Tending the Wild
by M. Kat Anderson, Kat Anderson · first published 2005
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Documents how California's Native peoples managed plants, fire and land, with specific detail on which species were used and how; recommended to anyone interested in land stewardship or in wilderness as humanly shaped.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Tending the Wild is an examination of the extensive knowledge Native Americans brought to bear in managing California's natural resources and the imprint this management left on the state's landscape. M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information gleaned from biological research and historical literature, as well as interviews with California Indians who describe the Old Ways of relating to nature they learned from their parents and grandparents and still practice today. The complex picture that emerges dispels the stereotype of Native Americans as hunter-gatherers, a stereotype long perpe
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…single tribe that has carefully tended the land for thousands of years Yes you are right, there were MULTIPLE soveriegn tribes that did that. And yes they did tend the land for thousands of years. Look up Tending the wild by Kat Anderson. > since they lacked a meaningful method of keeping knowledge beyond word of mouth, any non-common technique would have to be rediscovered every 100 years Huh? So I guess there was not…
on “All U.S. National Parks Are Free to Enter on Sunday” ↗What you are saying is not really correct. A good book on this topic is "Tending the Wild" by M. Kat Anderson https://baynature.org/article/book-review-tending-the-wild/
on “All U.S. National Parks Are Free to Enter on Sunday” ↗You might find this book interesting - Native American management of land via fire is a central theme: Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources by M. Kat Anderson
on “Wildfire restored a Yosemite watershed” ↗I cannot strongly enough suggest the book "Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources" by M. Kat Anderson. It was suggested to me in a comment here on HN, though I cannot now seem to find it by searching.…
on “Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring it Back” ↗As always happens in these threads - and for good reason - let's be sure to mention the book "Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources", by M. Kat Anderson. I learned about this book here on HN and it has transformed the way I think about this topic. I…
on “USFS decision to halt prescribed burns in California is history repeating” ↗Another inspiring book in this vein is Tending the Wild by M. Kat Anderson. It looks at how Native Americans in California lived and managed the landscape. It gets really specific about which plants they'd use and how. A big part of the book is about reconceptualizing…
on “Wendell Berry has died” ↗Thanks for bringing up this book. Everyone who lives in California and thinks about nature needs to check out Tending the Wild.
on “The Lost Art of Growing Blueberries with Fire” ↗I’m mostly alluding to Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard, and drawing on Tending the Wild, M Kat Anderson.
on “Topsoil Re-Uptake of CO2 Is a Major Solution to Climate Progression” ↗…fertilizer, and we may have to get to that world soon if we want to keep on breathing and eating. References: 1: Farmers of Forty Centuries: Organic Farming in China, Korea, and Japan, F. H. King 2: Tending the Wild, M. Kat Anderson 3: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2393761/ 4: Roughly any book on Permaculture 5: My Work Is That of Conservation: An Environmental Biography of George Washington Carver
on “Discovery of nitrogen-fixing corn variety could reduce need for added fertilizer” ↗M. Kat Anderson's Tending The Wild details how the Yosemite indians warned Congress more than a century ago that it was a mistake to suppress fires in the national park and allow brush to build up on the forest floor. I can't find the…
on “Wildfire restored a Yosemite watershed” ↗I've heard similar complaints about John Muir. People get very, very touchy when you say bad things about John Muir. Having read Tending the Wild, I'm inclined to think that at least some of their complaints have merit. California 'wilderness' was considerably curated by communities that moved back and forth from foothills to shoreline with the…
on “The Myth of a Wilderness Without Humans” ↗> Read “Tending the Wilds”, for a start. Searching for that exact phrase isn't leading me to the resource. Is it "Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources"? If not, do…
on “John Muir in Native America” ↗…visitation by humans does not disqualify a place as wilderness, nor does subsistence use of it.” This is the faintest of praise. Even in 2014 when Brower wrote this, this thinking was on the way out (Tending the Wild, 1st edition, October 2013). There were already substantial questions being asked about this sentiment. To think of them as benevolent visitors is still eurocentric thinking. They weren't visitors, to…
on “When the Government Tried to Flood the Grand Canyon” ↗