Archie
Robinson, hereditary chief of the Kitasoo First Nation at Klemtu - a
tiny, economically starved community in the Great Bear Rainforest,
midway up the coast of British Columbia - calls them “culture trees.”
The Professional Archeological Association of British Columbia (BC)
employs the much drier term, “culturally modified trees” (CMTs). I call
them “shaped trees.”
Whatever one calls them, CMTs have emerged as one of the most
strategic elements in the complex battle to preserve the temperate
rainforest ecosystems of western North America. These lands - most of
which remain unceded by Canada’s indigenous peoples - remain the focus
of envy, lust and economic conniving by multinational logging and
energy giants.
A succession of BC provincial governments have routinely caved in
to the demands of timber giants like Interfor, Timber West and
Weyerhaeuser, threatening the region’s unique ecosystem and the salmon,
grizzlies and Spirit Bears that inhabit it. The discovery of the
“shaped trees” may change all that.
CMTs are living archeological artifacts - trees that, at some
time, were utilized by First Nation residents as a source of fiber,
bark, wood, food or medicine and which retain characteristic harvesting
scars. Red cedars and yellow cedars generally remain alive and healthy
despite successive harvests of bark or the removal of entire planks
pried from living trees. Spruce, hemlock and other species whose edible
inner bark is harvested for food also generally remain alive,
contributing to the health of the forest ecosystems.
Aboriginally logged trees, used to manufacture canoes, house posts
and totem poles, are also considered CMTs. Together, CMTs living and
dead define the extent of traditional First Nation lands. CMTs have
proven invaluable in resolving disputes between First Nations and
timber, mining and oil-drilling interests.
These trees stand as an enduring symbol of the ecologically
sensitive and deep spiritual bond between First Nation people and
forests. The presence of CMTs in the Great Bear Rainforest is proof
that this “pristine wilderness” was, in fact, a carefully tended forest
garden where, for untold centuries, people worked alongside the bear
and the salmon, gathering medicinal plants, food and fiber in a
carefully balanced exchange of resources.
The CMT Campaign Takes Root
The campaign toward recognizing CMTs as living proof of First Nation
tenure was launched in 1982 on behalf of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation
(Kwakintl) of Hanson Island, which forms the southwest gateway to the
Great Bear Rainforest.
Logging giant Crown Zellerback had begun blasting and bulldozing a
network of logging roads in preparation for clearcutting much of the
island’s forests. The Hanson Island CMTs first gained legal recognition
after an archeological study commissioned by the U’mista Cultural
Society determined that Crown Zellerbach’s logging would destroy 14 CMT
sites. The discovery stalled the company’s logging plans.
In 1987, an archaeologist hired by a logging company mapped out 76
CMTs. The timber firm declared these sites to be insignificant and, by
1990, the province was on the verge of permitting renewed logging.
Unbeknownst to the logging firms or the provincial authorities, a
small group of Earth Embassy volunteers had begun an independent survey
of the Hanson Island CMTs. In 1984, with the blessing of Kwakwaka’wakw
families who held traditional land claims on the island, myself and
several other volunteers quietly established the CMT Research Camp in
the center of the island, far from prying eyes.
By 1990, our team had identified and mapped some 1,000 CMTs. After
we provided the data to the ‘Namgis First Nation, the logging was
stalled once more.
In 1994, Timber West, a spin-off of New Zealand logging giant
Fletcher Challenge, presented a 20-year logging plan with some 30
proposed cutblocks. Timber West said it would try and avoid felling
CMTs wherever possible.
Established conservation watchdogs, under severe pressure from
logging interests, were beginning to downplay the importance of CMTs. I
decided that it was necessary to prepare and publish a definitive book
documenting the locations and illustrating the importance of the
region’s “shaped trees.” This required living in the rainforest
full-time for the next four years.
Life in the rainforest was not easy. Tents collapsed under wet
snow and volunteers endured endless gales, storms and hurricane-force
winds. One night, a black bear burst through the walls of one tent.
Food supplies often dwindled down to brown rice and fish. Coffee was a
luxury.
By late 1997, our research team had located some 1,878 CMTs. In early 1998, we presented the first copies of Shaped
Cedars and Cedar Shaping: A Guidebook to Identifying, Documenting,
Appreciating and Learning from Culturally Modified Trees to the
coastal First Nations. Local representatives of the BC Ministry of
Forests, however, were incensed. They threatened to burn down our
research camp. Only the prompt intervention of the ‘Namgis First Nation
stopped the camp from being torched.
The David Suzuki Foundation, Western Canada Wilderness Committee,
and Valhalla Society subsequently funded a series of CMT workshops in
the living classrooms of Hanson Island and, by 2001, some 20 First
Nations researchers had received training. CMT studies have now been
conducted at 50 sites throughout the Great Bear Rainforest and the
interior of British Columbia.
The ‘Namgis First Nation carried out a systematic survey of 11 of
the 30 cutblocks proposed by Timber West and identified 1,527 CMTs. In
April 2001, the BC government declared Hanson Island a “protected area”
and put all logging plans on hold.
The future of Hanson Island is now in the hands of the First
Nation people who hope to promote eco-heritage tourism and ecologically
sensitive sustainable development. ‘Namgis artists are again
sustainably harvesting red cedar bark, allowing the trees to heal and
grow so that future generations may return to these same trees for bark
in the centuries to come.
Native Economic Development Officer Ken Innes notes the
significance of the CMTs. “These trees of life offer our children the
opportunity to learn about their own history and culture and how they
are linked to the past.”
To date, more than 3,000 CMTs have been studied on Hanson Island.
We estimate that the entire island holds more than 12,000 shaped trees.
More than 20 kilometers (12 miles) of access trails now make it
possible to marvel at a living record of Kwakwaka’wakw sustainable
forestry spanning 1,300 years.
Hanson Island’s forest gardens hold a lesson that every child
should experience if we are to develop a society capable of living
appropriately with the finite gifts of the natural world.
Anthropologist David Garrick [PO Box 84, Coal Harbour, British Columbia, Canada V0N 1K0]
is working on several books about CMT’s and old-growth forests.
Donations to support CMT research may be sent to Garrick c/o the
Journal’s Green Pages Fund [300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133].
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