Before there was “forestry,” there were forests. Before there was “science,” there was methodology. And for centuries before white people arrived on this continent, there was interaction between Native Americans and their environment.

Thom Alcoze is associate professor of Native American Ecological Restoration (NAER), a program of Northern Arizona University’s Ecological Restoration Institute (ERI). Alcoze believes Native American stewardship had much to do with the abundant, healthy flora and fauna Europeans found when they arrived on this continent.

“Now we are beginning to understand that Native American nations maintained complex human societies, and the very landscapes early explorers described as ‘naturally fertile,’ native peoples managed for daily sustenance .... Human occupation of North American landscapes for over 14,000 years can be interpreted as a reflection of human skill for establishing and maintaining practices to sustain resource abundance,” writes Alcoze in a review of Shepard Krech III’s The Ecological Indian: Myth and History.

The ERI trains restorationists to use the best ecological science available to understand and reverse damage, in an effort to restore biodiversity and developing harmonious relationships between people and their land.

The NAER, under the umbrella of the ERI, provides opportunities for Native American students to work on restoration projects on reservations or in their own communities. These projects can lead to assistantships in natural resources careers at NAU.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tribal council pledged support for NAU student Nikki Cooley’s ERI project, “Understanding Traditional Knowledge for Ecological Restoration: A Qualitative Interview Study,” with Cherokee and Southern Appalachian community members, at its Aug. 9 tribal council meeting.

Cooley, a Navajo and senior at NAU, spent the summer working on the project. She will return to Cherokee next summer to conduct interviews with Cherokee elders and others known and respected for their knowledge of Cherokee traditions and practices. Researchers hope to be able to incorporate Native American practices into contemporary restoration programs.

“I believe Cherokee traditions and practices of caring for Mother Earth, her plants and animals, are critical to appropriately managing our forest ecosystems. I look forward to extending the enthusiasm, relationships and opportunities begun this summer with the Cherokee community so that Cherokee young people will seek careers in ecological restoration at Northern Arizona University and other institutions where their traditional knowledge about the land is valued,” Alcoze said.

“This program offers great opportunities for our students,” according to tribal cultural resources director James Bird.

Programs like these, which get our students interested in research and continuing their education are critical for our tribe, Bird said.

The USDA Forest Service’s Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, in Macon County, is one of the project’s partners. Coweeta research ecologist Katherine Elliott said Cooley’s work fits in nicely with Coweeta’s ongoing research regarding fire ecology in the Southern Appalachians.

Cooley’s study is anthropological. She will interview tribal elders about the traditional uses of fire — “how, where, why,” Elliott said.

We will use this data in collaboration with dendrochronology (analyzing tree ring growth as affected by environmental extremes like fire) and paleo-ecology to try and understand the historical significance of fire in the region, Elliott said.

Alcoze, Cooley, Lisa Dunlop (research assistant) and Sally Oran (qualitative research advisor) will return to Cherokee in December. They plan to visit with students in the Cherokee High School forestry class to talk with them about opportunities for degree programs in natural resources and ecological restoration.

“I plan to see several Cherokee young people applying for undergraduate assistantships next fall with the Native American Ecological Restoration program of the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University,” Alcoze said.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News