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Author(s):
Nancy C. Ratner, Davin L. Holen
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire & Traditional Knowledge
Fire & Wilderness

NRFSN number: 12545
Record updated:
Traditional ecological knowledge within specific cultural and geographical contexts was explored during an interactive session at the 8th World Wilderness Congress to identify traditional principles of sustainability. Participants analyzed the traditional knowledge contained in ten posters from Canada and Alaska and identified and discussed the traditional principles of sustainability inherent in specific examples. An invited panel discussed the opportunities and challenges of incorporating traditional principles of sustainability in wilderness management. This paper reports on principles of sustainability and associated cultural concepts related to indigenous engagement with homelands and makes suggestions for how to bridge cultural differences when considering traditional principles of sustainability. A co-management relationship was preferred as the most effective strategy for incorporating the traditional expertise of Native peoples into wilderness policy where a wilderness area encompasses the homelands of a surviving indigenous population.

Citation

Ratner, Nancy C.; Davin L. Holen. 2007. Traditional ecological knowledge: applying principles of sustainability to wilderness resource management. USDA Forest Service Proc. RMRS-P-49. p. 45-50.