It’s About Relationships: Boreal Plants, Biodiversity, and Indigenous Knowledge

October 5, 2021

By Shaunna Morgan Siegers

The Boreal Forest is known for vast waves of trees stretching as far as the eye can see. But another burst of life unfolds on the forest floor. Blankets of lichen knit together in shades of silver, sage, and lime green. Their very structure embodies one of the most fundamental truths of the forest. Lichen exists because a fungus forms a stable relationship with algae—the fungus providing physical protection, and the algae offering sugar from photosynthesis. Their mutualistic relationship is echoed throughout the boreal, as all things hum in synchronous resonance: the lichen provides medicine for people, feeds generations of caribou, and helps purify the air for all and in turn each gives back to the lichen.

Lichen reminds us that being in relationship with the natural world sustains life.

Indigenous Peoples have been in relationship with the plants and animals of the Boreal Forest in Canada for thousands of years –since before time was recorded, as is often said. These relationships are at the center of Indigenous stewardship and the reason the boreal remains the largest intact forest left on the planet.

As the world grapples with perilous loss of biodiversity and devastating climate impacts, Indigenous relationships with the land offer a model for how to turn the tide.

The international community will meet in the coming months to set new goals for tackling these crises. Respecting and supporting Indigenous-led conservation will help the nations of the world sustain biodiversity, including the High Ambition Coalition’s goal of protecting 30% of lands by 2030.

*On the land in the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area, NWT.*

Learning from the Plants

At any given time, about 500 to 600 billion trees are rooted in the soils of the boreal. Berries, mosses, willows, and countless other hearty species have adapted to the subarctic climate. This bounty has allowed us to thrive as Indigenous Peoples in the boreal for over 6,000 years.

Today, members of my family continue to live in much the same way my great-grandparents did. I am awed by the wealth of plant knowledge passed down from generations of Elders. My mum talks about healing sick relatives by creating poultices from cedar boughs. My grandmother nearly died with the birth of her final child, and it was the knowledge of plants that kept her alive until a plane could fly her to a modern hospital—a place full of medicines based on plant compounds.

For my graduate work in botany, I studied a plant called weekas in Cree. I remember when the Elders took me and my advisor out on the land and offered us the tiniest, pinhead-size of fresh weekas. It had a powerful soothing effect on our throats, and it lasted for hours and hours, compared to over-the-counter lozenges that bring only temporary relief.

*Weekas has a soothing effect on sore throats.*

Knowledge like this has sustained Indigenous Peoples and the weekas. The plants keep the people healthy and the people propagate the plants and keep them healthy. These mutualistic relationships echo around the world.

The Role of People in Sustaining Biodiversity

Blueberries thrive across the boreal, and for generations, Indigenous Peoples have burned blueberry stands to increase their productivity. Fire stimulates the plant to rejuvenate and generate a bigger harvest the next year.

Vibrant blueberry patches—and a growing body of research—show that we find the greatest biodiversity where Indigenous Peoples are caretakers of the land.

The United Nations Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found that lands and waters managed by Indigenous Peoples tend to be healthier and more vibrant than other areas. A University of British Columbia study looked at land and species data from Canada, Australia and Brazil and found that the number of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles were highest on lands managed by Indigenous Nations.

Plant biologist and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer offers a concrete example from her grad student’s work with sweetgrass in Robin’s book Braiding Sweetgrass. Some researchers were certain that harvesting the plant would diminish it, but the student’s research showed that “the Honorable Harvest” as described in Robin’s book, stimulated the plant to reproduce, and that keeping the relationship between people and sweetgrass kept the plant and the people healthier.

One of the first lessons I heard from the Elders is: take only what you need. Perhaps there is more biodiversity in places where Indigenous knowledge and laws are practices, like the Honorable Harvest, and where relationships remain strong because people are taking only what they need and are continuing to practice reciprocity by giving back to the plants, not just taking from them.

Sustaining Lands and Peoples: IPCAs & Guardians

For centuries, non-Indigenous people came upon lands in the Boreal Forest they thought were devoid of people, but in fact, reflected the care of humans—whether it was transplanted weekas or abundant blueberries. This view of nature as a “wild” place without people has shaped some approaches to conservation and protected areas.

Fortunately, Indigenous Nations across Canada offer a different model: Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs). IPCAs are lands that Indigenous Nations identify for protection based on their knowledge and laws.

IPCAs ensure the relationship between people and the land continues. The Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation, for instance, led the creation in 2019 of Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area: 26,376 square kilometres of boreal forest and tundra. Lutsel K’e members are drafting a management plan, but unlike old national park plans, this one will include Dene worldviews, laws, and relationships.

Scores of other Nations are advancing IPCAs. Many will be cared for by Indigenous Guardians, who are trained experts taking care of lands on behalf of their Nations. Guardians’ work reflects Elders’ teachings, guides policy making, and keeps relationships unbroken. Over 70 Guardians programs operate across the country, and the Government of Canada recently committed to funding more programs and creating National Guardian networks.

Reciprocity and Expressing Gratitude

IPCAs and Guardians programs help Indigenous Nations honour spiritual and cultural responsibilities to the land. Creating more of them will sustain plants, animals and clean waters for all people and ensure Canada meets its biodiversity commitments. It will also offer a model of respectful, equitable conservation rooted in relationships and reciprocities that are keeping us alive.

The Elders teach us the importance of offering thanks in our reciprocal relationships. When we harvest plants for medicine or food, we respond with gratitude and gifts, for they are just as alive and communicate as much as people do. We give thanks with tobacco and other gifts. But there is also a sense of responsibility: we must take care of the plants and animals that take care of us. This is how we ensure we will all thrive into the future.

*Shaunna Morgan Siegers in the proposed Seal River Watershed Indigenous Protected Area, northern Manitoba.*