Description
Book SynopsisDemonstrates, what John Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface
Note on Languages, Territories, and Names
of California Indian Tribes
Introduction
PART I. CALIFORNIA AT CONTACT
1 Wildlife, Plants, and People
2 Gathering, Hunting, and Fishing
3 The Collision of Worlds
PART II. INDIGENOUS LAND MANAGEMENT
AND ITS ECOLOGICAL BASIS
4 Methods of Caring for the Land
5 Landscapes of Stewardship
6 Basketry: Cultivating Forbs, Sedges, Grasses, and Tules
7 From Arrows to Weirs: Cultivating Shrubs and Trees
8 California’s Cornucopia: A Calculated Abundance
9 Plant Foods Aboveground: Seeds, Grains, Leaves,
and Fruits
10 Plant Foods Belowground: Bulbs, Corms, Rhizomes,
Taproots, and Tubers
PART III. REKINDLING THE OLD WAYS
11 Contemporary California Indian Harvesting and
Management Practices
12 Restoring Landscapes with Native Knowledge
Coda: Indigenous Wisdom in the Modern World
Notes
Bibliography
Index
