Traditional Ecological Knowledge A focus on the Pacific Lamprey

1. Traditional Ecological Knowledge A focus on the Pacific Lamprey

2. Lesson Objectives • Students should be able to define Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)/Indigenous Knowledge (IK) • Students should understand the cultural and ecological significance of lamprey in the Pacific Northwest and the role of TEK in this case study • Students should understand the important applications of TEK and what separates it from “Western Science”

3. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) • Knowledge and practices of indigenous communities around the world developed from experience gained over centuries of direct human contact with the environment (agriculture, hunting, foraging, living outside, etc.)

4. TEK • Based on use of plants and animals and natural resources for livelihoods • Tradition, but not static • Observational and qualitative information • Transmitted orally from generation to generation • Collectively owned and takes the form of stories, songs, folklore, proverbs, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, community laws, local language, and agricultural practices

5. Menominee Nation of Wisconsin • Forestry practices (150 years of sustainable forestry program) • Wild rice plantations • Fire management to fight invasive species & restore natural habitats traditionally used for gathering & hunting. • Culture, maple sugar and language camps to preserve for the next generation

6. Menominee Nation of Wisconsin • “The Creator gave us our commandants and our seven gifts: tobacco, maple trees, wild rice, berries, medicine from the plants, the animals that depends on the protection of the forest, and our spirits of the water.” (Interviewee 2) • “Start with the rising sun and work toward the setting sun, but take only the mature trees, the sick trees and the trees that have already fallen. “ Chief Oshkosh

8. Keep in mind! Indigenous does not just mean American Indian or First Nation, but there are indigenous communities all around the world!! • The community members in Makueni District in Kenya use TEK to monitor and adapt to drought issues • The indigenous people in Northern Australia use of fire for land management and maintaining ecosystem health

9. Case Study: Pacific Lamprey and TEK A jawless fish often mistaken for an eel

10. Life Cycle

11. Ecological Importance • The TONS of larval lampreys contribute to nutrient processing and cycling • Buffer salmonids from predation by pike minnow and catfish as well as water birds • Important part of food web • They do not harm hosts like other parasites • When they die, contribute biomass to river

12. Cultural significance • Religious food for many Colombian River tribes and have harvested for millennia • Believed to have a spirit (shukwat) • Roast and dry them • Use oils for hair conditioner and to cure earaches

13. Threats • Dams, culverts • Poor water quality • Dredging • Stream degradation • Ocean conditions • Poisoning • Watch a video: Pacific Lamprey

14. Diagram of TEK and Western Science: Similarities and Differences Sidney Stephens, Handbook for Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum (Fairbanks, AK: Alaska Science Consortium and Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, 2000) 11. The handbook is available on the Alaska Native Language Network website at <http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/handbook.pdf>.

15. Concept Map