27. Tending the Wild Across North America
• Kat Anderson spent 17 years interviewing
na=ve elders from around California.
• Their stories illustrate whole‐ecosystem
caretaking based on agroforestry and
managing wild plant and animal popula=ons
for harvest.
• Analogous paeerns are found in the history
(and some=mes present day) of every
inhabited ecosystem in North America.
31. Some Paradigm Shifs
• Don’t just plant and harvest crops – manage and
par=cipate in the ecosystems that support staple
crops in abundance.
• Tradi=onal land use paeerns have resulted in
heritage ecosystems, with humans as keystone
species within those ecosystems.
• With regenera=ve land use prac=ces, human
economic ac=vi=es increase ecosystem health.
39. Northeast Forest Characteris=cs
• Temperate forest ecosystem; 40+ inches of rain distributed
evenly through the year.
• Rainfall exceeding evapora=on + heavy winter snowfalls =
high levels of spring mineral leaching from topsoil.
• Most forests are under 100 years old and lack structural or
successional diversity. Old‐growth very rare and extremely
fragmented.
• Prairies and savannas almost completely gone – huge loss
of diverse early‐ and mid‐succession environments.
40. Northeast Forest Characteris=cs
• Temperate forest ecosystem; 40+ inches of rain distributed
evenly through the year.
• Rainfall exceeding evapora=on + heavy winter snowfalls =
high levels of spring mineral leaching from topsoil.
• Most forests are under 100 years old and lack structural or
successional diversity. Old‐growth very rare and extremely
fragmented.
• Prairies and savannas almost completely gone – huge loss
of diverse early‐ and mid‐succession environments.
• 250+ years of near‐complete fire suppression.
41. Northeast Forest Characteris=cs
• Temperate forest ecosystem; 40+ inches of rain distributed
evenly through the year.
• Rainfall exceeding evapora=on + heavy winter snowfalls =
high levels of spring mineral leaching from topsoil.
• Most forests are under 100 years old and lack structural or
successional diversity. Old‐growth very rare and extremely
fragmented.
• Prairies and savannas almost completely gone – huge loss
of diverse early‐ and mid‐succession environments.
• 250+ years of near‐complete fire suppression.
• A 10,000+ Year History of Agroforestry
