Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness

Before the course Casey and I arranged to have Tim Ryan, a member of the Flathead nation and ethnobotonist meet our class as a guest speaker. It was a blue bird day when we met on the reservation and we wasted no time in learning from Tim about some fo the differences in management between federal and tribal land management. It is easy to forget, but most tribal reservations in the U.S. are semi-autunomous and self governing, and the same with their lands.

Tim took us up to a beautiful lake up in the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness for a day hike (you can just make out some peaks behind him). Up there in the cup of the mountains we learned about how traditional knowledge of nature that indigenous or rural peoples on the land practice can inform modern science and conservation. As ever, I am fascinated by this subject matter and couldn't get enough.

We all learned a lot and had a great time talking with Tim and walking through the forest with him as he pointed out innumerable plants and ways we could use them for food, fibre, and medicine. Before we drove back down to the valley we even learned how to make rope and thread from dogbane. Everyone left with ropes and necklaces they made, and still wear today...