Published In
The Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Environmental Knowledge
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
11-2020
Subjects
Ecotheology, Ecology -- Religious aspects, Nature -- Religious aspects
Abstract
Yosemite Valley is a place with rich and enduring traditions of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge, manifesting in specific management practices that, in turn, leave discernible imprints upon the natural landscape. Historically, the Native American inhabitants of Yosemite Valley have employed a variety of techniques that materially enhance the availability of culturally preferred plant communities. This chapter identifies specific techniques that appear consistently in the oral traditions and written historical accounts of the valley. These methods included anthropogenic burning, pruning and coppicing, clearing underbrush beneath trees, hand eradication (“weeding”) of certain competing species, selective harvesting, smoking, “knocking” of dead wood from the tree, and other practices associated with both mundane activities and the spiritual beliefs of tribal communities traditionally associated with Yosemite. The displacement of Native peoples has dramatically and adversely impacted both Native communities and the landscape of the valley and plant communities with which they are connected.
Rights
© 2020 Informa UK Limited
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.4324/9781315270845
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/34498
Citation Details
Deur, D., Bloom, R. (2020). Fire, Native Ecological Knowledge, and the Enduring Anthropogenic Landscapes of Yosemite Valley. In The Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Environmental Knowledge (pp. 126-135). Routledge.
Description
Chapter 23 in the book, The Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Environmental Knowledge