Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians (Ballena Press Anthropological Papers, No. 40)

Rating:
Summary: enlightening book on indigenous land use
Review: Many of us have been given the impression that the indigenous people of the Americas before white invasion lived wandering, nomadic lives of fierce hunting with little if any organized manipulation of their environment. This book corrects this impression with seasoned research. Indigenous California is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in the world. This work focuses on the ways the people of the region helped sustain the land's yield for their own uses. Henry T. Lewis's contribution focuses on controlled burn practices, though the subject is included in several entries from other researchers. Burns occurred in every environment, were seasonally timed, and helped maintain a varied-age, mosaic landscape. Peri and Patterson and Ortiz cover maintenance of plants for baskets. Helen McCarthy discusses oak maintenance. Philip J. Wilke reports on bow stave extraction from living junipers. Swezey and Heizer discuss management of anadramous fish and also agriculture among the Paiute of Owens Valley, which involved irrigation, planting of grasses, and burns. The editors have done an excellent job at selecting the entries. All are fascinating and enhance the reader's picture of the West Coast as it once was. This reader from Texas wishes enough info was available on his region to do a similar compilation. Combine this book with Leeann Hinton's Flutes of Fire for a more complete picture of the richness of West Coast culture and with Helena Norberg-Hodge's Ancient Futures for an understanding of how indigenous wisdom can be sustained to improve our current lives. Indigenous people still, in California as elsewhere, face continued repression and this book can give some idea of the worth of their cultures and the importance of supporting their struggles.