Transportation Corridors as Vehicles for Cultural and Ecological Regeneration - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 355

FIGURE 17.27 Ethnobotanist Joanne Bigcrane propagating native plants in the tribal

nursery.

Signage reinforces a visitor's perception of entering and moving through a landscape
defined by tribal cultural values. Along the road corridor, a consistent signage program
was established to identify culturally significant place names, Reservation boundaries,
and community entry signs (Figure 17.26). In some communities, enhancing the experi-
ence of place included designing formal streetscapes for urban commercial areas.

C UltUral l andsCaPes
Prairies are key cultural landscapes on the Reservation. As a result, culturally uti-
lized plants were purposely included in the restoration design. Close collaboration
with CSKT Tribal Preservation staff and tribal elders helped to understand the plants
of traditional value (Figure 17.27). As the diversity of plants and animals decreases,
the cultural base also becomes depleted. As one tribal member put it: “Culture is
dependent upon the environment…Without the wilderness and natural environment,
human beings cannot get advice and information to pass to youth…Without the envi-
ronment there is no culture.”
Furthermore, holistic landscape restoration needs to include cultural practices,
e.g., foraging and burning, as part of the repertoire of restoration. There are five
main ways that First Nations Peoples have influenced the nature of North American
vegetation: burning, herbivore predation, food gathering, agricultural practices, and
plant introductions (accidental and intentional). In restoration it is important to look
to Nature as teacher, but also to move ahead to seeing nature as a partner by includ-
ing these cultural practices to maintain health. Holistic landscape restoration there-
fore needs to include cultural practices such as for example foraging and burning as
part of the repertoire of restoration.