Taking Nature's Pulse - Biodiversity BC

taking nature’s pulse: the status of biodiversity in british columbiatext box 3.first peoples’ stewardship of biodiversityCoastal strawberries (Fragariachiloensis), one of several wildstrawberry varieties found in B.C.photo: nancy turner.In many cases, First Peoples have maintained and enhanced plant and animal populations and productivityand increased habitat diversity through resource management strategies that yield a greater varietyand abundance of foods and materials than would be naturally available. 48 Early Europeans arriving invarious parts of B.C. were impressed by the tremendous richness of the fisheries, game populations, berriesand other traditional resources that were under First Nations stewardship. For example, when JamesDouglas arrived on southern Vancouver Island at the site near where he would build Fort Victoria, he wasstruck by the majestic, park-like appearance of the landscape, with its oak groves and extensive fields oflush clover (Trifolium spp.), common camas (Camassia quamash) and other flowering plants. 49,50While caring for and maintaining biodiversity was essential for First Peoples’ survival, they also sawit as part of their cultural responsibility. Fish, trees and other animals and plants were all regarded intraditional world views as generous relatives, willing to give themselves to humans within a reciprocalsystem that demanded proper care and respect in return. Children were raised in traditional indigenoussociety with the understanding that animals and plants had their own societies and possessed powersgiven to them by the Creator to influence human lives in positive or negative ways, dependingon whether the humans were worthy and behaved properly toward them. 51,52,53,54(Malus fusca) and the Nlaka’pmx (Thompson) and Stl’atl’imx (Lillooet) of the southern interior name and usefive or more varieties of Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia). 55,56Biodiversity at the broader scale of community or ecosystem variation is also critically important to FirstNations. People routinely moved between ecosystems, from the ocean and valley bottoms to the high mountaintops,to gain access to a range of resources. Generally residing in permanent winter villages on the coast oralong rivers and lakeshores, they would, and still do, travel to different sites throughout their territories followingthe availability of various seasonal resources. They were also able to obtain resources from beyond their ownhomelands through trade and intermarriage with other groups. 57,58