Su Akai Magazine, la scrittrice ‘Cúagilákv Jess Housty spiega l’importanza di un particolare frutto di rovo, il salmonberry, nella dieta e nella cultura delle popolazioni indigene della Columbia Britannica, in Canada; è anche un’occasione per raccontare scampoli di vita delle popolazioni nordamericane della costa occidentale:

When I was small, my ǧáǧṃ́p (grandfather) would set about the serious business of food gathering with my cousins and me in the late spring. Everyone in the family had a role in our food harvests and backyard cannery, and the children’s role came early in the salmon season. As children, we believed the whole success of the harvest, not only of berries but also of the salmon that soon followed, depended on our performance. Our ǧáǧṃ́p would furnish us with buckets, hammer nails into the ends of long, split cedar sticks, and gravely send us off on a mission to find ǧúláli (salmonberries). We’d seek out the best bushes around the village where we live, searching for the raspberry-like berries that thrive, as we do, in the bright and salty transition spaces between Pacific Ocean spray and coastal temperate rainforest.

Abbandonando la nota autobiografica, l’articolo analizza il rapporto fra popolazioni native, ambiente, alimentazione e scienza occidentale, che si sta sempre più interessando delle pratiche ecologiche e alimentari dei nativi, e degli equilibri su cui sono basati

A recent paper published in Ecosphere, on research conducted in Haíɫzaqv territory and citing Haíɫzaqv knowledge holders, investigates how salmon and the nutrient subsidies they bring into riparian systems impact the reproductive output of plants, focusing on salmonberries in particular. Through their work in 14 streams, the researchers measured the impact of salmon spawning density on the reproductive output of salmonberries. Their determination is comforting in its simplicity: strong salmon runs fertilize salmon systems, the liminal spaces Haíɫzaqv think of as “salmon forests.” Increased salmon density in one season leads to increased density of salmonberries per bush in the next season.

Immagine: Patjosse