points of the world” (Thoreau, 1893). Even out that the taboo on tree cutting in in landscapes that have been mostly the holy hills of the Dai people in Yun- culturally altered for a long time, there nan (see above) is responsible for them are wilder places in rough topography planting trees for use at lower eleva- or inaccessible areas where a seeker tions in fuelwood forests and agro- may find relative solitude and sanctu- forests; somewhat of a “spin-off” from ary.And there are still existing some of sacred forests, yet it is reforestation the sacred groves mentioned previous- due to metaphysical constraints. ly, particularly around water-source A recent and excellent example of areas and holy wells. “sacred” reforestation in India is Spiritual restoration and dedica- described by Bernbaum (1997b), who tion. Metaphysical forces sometimes participated in developing the pro- work not only to give sacredness to gram together with two Indian scien- trees or forests, but to establish new tists (Drs. Purohit and Dhyani) and trees or forests. Some examples of this the chief priest of the Badrinath tem- may serve to provide some hope in an ple (His Holiness Sri P. Shredharan overall worrisome picture of the Namboodari) for degraded slopes and destruction of holy trees, groves, and valleys nearby. Badrinath has been a forests around the world by increas- religious site, regarded by many Hin- ingly secularized human societies. dus as the most important pilgrimage When one stops to think of it, this site in the Indian Himalaya, with very day or week many ceremonial around 450,000 pilgrims coming per trees are being planted to honor a fine year. Badrinath has its name from the person, memorialize a loved one, cele- sacred badri tree (a juniper), which brate a birth or graduation, or com- was the form that Lord Vishnu’s wife memorate some other significant per- Lakshmi took to protect him from a sonal, community, or national event. snow storm. The first tree planting In such ceremonies, cuttings (or ceremony in September 1993 resulted seedlings grown from seed) from in roughly 20,000 seedlings being already revered trees often are used to blessed by the chief priest and planted perpetuate, in a sense, the spirit of the for religious merit by pilgrims. Pil-

70 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation grims also provided donations for tree through surveys. Currently the planet care, and the many beggars who fre- is losing forest cover (i.e., totally defor- quent such a pilgrimage site received estation, not just logged and left in for- cash and food equivalent to their daily est) at an annual rate of 13.7 million ha begging earnings, plus religious merit, (FAO 1997). Some of these are sacred to care for the trees instead of begging. forests. And though not quantified, we According to Bernbaum, all agreed. are all aware of single-tree attrition as Though there were some problems, houses, roads, parking lots, industries, both physical and political, with this and so forth remove ancient and even first planting, the process has been once-revered trees in clearing for repeated and extended in 1996 to sites urban and transportation infrastruc- at Kedarnath, Tungnath, and Hanu- ture. Trees and groups of trees once manchatti, and continues today. Also, protected out of reverence, awe, fear, the idea of giving pilgrims packages of or love are being lost, and with this blessed tree seeds to take back home disappears some of our biological and and plant is being tried. Bernbaum our cultural heritage. listed the metaphysical reasons that Two major underlying forces seem various interviewees gave for planting to me to be responsible for the deteri- trees as follows: (1) re-establishment oration of sylvan sacrality and other of the ancient sacred forest of Badri- metaphysical influences conserving van; (2) sacred plants, herbs, etc., trees and forests (or, as a matter of fact, needed for religious practice; (3) wor- other sacred spaces as well). Can any- ship and service to a deity (e.g., Hanu- one doubt that there will be awesome man or Lord Vishnu); (4) religious pressures for degradation and destruc- duty (dharma); (5) selfless action tion of these sites in a world which is (karma yoga); and (6) restoration of a currently adding almost one billion healthy environment as a basis for reli- individuals every 10 years to the gious practices and goals. Perhaps this human population? Moreover, the kind of “religious merit planting” world has been in a demographic run- might be replicated in many other away situation for many decades, and areas where pilgrimage sites exist. the impact is compounded by increas- ing per capita consumption or wants, Deterioration of plus a proliferating technology. A sec- Metaphysical Protection ond major force is the more subtle cul- In view of the scope of the many tural changes taking place, largely due metaphysical influences and forces to increasing secularism, materialism, giving protection to trees, groves, and and consumerism. The traditional forests, it would seem as though the taboos and values of the elders are no world would be clothed in sacred ver- longer held as tightly by each younger dure. Not so, as we all know. The generation who have been condi- alarming rate of loss of forests world- tioned by education, advertising, and wide has been periodically document- entertainment media to put more value ed by the Food and Agricultural Orga- on physical resources and want-satis- nization of the United Nations (FAO) faction than on spiritual resources and

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 71 Forest & Tree Conservation ethical conservation. This is not true hungry villagers often exploit the for- everywhere, of course, but it is an all- est. In Nepal, the detailed study by too-common syndrome in traditional Ingles (1990) found significant modi- cultures that have long been the custo- fication and degradation of understory dians of sacred or taboo trees and vegetation and soils due to grazing , forests. even though there might still be sanc- Unfortunately, the economic devel- tions on tree cutting that limit it to reli- opment aid being extended to devel- gious purposes. The same general sit- oping countries emphasizes natural uation of deterioration comes in resource management for commodi- reports from Pacific islands, Malaysia, ties, energy intensive technology, cash Philippines, and central Africa. cropping for export earnings, privati- Governments seem to have little zation, and global markets. These concern for the conservation of these imperatives tend to ignore or ride special forests or trees, and in develop- roughshod over subtle forces that pro- ing or developed countries alike it is tect forests. In the past, proselytizing often only the confrontational actions by organized religions of the Western of concerned locals or preservation- world often resulted in so-called pagan minded nongovernmental organiza- sacred groves being deliberately tions that save them from the grind- destroyed and their metaphysical pro- stones of economic development. A tection denounced as either silly great decline in the sacred forest estate superstition or worship of false gods. took place when European colonial In a study of 660 sacred forests administrations took charge of what among the Zigna ethnic group in Tan- had been “unowned” forest land in zania, Mwihomeke et al. (1997) found spite of a long history of traditional that, on average, only 60% were intact occupancy and use. These administra- or only slightly disturbed. They found tions put forests into managed units that the main causes for destruction in for timber resource production, and the remainder were clearing for farm- sacred forests frequently lost their ing and overharvesting for building identity as they were incorporated into poles, timber, and fuelwood. They production forests or into areas ear- also found that the most numerous marked for plantation estate develop- instances of destruction occurred ment. Basically the same process where there was a high influx of immi- occurred in many newly-independent grants from outside the village area. (from colonial rule) nations, where Similarly, in the Western Ghats of governments claimed all land to which India taboos were increasingly violat- no clear private title existed. To earn ed under extreme duress, or by out- funds for their nascent economies, siders (Gadgil and Vartak 1976). In logging concessions were granted to Thailand, Taylor (1991) indicated foreign companies, and these produc- that forest monks find it necessary not tion areas ignored any special religious to wander the country, but to stay put sites in these forests. They also fos- to protect forests in the Northeast, for tered large land clearing and settle- when they are absent the resource- ment schemes that ignored sacred

72 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation trees, groves, or forests. ecologists, engineers, economists, or Even in this climate of pro-develop- earth scientists who will save our biot- ment, however, metaphysical attitudes ic component of spaceship earth, but of reverence for trees broke out in the poets, priests, artists, and philoso- many places as confrontation with phers (Hamilton 1993). It is this latter governments. One of the most inter- group that deal with the human emo- esting of these was the Chipko Move- tions, attitudes, and thoughts that ment, carried out largely by women vibrate between humans and their bio- who hugged trees in the Garhwal physical environment. In the face of Himalaya (India) to prevent their the destruction and deterioration of being commercially logged. While the the sacred trees and groups of trees most direct motivation was ecological just discussed, due partly to the and utilitarian, the movement derived changed sacrality of nature as older much of its force from spiritual lead- mores, taboos, ceremonies, and belief ers, especially from the philosopher systems increasingly lose their power, Sunderlal Bahuguna and the Chipko we need to turn to the fields of ethics, poet Ghanashyam Raturi. An account values, and religion, rather than to sci- of this interesting phenomenon, its ence and technology, for increasing evolution, and impact was given by our conservation of biodiversity. Shiva and Bandyopadhyay (1986). There are at least eight arenas of hope, This process was emulated in New or suggestions for strengthening meta- Zealand by the Native Forest Action physical tree and forest conservation. Council a few years later by conserva- 1. Let me commence with a West- tion activists, who climbed trees and ern science-dictated task: inventory. stayed aloft for days and weeks to pre- Heinen (1994) suggested locating all vent these special native old growth existing sacred forests in the mid-hills forests being harvested. Tree perching of Nepal in a geographic information and tree-top living is currently in effect system (GIS) to permit landscape- in some old- growth forests of the level analysis as to their regional extent western United States, to protect what and position with respect to each are being almost religiously called other and with other types of parks “ancient forests.” and preserves. An inventory of all sacred trees and groves in Nepal’s Biodiversity and Cultural Kathmandu Valley was conducted by Diversity Conservation: Mansberger (1991), who speculated Some Suggestions about a pilgrimage trail that might Several years ago I asserted to the even be used by ecotourists so that natural science community in the they become an economic asset to the Pacific that the application of more area as a means of increasing their pro- ecological science will not halt the tection. In addition to location and serious loss of genes, species, and mapping, inventory of their biological ecosystems; nor will more recycling or components of groves and forests application of more pollution control would reveal something of their biodi- technology and so forth. It is not the versity importance. Ingles (1990) sur-

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 73 Forest & Tree Conservation veyed 26 religious forests in central them known and listed. They may Nepal, obtaining physical, biotic, and indeed often be better protected in social information, with emphasis on strong traditional cultures if they are how they were managed to fulfill their not on a roster. Visitation by “out- various purposes. Gadgil and Vartak siders” usually accompanies the mak- (1976) and Chakraborti and Bose ing known of such revered trees, (1995) have likewise conducted groves, or forests—as has happened so focused studies in India that provide often with other kinds of sacred places information on the biological and reli- such as mountains, water bodies, or gious values of such sites. The recent the habitat of sacred animals. Such book by Ramakrishnan et al. (1998) inventory and listing may have bene- has an excellent documentation of fits, however, if a tree or forest many sacred groves, particularly in becomes threatened with destruction India, and often relates these to biodi- by outside forces that may be operat- versity conservation. ing in ignorance or in venality. It is Much more inventory and identifi- imperative that the traditional custodi- cation of sacred sites is needed so that ans of such trees or sites decide such places of in situ genetic and spir- whether or not the dangers outweigh itual conservation can be incorporated the benefits, and that no inventory and into national protected area planning. location data are obtained and used Even small groves, which have limited without their full concurrence. value in preserving biodiversity due to 2. Secular society should support the “small-island syndrome” of and reinforce the sacrality of sites species loss, can still serve as “arbore- where biodiversity and cultural diver- ta” that can maintain precious seed sity are fostered by the protection stock and germplasm of some species, afforded by metaphysical forces. In the both plant and animal, through strict case of sacred groves and forests, sure- protection or proactive conservation ly such sites should be recognized as management. Bio-inventories are to their value and be given secular needed not only in the aforemen- legal protection such as that afforded tioned sacred groves and forests but in to national parks, national monu- churchyards, monastery properties, ments, and other types of official pro- and lands associated with any other tected areas. This was exactly the pro- religious structures. This is especially cedure adopted by Venezuela in the needed in strongly transformed land- case of the sacred forest of María Lion- scapes, such as the Mediterranean za, which became a national monu- region, Western and Central Europe, ment in the country’s system of parks parts of China, and the African low- and preserves (Hamilton 1976). And lands. in 1990, the parliament of Kenya It is nevertheless extremely impor- voted to protect all of the remaining tant to recognize that many sacred kaya forests that have survived only trees, groves, and forests may be because of the beliefs of village elders “secret” sites whose spiritual meaning who respect them as sacred forests is diminished or threatened by having (Negussie 1998). Again, however,

74 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation such secular protection must be only out to “Sustainable Development.” with the concurrence of the traditional I’m still hoping that the concept of custodians. restoration will capture the imagina- 3. Contemporary societies at local, tion and support of those mysterious regional, or national levels should per- “decision-makers.”In such a program, petuate, not discourage, local folk- the metaphysical aspects of trees, songs, stories, legends, rituals, and fes- groves, and forests should play a major tivals dealing with trees and forests, to part. reinforce with younger generations 5. In the technical and financial aid their bond to the biological world, programs from the so-called devel- once strongly recognized and “lived” oped countries to the developing by the older generations. Public sup- countries, projects should be designed port of such traditions, support of folk that foster the aforementioned aspects art in nature, and other incentives can of sustainable development that sup- play a role in decreasing the rate of port or restore sacrality. At a mini- erosion of these traditional values. mum, they should be scrutinized to 4. The section of this paper on remove aspects that weaken cultural restoration and dedication suggests and religious ties to land. This has some positive actions that can result in decidedly not been the case in the new forests that can heal the earth, past. The high-tech packages, promot- providing incipient loci for both bio- ing rapid economic development, cash diversity and cultural diversity conser- agriculture, monocultures, global vation. A holy mission to establish economies, and so forth, have all tend- new groves, forests, or even individual ed to weaken the traditional cultural trees can be engendered not only by values that have promoted strong priestly blessing and urging as at nature–human relations, including Badrinath, but by laypersons imbued respect and reverence. with a zealousness for repairing 6. In the field of religious proselyti- denuded landscapes. Organizations zation, missionaries, particularly from such as Men of the Trees, books such Christian churches, have in the past as The Man Who Planted Trees, and mostly tried to root out so-called regreening programs have, largely by pagan feelings of sacrality toward inspiring ardor, resulted in countless trees, groves, and other elements of numbers of trees being planted. In this nature. Even today,absolute dominion deforested world, the healing concepts over the natural world is preached by of restoration, repair, and rehabilita- several religious groups who are tion have an emotional appeal on actively seeking conversions among which we have not yet capitalized. I the “heathen.” Fortunately, there is an suggested to the U.N. Environment encouraging movement among many Program’s executive director prior to organized religions of the world to the 1992 Earth Summit that an appro- come together in an ecumenical cam- priate theme might be the “Three R’s” paign for a gentler, healing approach of the last sentence, and the motto to nature. Fifty religious institutions “Healing the Earth.” Somehow it lost banded together and transmitted a

Volume 19 • Number 3 2002 75 Forest & Tree Conservation common proposal on respect for tions. It is based on the need to supply nature to the 1992 Earth Summit in authentic restoration for World Her- Rio de Janeiro (Hamilton 1993). Peri- itage Sites containing wood. To be odically there are ecumenical gather- authentic for repair and replacement, ings and joint statements from the the wood should be of the same world’s nine principal religions and species and with the same characteris- others, based on the St. Francis of tics as the original wood (often large, Assisi attitude toward nature, and a old-growth trees or trees of specific Summit on Religions and Conserva- shape or grain). The Historic Forest tion was held in 1995. An Alliance of Reserves project attempts to locate Religion and Conservation has grown feasible existing forests or groves that out of this; its newsletter, the first issue could supply such material for each of of which appeared in spring 1997, the World Heritage structures and give contained an article on “Saving the them whatever protection is needed, Pilgrimage Forests of Krishna.” The or to establish new forests or enrich- alliance has stimulated an exciting ment-planting forests that could sup- Sacred Land Project in the United ply material for historic wooden struc- Kingdom, the largest religious cam- tures. This intriguing program in paign on ecology ever undertaken many cases can build on existing tem- there (Sacred Land 1997). In this ple forests or temple-support forests project, ancient woodlands belonging previously described in this paper, for to historical monuments, abbeys, and some of these temples indeed are churches will be protected, managed, World Heritage Sites or potential sites. and, where necessary, replanted. But the project looks to a future where There are encouraging signs that historically correct wood may not be organized religions are taking steps to conveniently available and proposes to use their metaphysical influence to start action now. Such a program achieve forest conservation. could well be expanded beyond World Another good example was a proj- Heritage Sites so that all historically ect developed by Thai and Tibetan valuable wooden structures have a monks and Thai researchers called nearby protected source of supply “Buddhist Perception of Nature,” ini- from which authentic restoration can tiated in 1985 (Nash 1986). This proj- carried out. This is as needed in ect continues as a quiet force, assem- France or Japan as it is in Nepal or bling teachings about humankind’s Tanzania. interdependence with nature and pro- 8. Finally, a promising program has ducing educational materials that pro- developed in the U.N. Educational, mote environmental ethics and Scientific, and Cultural Organization changed attitudes about forest (UNESCO) on “Sacred Sites and destruction. Environmental Conservation.” It was 7. A hopeful sign comes from the started with a pilot project in Ghana Wood Committee of ICOMOS, and it and is being extended to other sites. could well be adopted by govern- This gives long overdue recognition ments, foundations, or other organiza- internationally to the de facto protec-

76 The George Wright FORUM Forest & Tree Conservation tion that has existed through meta- and conserve biodiversity. Foresters physical constraints or processes. and other natural scientists should not Conclusion feel embarrassed or reluctant to talk Needed in all countries of the about metaphysical matters, because world is the sense of place that brings biodiversity and cultural conservation us back into a community with trees, may be greatly enhanced by the meta- wildlife, streams, mountains—with physical. It will not be the natural sci- nature. We may call some places entists that achieve that blessed state “sacred forests,” “ancient cathedral of “forest conservation,” but the poets, groves,” “friendly retreats,” or “wild priests, artists and philosophers who sanctuaries,” or even have a favorite influence human behavior (Hamilton tree that we hug. We need these. 1993). Foresters and biologists, how- Sochaczewski (1998) calls them “life ever, must be engaged in the dialogue reserves,” and it is an apt name, for to bring sound natural science into the they can greatly enhance human life, discourse arena.

[Ed. note: This paper was originally presented at the International Symposium on Natural Sacred Sites—Cultural Diversity and Biological Diversity Conservation, 22-25 September 1998, UNESCO, Paris, and was revised in 2000.] References Altman, N. 1994. Sacred Trees. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. Anson, H., and W. Raynor. 1993. Traditional resource management and the conservation of biological diversity on Pohnpei Island, Federated States of Micronesia. In Ethics, Religion, and Biodiversity.L.S. Hamilton, ed. Cambridge, U.K.: White Horse Press, 133-146. Bernbaum, E. 1997a. The spiritual and cultural significance of mountains. In Mountains of the World: A Global Priority.B.Messerli and J. Ives, eds. New York and London: Parthenon, 39-60. ———. 1997b. Pilgrimage and conservation in the Himalayas: a model for environmental action based on cultural and spiritual values. Project report. Franklin, W. Va.: The Mountain Institute. Chakraborti, D., and B. Bose. 1995. Studies on “Sacred Groves” in Bihar, Sikkim, and West Bengal. Calcutta: Jadavpur University. Chandrakanth, M.G., and J. Romm. 1991. Sacred forests, secular forest policies and people’s actions. Natural Resources Journal 31:4, 741-755. Ekachai, S. 1990. Holy war on illegal loggers. Bangkok Post, 13 August. Evans, A. 1901. Mycenaean tree and pillar cult. Journal of Hellenistic Studies 21, 1-103. FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]. 1997. State of the World’s Forests 1997. Rome: FAO. Faulstich, P. 1998. Geophilia. Wild Earth 8:1, 81-89. Frazer, J. G. 1935. The Golden Bough. New York: Macmillan. Gadgil, M., and V.D. Vartak. 1975. Sacred groves of India—a plea for continued conservation. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 72:2, 314-320. ———. 1976. The sacred groves of Western Ghats in India. Economic Botany 30, 152-160. Gioda, A., J. Maley, R.E. Guasp, and A.A. Baladon. 1995. Some low elevation fog forests of dry environ- ments: applications to African paleoenvironments. In Tropical Montane Cloud Forests.L.S. Hamilton, J.O. Juvik, and F.N. Scatena, eds. New York: Springer-Verlag, 156-164. Hamilton, L.S. 1976. Tropical Rainforest Use and Preservation: A Study of Problems and Practices in Venezuela. San Francisco: Sierra Club. ———, ed. 1993. Ethics, Religion, and Biodiversity. Cambridge, U.K.: White Horse Press. Harrison, R.G. 1992. Forests: The Shadow of Civilization. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Heinen, J. 1994. Agenda for sacred forests. Habitat Himalaya 2:1, 2-4. Hughes, J.D. 1991. Spirit of place in the Western World. In The Power of Place.J.A. Swan, ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Quest, 15-27.

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Ingles, A.W. 1990. The Management of Religious Forests in Nepal. Department of Forestry Research Report. Canberra: Australian National University. Lovelace, G.W. 1985. Man, land and mind in early historic Hong Kong. In Cultural Values and Human Ecology in Southeast Asia. K.L. Hutterer, A.T.Rambo, and G. Lovelace, eds. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia no. 27. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 341-372. Mansberger, J.R. 1991. Ban Yatra: a biocultural survey of sacred forests in Kathmandu Valley. Ph.D. dis- sertation. University of Hawai`i, Honolulu. Mathiessen, P. 1972. The Tree Where Man Was Born: The African Experience. New York: Dutton. McComb, M. 1998. Personal communication from executive director of Maquipucuna Foundation, Quito, Ecuador. Mohanan, C., and P.K.Muraleedharan. 1988. Rattan resources in the sacred groves of Kerala, India. Rattan Information Centre Bulletin 7:3/4, 4-5. Mwihomeke, S.T., T.H. Msangi, and J. Yihaisi. 1997. Quantity, distribution and current status of sacred forests in the Ziqua ethnic group, Handeni District. The Arc Journal (Tanzania) 6, 2. Nair, N.C., and C.N. Mohanan. 1981. On the rediscovery of four threatened species from the sacred groves of Kerala. Journal of Economic Taxonomy and Botany 2, 233-235. Nash, N. 1986. Letter from Puttha Monton. Far Eastern Economic Review, 15 May, 106. Negussie, G. 1998. Sacred forests in Kenya. ArborVitae (IUCN/WWF) 6, 15. Ni Genjin. 1994. Hakka “fengshui forests”: their preservation and value. Forestry and Society Newsletter 2:2, 6. Oyadomari, M. 1990. Cultural perception of nature and its application toward preserving cultural and nat- ural heritage in Japan. Unpublished paper. Tokyo: Chiba National University. Pei Shengji. 1993. Managing for biological diversity in temple yards and holy hills: the traditional practices of the Xishuangbanna Dai community, southwest China. In Ethics, Religion, and Biodiversity.L.S. Hamilton, ed. Cambridge, U.K.: White Horse Press, 118-132. Ramakrishnan, P.S., K.G. Saxena, and U.M. Chandrashekara, eds. 1998. Conserving the Sacred for Biodiversity Management. Enfield, N.H.: Science Publishers. Rossback, S. 1983. Feng Shui. London: Hutchinson. Sacred Land. 1997. Issue no. 1 of The Sacred Land Project. International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture, Manchester, U.K. Schaaf, T. 1998. Personal communication, and workshop held 24-25 September 1998 on developing an UNESCO project on Sacred Sites—Cultural Integrity and Biological Diversity, Paris. Sheppard, P. 1996. Traces of an Omnivore.Washington, D.C.: Island Press. Shiva, V., and J. Bandyopadhyay. 1986. The evolution, structure, and impact of the Chipko Movement. Mountain Research and Development 6:2, 133-142. Skolimowski, H. Undated. Forests as Sanctuaries.Eco-philosophy Publication no. 4. Ann Arbor: Eco- Philosophy Center. Sochaczewski, P. 1998. Life reserves. ArborVitae (IUCN/WWF), April, 14. Sponsel, L.E., and P.Natadecha-Sponsel. 1993. The potential contribution of Buddhism in developing an environmental ethic for the conservation of biodiversity. In Ethics, Religion, and Biodiversity. L.S. Hamilton, ed. Cambridge, U.K.: White Horse Press, 75-97. Stevens, S. 1993. Claiming the High Ground: Sherpas, Subsistence, and Environmental Change in the Highest Himalaya. Berkeley: University of California Press. Taylor, J.L. 1991. Living on the rim: ecology and forest monks in Northeast Thailand. Sojourn 6:1, 106- 123. Thoreau, H.D. 1893 [1947]. Walking. In Excursions: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau. (Riverside Edition, Boston.) As extracted in The Portable Thoreau. C. Bole, ed. New York: Viking. Wachtel, P.S. 1993. Asia’s sacred groves. International Wildlife 43:2, 24-27. Wexler, M. 1998. Money does grow on trees—and so does better health and happiness. National Wildlife 36:3, 70. Wild Earth. Undated. The Wildlands Project. Wild Earth (Special Issue). Wilson, E.O. 1984. Biophilia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Lawrence S. Hamilton, Vice-Chair (Mountains), IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, 342 Bittersweet Lane, Charlotte, Vermont 05445; hamil- [email protected] F

78 The George Wright FORUM About the GWS ... The George Wright Society was founded in 1980 to serve as a professional asso­ ciation for people who work in protected areas and on public lands. Unlike other or­ ganizations, the GWS is not limited to a single discipline or one type of protected area. Our integrative approach cuts across academic fields, agency jurisdictions, and polit­ ical boundaries. The GWS organizes and co-sponsors a major U.S. conference on research and management of protected areas, held every two years. We offer the FORUM, a quar­ terly publication, as a venue for discussion of timely issues related to protected areas, including think-pieces that have a hard time finding a home in subject-oriented, peer- reviewed journals. The GWS also helps sponsor outside symposia and takes part in international initiatives, such as lUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas.

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80 The George Wright FORUM Submitting Materials to THE GEORGE WRIGHT FORUM The Society welcomes articles that bear importantly on our objectives: promoting the application of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to policy-making, planning, management, and interpretation of the resources of protected areas around the world. THE GEORGE WRIGHT FORUM is distributed internationally; submissions should minimize provincialism, avoid academic or agency jargon and acronyms, and aim to broaden international aspects and applications. We actively seek manuscripts which represent a variety of protected area perspectives. Length and Language of Submission. Manuscripts should run no more than 3,000 words unless prior arrangements with the editor have been made. Articles are published in English; we welcome translations into English of articles that were originally prepared in another language. In such cases we also publish a lengthy abstract of the article in the original language. Form of Submission. We now accept articles in two formats: in manuscript (double- spaced) accompanied by computer disk, or by e-mail. We operate on Macs, and can translate most files from their original format (except for PageMaker and Quark Xpress files); please indicate the version of the software. If submitting by e-mail, use the e-mail text as a cover letter. Do not embed the document—send it as an attachment. Again, note the version of the software used to create the attachment. For all submissions, give complete contact details (including e-mails) for each author. Citations. Citations should be given using the author-date method (preferably following the format laid out in The Chicago Manual of Style). Editorial Matters; Permissions. Generally, manuscripts that have been accepted are edited only for clarity, grammar, and so on. We contact authors before publishing if major revisions to content are needed. THE GEORGE WRIGHT FORUM is copyrighted by the Society; written permission for additional publication is required but freely given as long as the article is attributed as having been first published here. We do consider certain previously published articles for republication in I'HE GEORGE WRIGHT FORUM. Authors proposing such articles should ensure all needed copyright permissions are in place before submitting the article for consideration. Illustrations Submitted in Llard-Copy. Submit original (not photocopied) line drawings, charts, and graphs as nearly "camera-ready" as possible. If submitted in a size that exceeds THE GEORGE WRIGHT FORUM's page dimensions (6x9 inches), please make sure the reduction will still be legible. Avoid the use of dark shading in graphics. The preferable form for photographs is black-and-white (matte or glossy) prints. Medium contrast makes for better reproduction. Color prints and slides are also acceptable; half-tones and photocopies are not. We particularly welcome good vertical photos for use on the cover, either in black-and-white or, preferably, in color. Please provide captions and credits and secure copyright permissions as needed, and indicate whether you wish materials to be returned. Illustrations Submitted Electronically. We accept illustrations on floppy or Zip disk, on CD-ROM, or as e-mail attachments. All graphics must be in TIFF or EPS format (not JPG, GIF, or PICT). Scans must be at 300 dpi or higher. If in doubt, please ask for complete guidelines. Send all correspondence and submissions to: The George Wright Society ATTN: Editor, THE GEORGE WRIGHT FORUM P.O. Box 65 Hancock, MI 49930-0065 • USA •a 1-906-487-9722. Fax: 1-906-487-9405. E-mail: [email protected]