Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is an indigenous, place-based body of knowledge and practices surrounding the relationships between and management of networks of interconnected species, natural communities, and processes within a landscape. These canons of knowing were developed over thousands of years of observation by hundreds of generations of indigenous peoples. The ancestral territory of the Karuk Tribe of California contains the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership project area and restoration activities are guided by habitat requirements for a suite of species of tribal significance.
Coyote and Fire
Wise Old Coyote gathered everybody together. "We have heard about fire," he said. "But the only fire is far upriver, at the world's end. It's guarded by the Yellow Jacket sisters high atop a snowy mountain. They are wicked, and will not share it. But listen, if we all cooperate and work together, we can steal the fire."
-Fire Race: A Karuk Coyote Tale About How Fire Came to the People
Focal Species
As a leading member of WKRP, the Karuk Tribe has developed a list of culturally significant plant and animal species for which the collaborative seeks to enhance habitat in selected areas. These species and the restoration activities surrounding the enhancement of their preferred habitat is emblematic of the potency of implementing cross-cultural, cross-boundary restoration treatments.
Cultural Resource Surveys
The Karuk Tribe has developed a cultural marking guide for use in the decision making process for treatments this and post treatment monitoring is being used to document cultural plant species population locations within WKRP treatment units and the effects of treatments over time.