Conservation Northwest

Conservation Northwest updates Joe Scott International conservation director, jscott@conservationnw.org For First Nations in southwest BC Grizzly bears are an umbrella species Biologists often refer to grizzly bears as umbrella species because they have such large home ranges and varied food sources that the conservation of grizzlies benefits hundreds of other species that share all or pieces of the bear's habitat. For some aboriginal cultures the "umbrella" of a grizzly bear is quite a bit larger. In fact, it covered every aspect of their lives from their hunting and gathering, to their child bearing, and even to their dreams. James Teit was an ethnographic assistant who worked with anthropologist Franz Boas in the late 1800s documenting the songs and stories of aboriginal communities of British Columbia's Fraser Valley. Teit also married an Nlaka'pamux (ent la kap'ma) woman and so was immersed in the culture. He provided a rich source of information about these disappearing cultures that revealed the deep connections of the people to the grizzly bear. James Teit's accounts reveal that the Nlaka'pamux people had a deep understanding of the protective, nurturing character of the female grizzly bears. They revered her not for her aggressive brute force; on the contrary for her role as mother and head of the family. The female grizzly gave the Nlaka'pamux women cradle songs that they could use to calm their babies. She gave parents of twins a ceremony that had to be performed throughout the day for up to four years to ensure that the twins would live. Twins in particular were closely associated with the grizzly bear. The female grizzly bear established close relationships with adolescents of both sexes during their puberty training, giving them songs and instructions 8 Spring-Summer 2013 Grizzly and her cubs, South Chilcotin, BC. © Steve Ogle to see them through difficult or dangerous situations. She gave shamans power to heal the sick and infirm. She gave hunters power to secure game more easily. Such beliefs also seemed to go beyond the communities of the Fraser Valley. An elder with the Tulalip Tribes in western Washington State revealed that he relied on the power of the grizzly bear to see him safely through his experience in the Vietnam War. He told this story to Will Patric when Will worked for us doing grizzly bear outreach. "Grizzly bear taught the people to eat" The St'at'imc (stat'le um) First Nation (see map) also have an inseparable connection to grizzly bears. We are now working on a joint website highlighting the St'at'imc as leaders in grizzly bear and mule deer conservation. St'at'imc staff are working to document the extensive overlap between the grizzly bear diet and traditional foods. They also intend to collect traditional and modern stories of grizzly bears that illustrate their spiritual and cultural significance. They will then showcase video clips of interviews, artwork, and photos that illustrate these close connections. "The ability of community members to access traditional food sources is directly linked to the health of the grizzly bear populations in the area. If the grizzly bear populations fail, the landscape that supports them is not functioning, and eventually the plants and animals the St'át'imc rely on will fail as well," said Sue Senger, St'at'imc Government Services Environment staff. The St'at'imc Chief 's Council has resolved to recover grizzlies in their traditional territory within seven generations. Conservation Northwest is working with the community to help make that resolution a reality. As summer ripens, we will announce the details of an exciting initiative with allies in British Columbia to recover threatened grizzly bear populations in southwest BC that will complement our decades long effort to restore grizzly bears in Washington's North Cascades. Reference: "The Grizzly Gave Them the Song" by Wendy Wickwire, The American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 3, Summer 2001 conservationnw.org

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