One of
the major lessons of basket camp had to do with cultural burning. This is another
complex issue that I'm greatly simplifying for this format.
Following the Smoke
Basket Camp 2001
One of
the major lessons of basket camp had to do with cultural burning. This is another
complex issue that I'm greatly simplifying for this format.
Burning makes certain basketry materials grow in healthier and better for weaving. The Forest Service tries to do at least 2 cultural burns a year but there is this massive bureaucratic mountain to climb for every burn. They need to identify the project area, then do environmental studies and National Environmental Protection Act checklists, survey 72 species, get Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries and California Air Quality Control Board to sign off, a whole weather study and so forth so it takes a village and a long time to pull off.
On Wednesday we cleared brush for a burn
on private land which makes it optimal for avoiding some of the headaches described above.
The brush had already been cut -- our job was to pull it into piles for burning later.
The area was bad with berry vines, poison oak and ticks. We were advised to wear long sleeves, long pants and gloves because basically we'd be soaking in it. It was rotten work and I couldn't wait for it to be over.
After that we drove up to Fish Lake to eat lunch, then towards Blue Lake to look at Port Orford Cedar, including trees with the root disease. One more stop to collect maidenhair fern and then back to camp.
Random Observation:On Tuesday we went to Ginnie's to dig soap root to make brushes. It's a flower and the ones with a tall stalks are the best. They grow in clumps in dry, rocky soil. The plant is a bulb and the root part is clumped around the bulb -- you need three or four to make a decent brush.
When it came to the digging part, I was discouraged before I started. The ground was like concrete and I didn't bring a shovel. The roots came out dirty and clumpy and not at all pretty like LaVerne's brush.
The others rallied, quickly jumping into informal digging teams. LaVerne said there are good soap roots behind Grandma's house and this became a project I never did later in the summer.
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For the record: this is a personal page and not intended to "officially"
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Posted: 10.07.01
http://www.pamrentz.com/pampage/fts2001/fts_01_2.html