Tim Ryan (left) discussing the indigenous uses for labrador tea, a plant that grows in the Seeley area.
Tim Ryan showing the digging stick at Girard Grove. The elk antler is the handle and the pointed end is used for harvesting roots.
The bitterroot, the Montana State Flower, is out in all its beauty on dry hillsides in the Blackfoot Valley.
SEELEY LAKE - Ethnobotany is the study of the interrelation between traditional knowledge and customs of a people concerning plants and their medical, religious and other uses. The Salish people have a culture thousands of years old consisting in part of interrelations with native plants in the Seeley-Swan area.
Tim Ryan, Department Head of Culture and Language Studies at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, shared his knowledge of the Salish people on an Ethnobotany Walk along the Clearwater Canoe Trail and through Girard Grove June 22. More than 20 people attended the event hosted by Clearwater Resource Council.
During the walk, Ryan stopped at plants including camas, black lichen, horsetail/scouring rush, Engelmann spruce, Oregon grape, serviceberry, juniper, labrador tea, kinnikinnick, yarrow, huckleberry and others. Each plant has cultural significance to the Salish people and has historical uses for food, medicine, household use and ceremony.
Ryan discussed the traditional way of going into the forest or landscape with good intentions and respect for what is there and the intention to give and receive energy, wisdom and knowledge. It's a great honor to receive wisdom from the land, explained Ryan.
During the lunch break Ryan passed around various sizes of bark baskets and a bark cooking and eating dish that represents the work he does creating traditional items for use in museums. Participants learned how to harvest the exterior bark from hemp dogbane, which has a stringy texture. The bark was then twisted into a cord, which is what indigenous people use for basket handles, fish traps and rope.
Bark baskets are made from harvesting strips of bark from spruce and cedar. Today there are still living trees in the forest that show scars from bark harvest hundreds of years ago. Ryan said these trees are culturally significant to the Salish and protected.
The Salish calendar is an example of how ethnobotany plant relations gave structure to the year. Bio-indicators have been established over thousands of years of observation of the natural cycles and passing it on through oral traditions.
The buttercup began to bloom in April of the Roman calendar, Ryan said. Salish know it as the month of the Buttercup. People knew it was time to get fishing gear ready and to start watching the rivers. The Salish knew that better weather was coming and cutthroat trout would soon be spawning.
As an example of the true essence of ethnobotany, Ryan related this story told to him by Felicity McDonald, a Salish woman who is part of the bitterroot digging women. "The bitterroot is our friend and we welcome it back every spring and we have a connection. Looking at a clump of four bitterroot, you pick the biggest and most mature, which is only one quarter of the clump to dig up [for food]. While digging, the soil is disturbed, allowing more water and nutrients to reach the other three plants. The science and relationship of the bitterroot with the indigenous people actually will help that bitterroot grow better. This relationship has been established over thousands of years from many generations observing that this is what happens when we interact with the bitterroot and apply the best practices."
CRC started the series of walks in 2021 as a means to engage the community, one of CRC's goals. The first walk was a spring wildflower walk June 2021, with a fall larch walk and a winter snowshoe walk. If you would like to be notified of future walks contact CRC at caryn@crcmt.org or 406-677-0069.
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