​​​​Nancy J. Turner

Changing Landscapes: Ethnoecological insights into change, resilience & continuity on the BC Coast

This research is a collaborative effort between the Heiltsuk Nation (Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department-under the guidance of Jennifer Carpenter) at Bella Bella, Dr. Dana Lepofsky (Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University), and Nancy Turner at the School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria.

 

This project, within the field of ethnoecology, examines the complex web of relationships among people, plants, animals and ecosystems along the central coast, extending back over the past several thousand years and projecting into the future. It also fits into Dr. Turner’s broader research on the BC Coast and in the Interior on past, present and future importance of plants and habitats for Indigenous Peoples, and the interrelationships and processes that people developed to enable continued use of lands, waters and resources in culturally relevant and sustainable ways. The complexities of human occupation, traditional resource management systems, and human relationships with other species along the central coast are viewed through a multi-lens approach. The research is situated at and near Hauyat on the north coast of Hunter Island (and elsewhere in Heiltsuk territory). The underlying hypothesis of the research is that many of the current ecosystems there – from clam gardens, to riverine salmon harvesting areas, to estuarine root gardens, to crabapple groves (and later, fruit orchards), to berry patches and cedar and yew stands – have historically anthropogenic origins or influences, reflecting integrated management practices that may well date back over millennia. In particular we examine how various human resource management and production systems (for food, clothing, shelter and transport) fit together into an integrated whole – ultimately supporting large numbers of very creative and active people along the central coast for hundreds of generations.

 

Furthermore, these resource areas must have interconnected seamlessly, allowing past human populations to produce and process diverse, substantial, relatively predictable and culturally mediated foods, materials and medicines. How, when and where these systems were established are important questions in understanding humans’ place in coastal ecosystems. Answering these questions will help determine how, today, resources and resource habitats might be enhanced, rather than diminished and damaged, particularly in the face of climate change.