CONSERVATION

A SPUD UNLIKE THE OTHERS:
Ups and Downs in the Life of the Makah Ozette Potato
Joy Vargo, with Gary Nabhan, Gerry Warren,
Marlys Bedlington and Nancy Turner
THE MAKAH OZETTE
POTATO, still rare if
not threatened, is by far
the brightest star in the
unique constellation
of potatoes found in
North America today.
Along with the Kasaan
and Maria’s potatoes
of Southeast Alaska
and British Columbia,
the Makah Ozette appears to have been brought
directly to the Pacific Northwest through Mexico,
and indirectly from either Peru or Chile. Nearly all
other potatoes now grown in the U.S. came from
introductions out of Europe and the British Isles, long
after their departure from the Andean highlands. The
Spanish-transported ancestor of this potato landed
around 1791 on the shores of Neah Bay, near the
Makah Indian village of Ozette, on the Olympic
Peninsula in Washington.
The Spanish failed
to maintain a long-term
presence at Neah Bay
after the first winter
in the harbor proved
too severe for the
conquistadors’ ships to
withstand, and so they
left the region, but the
potatoes were hardy
enough to survive. The
spuds the Spanish had planted in their summer
garden persisted and soon went feral after the fort
was abandoned. Legend has it that the Makah Ozette
potato was discovered and adopted by women of the
Makah Nation when they were out foraging in 1792.
Unbeknownst to anyone outside of their culture, for
the next two centuries Makah women took on the
role of serving as the sole stewards of their newly
found tuber crop, clandestinely cultivating the potato
in modest gardens on the rainforest edge.
28