Industrialization began around 1750, which marked the transformation from agricultural societies to industrialized urban centres, bringing us to the beginning of the computer age in the 1940s, with the shift from manual computation to digital computing.
Humans first walked on the moon in 1969, and we considered that a great advance for humanity. We have watches that tell us when to stand and phones that do everything except vacuum, but we have robotic vacuums for that task. But somehow, it doesn’t feel like we are winning, judging by the score.
For millennia, Indigenous Nations developed strategies for managing ecosystems, including hunting and fishing and waterways. In my research into my Cree ancestors, I learned that beaver dams were selectively taken down in the spring of the year to allow for canoe travel.
Removal of part of a beaver dam would allow fish to move freely upstream to spawning areas and prevent flooding while encouraging beavers to establish new habitat elsewhere. The practice of taking down beaver dams was about sustainability, keeping beaver populations healthy while balancing the need for travel and fishing.
Yet, Indigenous culture was described after colonization as merely having unencumbered access to natural resources, their small population making no impact on supply. Thankfully, we no longer must dispute this myth; we have clear evidence of Indigenous wisdom in stewardship of the land and its resources for thousands of years.
Another example is the practice of clam gardening. Many of you will never have run across this topic. “Coastal people were and are resource managers, stewards and engineers of marine ecosystems,” says Clam Garden Network. And many First Nations communities are reconnecting with clam gardening and its inherent knowledge and history woven into this undertaking.
The West Coast has long been the home of rock-walled terraces built along shorelines to create space and habitat for shellfish. These terraces were nurtured ecosystems, based on traditional knowledge passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. Colonization disrupted these gardens and caused the separation of First Nations people from these vital ecosystems. That is changing, and Indigenous communities are reconnecting to their traditional practices and reclaiming the wisdom distilled over generations upon generations.
In the 2000s, an initiative began to reconstruct clam gardens. This involved tilling the sand to help keep the beach from becoming hard and dormant. Rock walls were rebuilt to a height of about 1.5 metres, running the length of a beach. During the incoming and outgoing of tides, the rock walls slow the receding ocean water, while maintaining a cool, wet environment or a place of refuge for shellfish, namely clams, until the tide comes back in.
Another benefit of clam gardens is the reclaiming of traditional ecological knowledge, so important during these times of climate change. Rather than merely being viewed as archaeological sites, clam gardens are living cultural landscapes that allow people to reconnect with their histories and to embrace the responsibility of caring for the environment as their ancestors did.
Clam gardens are a sophisticated form of “mariculture”, which is marine food cultivation, not just a place to harvest shellfish. This stewardship requires building and repairing stone terraces, turning over sediment to improve oxygen levels, selectively harvesting larger clams and leaving smaller ones to grow, while monitoring seasonal changes and limiting harvesting to when conditions are safe, all of which increase clam abundance.
The gardening itself allows an opportunity for sharing traditional knowledge and techniques with youth, while combining Indigenous knowledge with contemporary marine science. Most importantly, it is the renewal of relationships with the land and sea.
These historic clam gardens have become symbolic of Indigenous resilience, showing that traditional knowledge is relevant to current challenges, and these gardens are living examples of Indigenous cultural heritage and living food systems.
Restoring clam gardens helps raise awareness of Indigenous innovation and stewardship. Reconciliation involves creating and supporting respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Supporting the revitalization of clam gardens is one way of building those relationships.
Canada is one of the leading places where clam gardening is being reclaimed and restored and is reconciliation in action. The clam gardens shine a light on Indigenous knowledge as being equal to Western Science, and provide for Indigenous leadership in Environmental Stewardship, from which we all will benefit. If you wish to read more about this, please visit www.clamgarden.com.
