Information On Native American Forest Management?

Anyone know of any good books covering native American forest management? I'm particularly interested in how they would have integrated fruit trees into their semi-wild systems. Paw paws, persimmons, berries, etc.

a book you might enjoy is called

"Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources"

I'll check it out. Thanks.

Jordan Lowery wrote:a book you might enjoy is called

"Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources"

I'm interested in finding more information on this too, it seems as though there's a lot more info on West coast indigenous systems than East... which is the coast I'm interested in.

Hey Rustic -

Edible Forest Gardens V1 by Dave Jacke talks a little bit about Native American forest management, and also includes citations with the bibliography. Edible Forest Gardens is an incredible book by itself, but the section on Native American practices is fairly brief and introductory to the "world view" of sustainable food forestry.

Here are the publications that they cite regarding this subject:

Cronon, William. 1983. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England. (Hill & Wang pub.)

Williams, Michael. 1993. "An exceptionally powerful biotic factor". In Humans as Components of Ecosystems: The Ecology of Subtle Human Effects and Populated Areas, ed McDonnel and Pickett. Springer-Verlaig pubs. pp 24-39

Campbell, Bernard. 1983. Human Ecology: The Story of Our Place in Nature from Prehistory to the Present. Aldine Publishing Co.

Martin, Glen. "Keepers of the Oaks". Discover (Magazine). August 1996. pp 44-50.

Davies, Karl. 1984. "Some ecological aspects of northeastern Indian agroforestry practices." Student paper written for Cornell University's Tree Crops Research Project, Ithaca NY. Can be found at www.daviesand.com

Sauer, Leslie Jones, and Andropogon Associates. 1998. The Once and Future Future Forest: A Guide to Forest Restoration Strategies. Island Press.


Looks like some great material to seek out. Hope this helps!!!

Scott

Isaac Hill wrote:I'm interested in finding more information on this too, it seems as though there's a lot more info on West coast indigenous systems than East... which is the coast I'm interested in.

All of the references I listed above from the "Edible Forest Gardens" refer to Northeast coast Indians' agroforestry practices.

Cheers!

I'm about half way through this book called
Cultivated Landscapes of Native North America by William E. Doolittle

It's ok, but it's exceedingly academic, and makes no use whatsoever of American Indian's own accounts of land use practices. It does contain exhaustive review of all known documentary, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence of horticulture, agriculture, and land management throughout North America.

I haven't found it to be as interesting as I had hoped, but it's definitely a good reference. Somewhat pricey though.

peace

Scott Jackson wrote:

Isaac Hill wrote:I'm interested in finding more information on this too, it seems as though there's a lot more info on West coast indigenous systems than East... which is the coast I'm interested in.

All of the references I listed above from the "Edible Forest Gardens" refer to Northeast coast Indians' agroforestry practices.

Cheers!

Excellent! I'm actually going through EFG right now, didn't think to look at their sources, must be a lingering resentment towards academia.

Thanks for this great list. I'll be looking into them.

Scott Jackson wrote:Hey Rustic -

Edible Forest Gardens V1 by Dave Jacke talks a little bit about Native American forest management, and also includes citations with the bibliography. Edible Forest Gardens is an incredible book by itself, but the section on Native American practices is fairly brief and introductory to the "world view" of sustainable food forestry.

Here are the publications that they cite regarding this subject:

Cronon, William. 1983. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England. (Hill & Wang pub.)

Williams, Michael. 1993. "An exceptionally powerful biotic factor". In Humans as Components of Ecosystems: The Ecology of Subtle Human Effects and Populated Areas, ed McDonnel and Pickett. Springer-Verlaig pubs. pp 24-39

Campbell, Bernard. 1983. Human Ecology: The Story of Our Place in Nature from Prehistory to the Present. Aldine Publishing Co.

Martin, Glen. "Keepers of the Oaks". Discover (Magazine). August 1996. pp 44-50.

Davies, Karl. 1984. "Some ecological aspects of northeastern Indian agroforestry practices." Student paper written for Cornell University's Tree Crops Research Project, Ithaca NY. Can be found at www.daviesand.com

Sauer, Leslie Jones, and Andropogon Associates. 1998. The Once and Future Future Forest: A Guide to Forest Restoration Strategies. Island Press.


Looks like some great material to seek out. Hope this helps!!!

Scott

I think I remember someone saying in a podcast that this is a huge blind spot that needed to be filled.
It was either Toby Hemenway or Dave Jacke or Michael Pilarski.
"Tending the Wild" I believe was said to be the most insightful/practical.
William

How about these two books.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html#II

http://www.amazon.ca/Keeping-Living-Traditions-Cultivation-Northwest/dp/0295985658#_

I plan on reading these two soon.

Colin

From my readings, I have determined that their favorite management tool was a torch.

There were "too many" forests. Much of our "Great Prairies" were once wooded.
I have also read that there are more acres of woodland in CT and MA now than when the pilgrims landed.
(The natives needed that land for crops.)

John Polk wrote:From my readings, I have determined that their favorite management tool was a torch.

There were "too many" forests. Much of our "Great Prairies" were once wooded.
I have also read that there are more acres of woodland in CT and MA now than when the pilgrims landed.
(The natives needed that land for crops.)

But those forests are also young forests, and not ecologically well managed forests.

John Polk wrote:From my readings, I have determined that their favorite management tool was a torch.

There were "too many" forests. Much of our "Great Prairies" were once wooded.
I have also read that there are more acres of woodland in CT and MA now than when the pilgrims landed.
(The natives needed that land for crops.)

Sources?

Many areas of N. American prairie get enough rain to grow forest and they will do just that unless grased or farmed. When there were millions of buffalo, ( Bison )grazing the plains they kept land from reverting to forest. With the demise of buffalo, forest crept into any zone recieving adequate rainfall.

A similar transition happens in the African savanna when elephants are removed. Acacias and other trees are kept in check by elephants who destroy millions of trees during times of drought. In areas without elephants a thorny forest develops over time.

The Scottish countryside was once covered in forest. Continuous grazing by sheep, goats and cattle over the past 6000 years has led to a derth of forest and an environment very different from what naturally existed.

Native Austrailians used fire extensively to maintain grasslands. Australia lacked giant herbivores capable of doing their own logging. Modern Australia has endured horrrible brush fires when too much fuel load has been allowed to accumulate between burns. A similar situation exists in parts of Calafornia and in Greece.

When my family first moved from the hinterlands to the edge of the city of St Catherines Ontario Canada our new fields were producing goldenrod, milk weed and little thorn bushes since the land had been neglected. My dad set about to burn dry grass in the spring to improve grazing. Both the neighbours and the fire department thought this was a bad idea. We continued on a smaller scale. Grass production went up within weeks of the fires.