Abstract
The Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en of Northwestern British Columbia formerly used landscape burning to manage patches of black huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum), the most important plant resource of their seasonal round. In view of its significance one might postulate that managed sites would conform to a biophysical or ecological type to maximize return for effort. However, a survey of a number of traditionally managed sites indicated that managed sites are characterized by wide variation in biophysical attributes including elevation, aspect and moisture regime, while proximity to fishing sites, village sites, or sites for harvest of alpine resources proved to be a common factor in known historic berry patch sites. We conclude that characterization of the ideal site type for aboriginal V. membranaceum management must include the economy and social institutions of the local First Nations and requires an enhanced appreciation for the sophistication of the strategies and techniques employed in their management and utilization of the species.
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Notes
This map represents a general overview as it is not a complete inventory of traditional berry patches. It also does not show several village sites that are no longer occupied nor the numerous seasonal fishing sites and smokehouse locations along the rivers.
One of the factors that is not clear is whether “packloads” refer to fresh or dried fruit. The volume ratio of fresh to dried fruit is 10.25:1 which could create a ten-fold error in the projections. However, ethnographic information from interviews suggests that in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, fruit was usually processed and dried on site and transported in dry form (Johnson fieldnotes and People of Ksan 1980).
Richard Daly (2005) indicates that there were 90 House groups in the early nineteenth century for the Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en combined, yielding an estimate of 20.4 ha of productive berry ground for each house on a yearly basis.
Daly estimates a population of 100 people in each house group, for a total population of 8,000–10,000 for the two groups together before the impact of epidemics caused severe population reduction in the later nineteenth century. A set of conservative assumptions regarding actual numbers of pickers per house (we estimated 30) and duration of picking (we estimated 20 days of picking based on interview data from Olive Ryan reported in Johnson 1997:98) yields a quite reasonable harvest per day per person (7.4 US gallons) to obtain the estimated harvest. Contemporary harvesters pick comparable amounts per day on a good berry patch.
Orthography in this paper follows the spellings in the Delgamuukw court case documents and Office of the Wet’suwet’en spellings. Witsuwit’en names accordingly differ from the more recent standard orthography. For example, Wet’suwet’en is now spelled Witsuwit’en, and digii ‘huckleberry’ is now spelled digï. There are also differences in some Gitksan spellings.
Areas in the valley bottoms of the major rivers, especially the Bulkley and the Kispiox were pre-empted by settlers and became private land. Indians were not eligible for pre-emption, though in a few exceptional cases Indians gained title to some parcels (Galois 1993–1994; Mills 2005). The village sites and a range of fishing sites of relatively small area were designated as Indian Reserves, and were thus “owned” by Indians collectively, though subject to the oversight and regulation of the Federal Government.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the elders and others from whom we learned about berries and berry patches, and our funders, especially the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Circumpolar Institute, the Athabasca Research Fund, the Jacobs Foundation, the Gitksan-Wet’suwet’en Education Society, the Kyah Wiget Education society (funding for Johnson), and the BC Ministry of Forests, Prince Rupert Forest Region and the Bulkley-Cassiar Forest District (funding for Trusler) as well as the Office of the Wet’suwet’en. We would particularly like to acknowledge the late Olive Ryan (Gwans), Gertie Watson (Gaxsbagaxs), the late Andy Clifton, the late Percy Sterritt, the late Art Mathews Sr, Kathleen Mathews, Art Mathews Jr.(Dinim Gyet), the late Ray Morgan, the late Dora Johnson (Gwamaats), Peter Muldoe (Gitluudahl), the late Pat Namox (Wah’tah’kwets), Lucy Namox (Goohlat), Rita George (Gilukhdun), Henry Alfred (Ut’akhgit), Alfred Joseph (Gisday Wa), Sam Wilson, the late Elsie Tait and our collaborators Darlene Vegh, Marilyn Freel, Ken Rabnett and Art Loring. We would also like to acknowledge the helpful comments of an anonymous reviewer in final preparation of this paper.
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Trusler, S., Johnson, L.M. “Berry Patch” As a Kind of Place—the Ethnoecology of Black Huckleberry in Northwestern Canada. Hum Ecol 36, 553–568 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-008-9176-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-008-9176-3