This is a study about a very unusual place and the innovative American Indian ceremonial response to an event that uniquely occurred at this place. The place, defined here as the Uinkaret Volcanic Field, was always culturally important to Indian people for ceremony. The place is so covered with evidence of past volcanic activity that one can think of it as a place to go to talk with and experience volcanoes. This seems according to Indian testimony to have been its primary purpose for thousands of years before the event.

The Blackfoot Confederacy Keepers of the Rocky Mountains provides a first hand account of the Blackfoot intimate relationship with their mountain landscape now known as Glacier National Park, Bob Marshall Wilderness, Badger Two Medicine Unit of the Lewis and Clark Forest Service, and the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The animals shared the traditional ecological knowledge of the mountains with the Blackfoot Confederacy so they could survive through the "transfer of knowledge" in their elaborate ceremonial bundles made up of plants, animals, and rocks from the landscape. The Blackfoot agreed to share the minerals of copper and gold with the United States government through a lease agreement in 1895 following the policy of the time under the Dawes Act that allowed Indians to lease their land allotments to non-Indians. Although, the Agreement was written as a land cession with explicit reserved rights for the Blackfeet to hunt, gather, and fish upon the land, the Blackfeet have continued to maintain their ties to the mountain in secret to avoid persecution and publicly when asserting their rights. These rights have been limited, denied, and recognized depending on who is making the decision--Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and/or tested in the court of law. Despite the turmoil, the Blackfoot People have managed and preserved the area through resource utilization, ceremony, and respect for their mountain territory mapped out by Napi (Creator). Blackfoot know their status when it comes to their landscape as illustrated through the annual renewal of the bundles: "When we begin the ceremony, we call upon the water and the water animals, the sky people, the animals of the land, the plants, the rocks and so forth with the humans being the last to be called upon until all have arrived and taken their place in the lodge. Without the environment and its beings, we could not have this ceremony"

The eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus), a small anadromous smelt (Family Osmeridae) found only along the Northwest Pacific Coast, is poorly understood. Many spawning populations have suffered declines but as their historic status is relatively unknown and the fisheries poorly documented, it is difficult to study the contributing factors. This thesis provides a survey of eulachon fisheries throughout its geographical range and three analyses aimed at improving our understanding of past and present fisheries, coast-wide abundance status, and the factors which may be impacting these populations. An in-depth view of the Nuxalk Nation eulachon fishery on the Bella Coola River, Central Coast, BC, is provided. The majority of catches were used for making eulachon grease, a food item produced by First Nations by fermenting, then cooking the fish to release the grease. Catch statistics were kept yearly from 1945-1989 but have since, rarely been recorded. Using traditional and local ecological knowledge, catches were reconstructed based on estimated annual grease production. Run size trends were also created using local Fisheries Officers and Nuxalk interview comments. A fuzzy logic expert system was designed to estimate the relative abundance of fifteen eulachon systems. The expert system uses catch data to determine the exploitation status of a fishery and combines it with other data sources (e.g., CPUE) to estimate an abundance status index. The number of sources depended on the existing data and varied from one to eight. Using designed heuristic rules and by adjusting weighting parameters a final index was produced. Results suggest that there have been recent and extended declines in several eulachon rivers particularly the Klamath, California; Bella Coola, BC; Wannock, BC; and Kitimat, BC. Seven of the fifteen abundance time-series were used to evaluate the potential relationships between the declines and some of the factors that impact eulachon. Results suggest increases in shrimp and hake catches, seal and sea lion abundance, and sea surface temperatures were weakly associated with the declines. But contrary to expectations, adult hake biomass showed a positive association with four eulachon relative abundance time-series, suggesting that common environmental factors influenced both species.

Recent developments in land rights and land use in the Toledo district, Belize has generated anthropological and activist interest surrounding traditional ecological knowledge and practice, and the role of heritage in communities. This study explores the connection between ecological knowledge and practices, and the concurrent construction of heritage, and community health and wellness, broadly defined. Developing and using the concept of "embodied ecological heritage," this dissertation takes a phenomenological approach to understanding the convergence of ecological heritage and health in multiple realms of everyday life, arguing that lived experience of participating in "traditional" practices is fundamentally connected to wellness in the Mopan community of Santa Cruz. Using the results of ethnographic research using multiple methodologies across 76 households over a period of 11 months, this dissertation presents a detailed account of how Mopan Maya participants view ecological skill and knowledge as critical to being and living well, arguing that social factors, such as work and food choices, have an effect on wellness. The research contributes to a growing number of studies linking changes in the body and overall health status to everyday practices within communities. Outlining how certain knowledge and particular practices, such as exchanging labor and making baskets, become prioritized as heritage through both their conceptualization and deployment, the analysis centers on individual bodies as the foci of skill, sensory experience and change. The timely nature of making these connections explicit is discussed in light of ongoing "development" in Maya communities and beyond, with an illumination of how changing land use patterns have far-reaching effects on wellness from multiple perspectives; individual, social, ecological and political, and concluding that a consideration of wellness can benefit from looking at the processes involved in heritage construction as it relates to ecological practice.

Porphyra abbottiae Krishnamurthy (Rhodophyta) is an intertidal red alga harvested by a number of coastal First Nations in British Columbia. The Kwakwaka’wakw have a long history of harvesting P. abbottiae as food and medicine, reflected in the language, songs and stories of the Kwakwaka’wakw oral tradition. Harvesting and drying practices for this alga have undergone changes with the introduction of new technologies and a decrease in time available for seaweed harvesting. The adoption of timesaving equipment into the seaweed harvest has given harvesters the flexibility to work around constraints including work and school obligations, tides, long distances to harvesting sites, and unpredictable weather conditions. Harvesting and drying practices reflect a thorough understanding of the lifecycle, biology, and ecology of P. abbottiae. Timing of the harvest during the seasonal round optimizes the taste and texture of P. abbottiae fronds while avoiding the seaweed in its reproductive stage. Songs and taboos associated with the harvest promote safety and efficiency while harvesting the seaweed. Concerns about potential contamination of edible seaweed led to the second part of this research: testing for metal contamination. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis for selected metals and trace elements revealed the presence of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in Porphyra abbottiae sampled from the southern Queen Charlotte and Broughton Straits. Mercury concentrations fell below the detection limit of 0.01 ng/mL in 28 of 112 samples. Calcium was the most abundant element measured, averaging 1445 mg/kg dry seaweed. The remaining metals, in decreasing order of concentration, are: Fe>As>Zn>Mn>Cu>Cd>Pb>Cr>Co>Se>Hg. Copper-zinc (r=0.835) and copper-lead (r=0.948) concentrations are significantly correlated (p<0.05), suggesting selective uptake of these elements. PCA analysis suggests that the location of harvesting sites within specific water channels is influencing metal concentrations. Hazard quotients calculated using guidelines set by Health Canada and the World Health Organization revealed that, among the suite of elements surveyed, arsenic followed by cadmium ranked the highest in relative risk for consumers of P. abbottiae. An average 60 kg adult consumer can safely consume approximately 9.4 g dried seaweed per day and not exceed tolerable upper intake limit guidelines. In conclusion, Porphyra abbottiae can be eaten in moderation with minimal risk of chronic metal contamination. Kwakwaka’wakw consumers can also benefit from cultural reconnection with this important traditional food. / Graduate

<p>The aim of this study was to investigate indigenous knowledge of vegetation resource utilisation, in particular the use of traditional medicinal plants in the provision of health care in the community of Khayelitsha and to determine traditional resource management approaches.</p>

The eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus), a small anadromous smelt (Family Osmeridae) found only along the Northwest Pacific Coast, is poorly understood. Many spawning populations have suffered declines but as their historic status is relatively unknown and the fisheries poorly documented, it is difficult to study the contributing factors. This thesis provides a survey of eulachon fisheries throughout its geographical range and three analyses aimed at improving our understanding of past and present fisheries, coast-wide abundance status, and the factors which may be impacting these populations. An in-depth view of the Nuxalk Nation eulachon fishery on the Bella Coola River, Central Coast, BC, is provided. The majority of catches were used for making eulachon grease, a food item produced by First Nations by fermenting, then cooking the fish to release the grease. Catch statistics were kept yearly from 1945-1989 but have since, rarely been recorded. Using traditional and local ecological knowledge, catches were reconstructed based on estimated annual grease production. Run size trends were also created using local Fisheries Officers and Nuxalk interview comments. A fuzzy logic expert system was designed to estimate the relative abundance of fifteen eulachon systems. The expert system uses catch data to determine the exploitation status of a fishery and combines it with other data sources (e.g., CPUE) to estimate an abundance status index. The number of sources depended on the existing data and varied from one to eight. Using designed heuristic rules and by adjusting weighting parameters a final index was produced. Results suggest that there have been recent and extended declines in several eulachon rivers particularly the Klamath, California; Bella Coola, BC; Wannock, BC; and Kitimat, BC. Seven of the fifteen abundance time-series were used to evaluate the potential relationships between the declines and some of the factors that impact eulachon. Results suggest increases in shrimp and hake catches, seal and sea lion abundance, and sea surface temperatures were weakly associated with the declines. But contrary to expectations, adult hake biomass showed a positive association with four eulachon relative abundance time-series, suggesting that common environmental factors influenced both species.

Thesis (M. Ed.(Curriculum Studies))-University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Masters (M.Sc.)--University of Sydney, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed 27 February 2007). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science to the School of Geosciences. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Geography. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2007/08/29). Includes bibliographical references.