Title Tending the wild : Native American knowledge and the management of California's natural resources / M. Kat Anderson

Published Berkeley : University of California Press, [2005] ©2005

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Description 1 online resource (xxix, 526 pages) : illustrations, maps Contents California at Contact. Wildlife, plants, and people -- Gathering, hunting, and fishing -- The collision of worlds -- Indigenous Land Management and its Ecological Basis. Methods of caring for the land -- Landscapes of stewardship -- Basketry : cultivating forbs, sedges, grasses, and tules -- From arrows to weirs : cultivating shrubs and trees -- California's cornucopia : a calculated abundance -- Plant foods aboveground : seeds, grains, leaves, and fruits -- Plant foods belowground : bulbs, corms, rhizomes, taproots, and tubers -- Rekindling the Old Ways. Contemporary California Indian harvesting and management practices -- Restoring landscapes with native knowledge -- Coda: Indigenous wisdom in the modern world Summary "John Muir was an early proponent of a view we still hold today--that much of California was pristine, untouched wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Marvelously detailed and beautifully written, Tending the Wild is an unparalleled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of California's natural resources that reshapes our understanding of native cultures and shows how we might begin to use their knowledge in our own conservation efforts. M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information on native land management practices gleaned in part from interviews and correspondence with Native Americans who recall what their grandparents told them about how and when areas were burned, which plants were eaten and which were used for basketry, and how plants were tended. The complex picture that emerges from this and other historical source material dispels the hunter-gatherer stereotype long perpetuated in anthropological and historical literature. We come to see California's indigenous people as active agents of environmental change and stewardship. Tending the Wild persuasively argues that this traditional ecological knowledge is essential if we are to successfully meet the challenge of living sustainably"--Publisher's description Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 411-470) and index Notes Print version record; title from digital title page (viewed on December 14, 2023) Subject Indians of North America -- Agriculture -- California Indians of North America -- California -- History Human ecology -- California Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- California -- History Indians -- Agriculture -- California NATURE -- Natural Resources. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Environmental Economics. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Green Business. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Archaeology. Indians -- Agriculture Human ecology Indians of North America Indians of North America -- Agriculture Nature -- Effect of human beings on Umweltverträglichkeit Umweltnutzung Indianer California Kalifornien Indianer. Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780520933101 0520933109 1423730410 9781423730415 0520248511 9780520248519

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