Conventionally, the Klamath and Modoc Indians of south-central Oregon and northeastern California are depicted as hunter-gatherers, who took no active role in the management of plant communities. In the course of a multi-year ethnographic effort, however, tribal elders have identified a complex of interrelated plant management practices that are consistent with contemporary definitions of plant cultivation. These include the management of black huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum) yields in subalpine environments, the management of marsh-edge environments for yellow pond lily (Nuphar polysepalum), the tending of “epos” or yampah (Perideridia spp.) digging sites, and the selective harvest of tree cambium, sap, and wood – especially from pines (Pinus spp.) and junipers (Juniperus spp). Together, these accounts suggest that plant management was widespread, that it often served to geographically concentrate culturally preferred species, and that it was rooted as much in cosmological motivations as economic ones. Factors contributing to the decline of traditional management practices are also briefly addressed.
AndersonM. Kat2005. Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources. University of California Press. Berkeley.
2.
AndersonM. Kat and BlackburnThomas C.. 1993. Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers, No. 40. Ballena Press. Menlo Park.
3.
ApplegateO. C.1899. Report of agent for Klamath Agency to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, September 26, 1899. In. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Part 1. 309–15. U.S. Department of the Interior. Washington.
4.
ApplegateO. C.1902. Report of Agent for Klamath Agency to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1902. In. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Part 1. 305–15. U.S. Department of the Interior. Washington.
5.
BarkerMuhammad Abd-al-Raham1963. Klamath Dictionary. University of California Publications in Linguistics, No. 31. University of California Press. Berkeley.
6.
BarrettSamuel A.1910. The material culture of the Klamath Lake and Modoc Indians of northeastern California and southern Oregon. In. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology. Volume 5, Number 4. 239–92. University of California Press. Berkeley.
7.
BollerHenry A.1972. Among the Indians: Four Years on the Upper Missouri, 1858–1862. QuaifeM. M.University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln.
8.
BoydRobert1999. Indians, Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest. Oregon State University Press. Corvallis.
9.
BrookfieldH. C.1981. Intensification and disintensification in Pacific agriculture: a theoretical approach. InHuman Population and Agroecosystems. PirieP. and GomesA.. 78–96. East-West Center. Honolulu.
10.
CarlsonRoy L.1957. Recent Artifacts. Klamath County Museum, Clearing House for News1(3):2–4.
11.
ClarkeSamuel A.1960. The Samuel A. Clarke Papers [1873]. SwartzB. K.Klamath County Museum Research Papers, No. 2. Klamath County Museum. Klamath Falls.
12.
ClarkeWilliam J.1885. Rock piles and ancient dams in the Klamath Valley. American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal7(1):40–41.
13.
CohenMark N. and ArmelagosG. J.. 1984. Paleopathology and the Origins of Agriculture. Academic Press. Orlando.
14.
CoutureMarilyn Dunlap1978. Recent and contemporary foraging practices of the Harney Valley Paiute. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Portland State University, Portland.
15.
CovilleFrederick V.1897. Notes on the plants used by the Klamath Indians of Oregon. In. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, Vol. 5, No. 2. 87–108. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Botany. Washington.
16.
CovilleFrederick V.1904. Wokas, a primitive food of the Klamath Indians. In. Annual Report for the U.S. National Museum for 1902. 725–39. U.S. National Museum. Washington.
17.
CressmanLuther S.1956. Klamath Prehistory: The prehistory of the culture of the Klamath Lake area, Oregon. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society46(4):375–513.
18.
CurtinJeremiah n.d. Myths and Legends (Modoc). MS 1299, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Washington.
19.
DavidsonD. S.1937. Snowshoes. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society6:1–207.
20.
DenevanWilliam1992. The pristine myth: The landscape of the Americas in 1492. Annals of the Association of American Geographers82(3):369–85.
21.
DeurDouglas2000. A Domesticated Landscape: Native American Plant Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America. Ph.D. thesis (Geography). Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
22.
DeurDouglas2002a. A most sacred place: The significance of Crater Lake among the Indians of southern Oregon. Oregon Historical Quarterly103(1):18–49.
23.
DeurDouglas2002b. Huckleberry Mountain Traditional Use Study. U.S. Forest Service, Rogue River National Forest. Medford.
24.
DeurDouglas2004. Traditional Cultural Properties and Sensitive Resource Study, Klamath Tribes: Klamath River Project FERC Relicensing Documentation. The Klamath Tribes. Chiloquin.
25.
DeurDouglas2006. Traditional Cultural Properties Study: Wocus Bay, Grandma Rock, Olene Gap, and Saddle Mountain. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service Historic Preservation Program. Washington.
26.
DeurDouglas2007. Culturally Modified Trees at Spring Creek: An Ethnographic Overview. Oregon Department of Transportation. Salem.
27.
DeurDouglas2008. In the Footprints of Gmukamps: A Traditional Use Study of Crater Lake National Park and Lava Beds National Monument. U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington.
28.
DeurDouglas and TurnerNancy. 2005. Keeping it Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America. University of Washington Press. Seattle.
29.
FrenchDavid1999. Aboriginal control of huckleberry yield in the Northwest. InIndians, Fire, and the Land in the Pacific Northwest. BoydRobert31–35. Oregon State University Press. Corvallis.
30.
GatschetAlbert S.1890. The Klamath Indians of Southwestern Oregon. Contributions to North American Ethnology, Volume 2, Numbers 1–2. U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. Washington.
31.
GleasonSusan1997. The Great Western Root: Construction and Consideration of Behavioral Chains Relative to Resource Management. M.A. thesis (Anthropology). University of California, Riverside.
32.
HrdličkaAleš1905. Head deformation among the Klamath. American Anthropologist7:360–61.
33.
HunnEugene S.2000. On the Relative Contribution of Men and Women to Subsistence among Hunter-Gatherers of the Columbia Plateau: A Comparison with Ethnographic Atlas Summaries. InEthnobotany: A Reader. MinnisP. E.184–213. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman.
34.
HunnEugene and FrenchDavid. 1981. Lomatium: A key resource for Columbia Plateau native subsistence. Northwest Science55:87–94.
35.
HunnEugene S. and SelamJ.. 1990. Nch'iWána, “The Big River”: Middle-Columbia Indians and Their Land. University of Washington Press. Seattle.
36.
HunnEugene S., TurnerNancy J., and FrenchDavid H.. 1998. Ethnobiology and Subsistence. InHandbook of North American Indians, Volume 12: Plateau. WalkerDeward E.Jr525–545. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington.
37.
KernsBecky K., AlexanderSusan J., and BaileyJohn D.. 2004. Huckleberry abundance, stand conditions, and use in Western Oregon: Evaluating the role of forest management. Economic Botany58(4):668–678.
38.
KnackMartha C. and StewartOmer C.. 1984. As Long as the River Shall Run: An ethnohistory of Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. University of California Press. Berkeley.
39.
KroeberAlfred L.1925. Handbook of the Indians of CaliforniaBureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 78. Washington.
40.
KuhnleinHarriet V. and ReceveurO.. 1996. Dietary change and traditional food systems of indigenous peoples. Annual Review of Nutrition16:417–42.
41.
LaLandeJeff and PullenReg. 1989. Burning for a “fine and beautiful open country”: Native uses of fire in southwestern Oregon. InIndians, Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest: An Anthology of Papers on Indian Use of Fire in the Environment. BoydR. T.185–218. Oregon State University Press. Corvallis.
42.
LepofskyDana, HallettDouglas, LertzmanKen, MathewesRolf, McHalsieAlbert, and WashbrookKevin. 2005. Documenting Precontact Plant Management on the Northwest Coast: An example of prescribed burning in the central and upper Fraser Valley. InKeeping it Living: Traditions of plant use and cultivation on the northwest coast of North America. DeurD. E. and TurnerN. J.. 218–39. University of Washington Press. Seattle.
43.
LewisHenry T.1982. A Time for Burning. Occasional Publication No. 17. University of Alberta, Boreal Institute for Northern Studies. Edmonton.
44.
MacNeishRichard S.1992. The Origins of Agriculture and Settled Life. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman.
45.
MackCheryl A. and McClureR. H.. 2002. Vaccinium processing in the Washington Cascades. Journal of Ethnobiology22(1):35–60.
46.
MintoJohn1898. A paper on forestry interests. InReport of the Secretary of the State Land Board of Horticulture on Forestry and Arid Lands, Oregon. LeedsW. H.Oregon State Printer. Salem.
47.
PeacockSandra L.1998. Putting Down Roots: The emergence of wild plant food production on the Canadian Plateau. Ph.D. dissertation, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria.
48.
PeacockSandra L. and TurnerNancy J.. 2000. “Just like a garden”: Traditional plant resource management and biodiversity conservation on the British Columbia Plateau. InBiodiversity and Native America. MinnisP. and ElisensW.. 133–179. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman.
49.
PipernoDolores R. and PearsallDeborah M.. 1998. The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics. Academic Press. San Diego.
50.
PullenReginald J.1996. Overview of the Environment of Native Inhabitants of Southwestern Oregon, Late Prehistoric Era. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rogue River National Forest. Medford.
51.
RayVerne F.1963. Primitive Pragmatists: The Modoc Indians of Northern California. University of Washington Press. Seattle.
52.
RindosDavid1984. The Origins of Agriculture: An Evolutionary Perspective. Academic Press. Orlando.
53.
SpencerRobert F.1952. Native myth and modern religion among the Klamath Indians. Journal of American Folklore65(257):217–26.
54.
SpierLeslie1930. Klamath Ethnography. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 30. University of California Press. Berkeley.
55.
SternTheodore1956. The Klamath Indians and the treaty of 1864. Oregon Historical Quarterly57(3):229–73.
56.
SternTheodore1965. The Klamath Tribe: A People and their Reservation. American Ethnological Society, Monograph No. 41. University of Washington Press. Seattle.
57.
SternTheodore1998. Klamath and Modoc. InHandbook of North American Indians, Vol. 12: Plateau. DewardE. WalkerJr446–66. Smithsonian Institution. Washington.
58.
SwetnamThomas W.1984. Peeled ponderosa pine trees: A record of inner bark utilization by Native Americans. Journal of Ethnobiology4(2):177–190.
59.
SwezeySean L., JamesSteven R., and GrazianiSuzanne. 1975. Socio-Religious Aspects of Resource Management, and Practices of Warfare among California Indians. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Facility, Vol. 23. University of California Press. Berkeley.
60.
ThomsAlston V.1989. The Northern Roots of Hunter-Gatherer Intensification: Camas and the Pacific Northwest. Ph.D. thesis (Anthropology). Washington State University, Pullman.
61.
TruslerScott and JohnsonLeslie Main. 2008. “Berry Patch” As a Kind of Place: The Ethnoecology of Black Huckleberry in Northwestern Canada. Human Ecology36(4):553–68.
62.
WilliamsNancy M. and HunnEugene S.. 1982. Resource Managers: North American and Australian Hunter-Gatherers. Westview. Boulder.
63.
WilsonHorace1906. Report of Agent for Klamath Agency to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1906. In. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Part 1. 330–41. U.S. Department of the Interior. Washington.
64.
WinterhalderBruce and KennettDouglas. 2006. Behavioral ecology and the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. InBehavioral Ecology and the Transition to Agriculture. KennettD. and WinterhalderB.. 1–21. University of California Press. Berkeley.
65.
ZakojiHiroto1953. Klamath Culture Change. M.A. thesis (Anthropology). University of Oregon, Eugene.
66.
ZederMelinda A., BradleyDaniel G., EmshwillerEve, and SmithBruce. 2006. Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms. University of California. Berkeley.
