99th ESA Annual Meeting (August 10 -- 15, 2014)

SS 10

Sense of Place

Since its inception, the Traditional Ecological Knowledge section has sponsored one or more Sense of Place events at each ESA Annual Meeting.  We organize speakers from the local area to present at a session on Monday morning at each Meeting.  The purpose is to inform ESA members about the Indigenous peoples who used to, and still do, occupy the territory where the Meeting is occurring. Four tribal speakers, two men and two women, with affiliations with local tribes will present and share their knowledge, experiences and history regarding tribal culture and ecology with an emphasis on the conference theme: “From Oceans to Mountains: It’s All Ecology.” Tribes represented include: Pomo, Coastal Miwok, Plains Miwok, and Miwok. Each presenter will each share their cultural and professional experiences working on tribal natural resources issues. Topics ranging from how tribal traditional ecological knowledge is incorporated in to Marine Life Protected Areas and tribal coastal gathering/harvesting, wildlife, fire management, ethnobotany, and restoration of culturally significant habitats and species will be presented. The importance of history and how place related to contemporary tribal ecological issues will be shared. The TEK section will coordinate with SEEDS section to foster interactions and intellectual exchanges between minority-tribal students and the tribal elders/mentors participating in the Sense of Place and other TEK section events and activities.