Historical Ecology of Cultural Keystone Places of the Northwest Coast

Abstract

For many Indigenous peoples, their traditional lands are archives of their histories, from the deepest of time to recent memories and actions. These histories are written in the landscapes' geological features, contemporary plant and animal communities, and associated archaeological and paleoecological records. Some of these landscapes, recently termed "cultural keystone places" (CKPs), are iconic for these groups and have become symbols of the connections between the past and the future, and between people and place. Using an historical-ecological approach, we describe our novel methods and initial results for documenting the history of three cultural keystone places in coastal British Columbia, Canada: Hauyat, Laxgalts'ap (Old Town) and Dałk Gyilakyaw (Robin Town) (territories of Heiltsuk, Gitga'ata, and Gitsm'geelm, respectively). We combine data and knowledge from diverse disciplines and communities to tell the deep and recent histories of these cultural landscapes. Each of CKPs encompasses expansive landscapes of diverse habitats transformed by generations of people interacting with their surrounding environments. Documenting the "softer" footprints of past human-environmental interactions can be elusive and requires diverse approaches and novel techniques. [historical ecology, traditional resource management, cultural keystone Places, Northwest Coast] RESUMEN Para muchos Indígenas, sus tierras tradicionales son archivos de sus historias, desde lo más profundo del tiempo a las más recientes memorias y acciones. Estas historias están escritas en las características geológicas de los paisajes, comunidades contemporáneas de plantas y animales, y registros arqueológicos y paleo-ecológicos asociados. Algunos de estos paisajes, recientemente denominados "lugares culturales claves" (CKPs), son icónicos para estos grupos y se han convertido en símbolos de las conexiones entre el pasado y el futuro, y entre las personas y el lugar. Usando una aproximación histórica-ecológica, describimos nuestros métodos novedosos y resultados iniciales para documentar la historia de tres lugares culturales claves en la Columbia Británica costera, Canadá:Hauyat, Laxgalts'ap (Old Town), y Dalk Gyilakyaw (Robin Town) (territorios de Heiltsuk, Gitga'ata, y Gitsm'geelm, respectivamente). Combinamos datos y conocimiento de diversas disciplinas y comunidades para contar las historias profundas y recientes de estos paisajes culturales. Cada uno de los CKPs abarca paisajes expansivos de diversos hábitats transformados por generaciones de personas interactuando con los ambientes circundantes. Documentar las huellas "más frescas" de las interacciones humano-ambientales puede ser elusivo y requiere diversas aproximaciones y técnicas novedosas. [ecología histórica, manejo tradicional de recursos, lugares culturales claves, Costa Noroccidental] NOTES Acknowledgments. We acknowledge the past, present, and future generations of people who are linked to Hauyat, Laxgalts'ap, and Dałk Gyilakyaw. We are grateful to the chiefs and councils of the Heilts...

The contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to ecological restoration

“…Hua et al ). Reforestation efforts aiming to restore higher levels of biodiversity have thus turned to ILK for the selection of appropriate native species (Garibaldi & Turner ; Wangpakapattanawong et al ) or cultural keystone places (Uprety et al ; Cuerrier et al ; Lepofsky et al ), both in terrestrial and marine environments (Comberti et al ; Thornton et al ). Moreover, given the current debate on how to define a reference state for global restoration (e.g.…”

Assessment of Ecosystem Services and Capabilities of Communities from different Scales and Niches - Implications on Sustainability Goals

“…Furthermore, with their cultural practices, ritual prohibitions and reverence for cultural keystone places, they also Table 3. Some of the services provided by Indigenous and Local Communities (ILCs) and ILC knowledge as evaluated by the "Services to Ecosystems" framework proposed by (Comberti et al, 2015 (Garibaldi and Turner, 2004;Wangpakapattanawong et al, 2010) (Cuerrier et al, 2015;Lepofsky et al, 2017) (Angsongna et al, 2016;Colding and Folke, 1997;Foin and Davis, 1984;Rappaport, 1967;Spangenberg et al, (Russell-Smith et al, 2015;Shaffer, 2010;Storm and Shebitz, 2006;Trauernicht et al, 2015) (Babai and Molnár, 2014;Stenseke, 2009) (Ford and Nigh, 2015) (Thornton et al, 2015) (Diemont and Martin, 2009;Douterlungne et al, 2008 (Selvam et al, 2003) (Coombes, 2007) (Clement and Amezaga, 2009;Douterlungne et al, 2008;Paudyal et al, 2015;Wangpakapattanawong et al, 2010) (Long et al, 2003) (Eckert et al, 2017;Mustonen, 2013;Storm and Shebitz, 2006) contribute to a sense of place and socio-ecological values which help conserve ecosystems. Thus, from diverse epistemological perspectives (Tengö et al, 2014), the activities and knowledge of ILCs service ecosystems to keep them functional.…”

“…Hansson 2001)(Danielsen et al, 2013;Hartoyo et al, 2016) Supporting services • Inclusion of cultural practices • Enhancing cultural-ecological integrity • Serving as repositories of knowledge thus contributing to human capitalReferences(Cuerrier et al, 2015;Lepofsky et al, 2017;Russell-Smith et al, 2015)(Sangha et al, 2015;Sangha et al, 2018)(Benyei et al, 2019;Kelbessa, 2013;Reyes-García and Benyei, 2019) …”

Biocultural indicators to support locally led environmental management and monitoring

“…For example, in cultural landscapes there may be cultural keystone places at a variety of scales, e.g., important mountains, valleys, bays, estuaries, caves, stands/groves, village sites, individual petroglyphs, or trees. In some cases, these places can be cumulative, i.e., the sum of nearby places and the space in between can contribute to a sense of place (Cuerrier et al 2015, Lepofsky et al 2017. For example, the Whanganui River in New Zealand plays an important role in the culture of various Mâori groups and was recently attributed legal status to personhood by the parliamentary government of New Zealand (Parliamentary Counsel Office, New Zealand Legislation 2016).…”