Tending The Wild
Native American Knowledge and the Management Of California’s Natural Resources

M. Kat Anderson

This revolutionary book presents an unparalleled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of California's natural resources that reshapes our understanding of native cultures and shows how we might begin to use their knowledge in our own conservation efforts.

M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information on native land management practices gleaned in part from interviews and correspondence with native americans who recall what their grandparents told them about how and when areas were burned, which plants were eaten and which were used for basketry, and how plants were tended.

The complex picture that emerges from this and other historical source material dispels the hunter-gatherer stereotype long perpetuated in anthropological and historical literature. we come to see California's indigenous people as active agents of environmental change and stewardship. tending the wild persuasively argues that this traditional ecological knowledge is essential if we are to successfully meet the challenge of living sustainably.

555 pages, 6" x 9", 31 black & white photographs, 13 line illustrations, 3 maps, 12 tables, 2006.Published by University Of California Press.
ISBN 0-520-24851-1. trade paper

$19.95