WS.9-12.ES Lesson 3: Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Overview
Lesson 1: Introduction to Relationships between Humans and the Environment
Lesson 2: Berries in the Ecosystem
Lesson 3: Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Lesson 4: Historic versus Contemporary Landscapes
Lesson 5: Responsibility of Society

Standards

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

  • EL.CM.RE.02—Listen to, read, and understand a wide variety of informational and narrative text.
  • EL.CM.RE.04—Demonstrate listening comprehension of more complex text through class and/or small group interpretive discussions across the subject areas.
  • EL.CM.SL.05—Analyze the occasion and the interests of the audience, and choose effective verbal techniques and language.
  • EL.CM.SL.10—Formulate judgments about ideas under discussion, and support those judgments with convincing evidence.
  • EL.CM.WR.02—Discuss ideas for writing with classmates, teachers, and other writers, and develop drafts alone and collaboratively.
  • EL.CM.WR.04—Choose the form of writing that best suits the intended purpose.

GEOGRAPHY

  • SS.CM.GE.04—Analyze changes in the physical and human characteristics of places and regions, and the effects of technology, migration, and urbanization on them.

CD Segments to Play

Background

A primary difference in the worldview of Native American people is that they believe they are one component in the food web.   A common idea amongst non-native people is that berries are good to eat and make wonderful pies and jams (also common for native people).  They have also become an economic factor that led to the development of berry pickers (machines that go out and decimate the shrubs).  Another development has been the nurseries that exclusively grow plants for sale; often manipulating the genes to make them more desirable.  Native people often talk about their responsibility to living organisms.  Read this excerpt from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Declaration of Sovereignty to the class, from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs website (http://www.warmsprings.com/Warmsprings/Tribal_Community/History__Culture/Treaty__Documents/Declaration_of_Sovereignty.html): “At the time of creation the Creator placed us in the land and gave us the voice of the land and that is our law. Ultimate sovereignty is vested in the people, who received their sovereign authority in the form of laws given by the creator and by the land itself. We shall, as we always have, live in balance with the land and never use more of our precious natural resources than can be sustained forever”, this quote is from the Declaration of Sovereignty.

Suggested Strategies

Activities

1.  Share

To begin the lesson, allow each research group to share their food web with the class.

Ask the question, where do humans fit into the food web?

2.  Writing exercise

Give the students 10 minutes to contemplate their food web and the statement from the Declaration of Sovereignty and write their thoughts on the food webs and native people.  Have them add this page to their Berry Portfolio.

3.  Discuss

Now introduce the concept of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).  TEK has many definitions, essentially TEK can be understood by the students by familiarizing themselves with the Tribe(s) and their original homelands.  Tribal entities pre-European contact had very defined area of lands that generation after generation lived upon and were dependent upon for survival.  Much like current scientific methodology, native people:

  • Made observations on a given ecosystem;
  • Made hypothesis based upon these observations;
  • Through experimentation either proved or disproved the hypothesis;
  • Changed methods of gathering, harvesting, hunting, fishing, etc. based upon the results of their experiments;
  • Through their oral traditions reported the findings to the next generation.

TEK is the sum of thousands of years of “scientific study”.  More and more so, TEK is becoming recognizable as a viable means with which environmental problems can be solved.  Many Ph.D. students do research on environmental issues and within their results confirm what native people in a given area already knew via the large body of TEK that exists within a given tribal group.

4.  Read

Hand out the Treaty of 1855, bringing the students attention to Article 1 of the 1855 Treaty signed by the original tribes of Warm Springs.

“ARTICLE 1. The above-named confederated bands of Indians cede to the United States all their right, title, and claim to all and every part of the country claimed by them, included in the following boundaries, to wit:

Commencing in the middle of the Columbia River, at the Cascade Falls, and running thence southerly to the summit of the Cascade Mountains; thence along said summit to the forty-fourth parallel of north latitude; thence east on that parallel to the summit of the Blue Mountains, or the western boundary of the Sho-sho-ne or Snake country; thence northerly along that summit to a point due east from the head-waters of Willow Creek; thence west to the head-waters of said creek; thence down said stream to its junction with the Columbia River; and thence down the channel of the Columbia River to the place of beginning.

Provided, however, that so much of the country described above as is contained in the following boundaries, shall, until otherwise directed by the President of the United States, be set apart as a residence for said Indians, which tract for the purposes contemplated shall be held and regarded as an Indian reservation, to wit:

Commencing in the middle of the channel of the De Chutes River opposite the eastern termination of a range of high lands usually known as the Mutton Mountains; thence westerly to the summit of said range, along the divide to its connection with the Cascade Mountains; thence to the summit of said mountains; thence southerly to Mount Jefferson; thence down the main branch of De Chutes River; heading in this peak, to its junction with De Chutes River; and thence down the middle of the channel of said river to the place of beginning.

All of which tract shall be set apart, and, so far as necessary, surveyed and marked out for their exclusive use; nor shall any white person be permitted to reside upon the same without the concurrent permission of the agent and superintendent.

The said bands and tribes agree to remove to and settle upon the same within one year after the ratification of this treaty, without any additional expense to the United States other than is provided for by this treaty; and, until the expiration of the time specified, the said bands shall be permitted to occupy and reside upon the tracts now possessed by them, guaranteeing to all white citizens the right to enter upon and occupy as settlers any lands not included in said reservation, and not actually enclosed by said Indians.”

4.  Research

Break the students into their research groups; pass out the map of Oregon, and allow them some time to try to sketch out the area of land that the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs ceded to the United States government.  Remind the students that this treaty was signed in 1855 and was largely negotiated through translators.

When they have completed their sketch, pass out the actual ceded lands map.   Have them compare their map to this one.  Have them photocopy their maps so each student can add to their Berry Portfolio.

Ask:  Based upon this map, why do you think berries were significant to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs?

Ask:  Based upon this map, do you think the tribal people had accumulated Traditional Ecological Knowledge within their homelands?

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