Tending the Wild

Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources

De: M. Kat Anderson

Narrado por: Leslie Howard

John Muir was an early proponent of a view we still hold today—that much of California was pristine, untouched wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. But as this book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Tending the Wild is 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. 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.

©2005 M. Kat Anderson (P)2023 Tantor

Stand stand the narrator!

It's like she's trying to whisper the book while keeping it exciting. She is soooooo wrong for this book. She would be so much better for maybe a pre teen book. Ugh, I just can't finish this story....

Everyone should listen to this. Definitively.

I loved this book. Incredibly connecting to nature and the importance of indigenous knowledge and practices. As a casual “read” (listen), it was quite repetitive as it documents many practices. I’d consider it more of a cultural documentation than a “story”. This aspect made it easy to listen to while working/ cleaning/ driving, and to put down and pick back up over the span of a few months. The narrator’s voice was very soothing and an excellent choice. Her native pronunciations had me swooning over their beauty.

Fantastic

From the narration to the immense depth of knowledge, this book is captivating. Sometimes heavy on the horticulture references for the uninitiated, but still enjoyable to consume. Would recommend to anyone.

Important ecological knowledge

The invaluable information in this book advances the understanding of indigenous genius and its place in western US/California environmental history, predating the impact that the incursions of "civilization" have had on the landscapes of the past.
I work in environmental restoration, and I read the book years ago. It is very relevant. Listening to it was to be a great refresher.
I love the content, it is so important to recognize the genius of indigenous peoples and their ecological knowledge of the land throughout the history of the west...
and I am sad to say I am fully dismayed and struggling tremendously to tolerate the gushing narration.
The syrupy, semi-hushed, often sing-song gushes of her breathy voice seems like the narration is an attempt at "seducing" the listener.
And I wish someone had taught her how to correctly pronounce the names of the tribes in the northern California region. Her mispronunciations are another distraction.
I have eight hours of the book left, and honestly, the style of narration is so distracting that I can not absorb the content.
My husband usually loves to listen along when we drive, but he will not tolerate this reader. He always asks me to switch to anything else...
Yet again, valuable ecological knowledge and history relayed by the book regarding the myth of "wilderness" and the reality that the landscapes of the west were ingeniously tended to by the indigenous people should be known and understood by everyone so we can move back towards a more Balanced way of living with the Earth.
If the narration doesn't bother you, please listen. And even if the narration drives you nuts, the information is very valuable.

If you work in land management this is a MUST READ

I live on stolen Sierra Miwok lands just outside of Arnold, California, one of the towns that Anderson lived in while she was studying for her dissertation and researching for this book. I work on the Stanislaus National Forest and spend extensive time in many of the locations mentioned throughout this book, such as Black Springs, Big Meadow, Dorrington, and more. This made listening to this book especially apt and intriguing for me because the ties to place made it all the more special to learn about.

This is another one of those books, similar to Braiding Sweetgrass, that has made me view the natural world in a completely different way. Driving through the forest, I cannot help but try to imagine what it would have looked like a couple hundred years ago before European settlers left their permanent mark on the land. The overgrown understory, the encroachment and shrinkage of montane meadows, the introduction of cattle and aggressive logging are just a few of the more noticeable differences between current day and indigenous land management times that catch my eyes as I'm driving through the forest. I feel as though I have learned more from this book than most of the other books I've read recently, combined and I have both a deeper respect for the local tribes of California as well as my connection to the natural world. Learning more about how detached and disconnected current-day Americans are from the natural world is honestly atrocious and these indigenous land management techniques must be adopted on a larger scale throughout land management agencies in the entire country.

This book was both enlightening and incredibly frustrating to read, in terms of how things have changed. It hurt my soul to read about the extensive use of fire in native land management for the better and how fire has become demonized in the contemporary world. Instead of small, beneficial fires every year, we have a wildfire season and fatal mega-fires occurring, wreaking havoc on gigantic areas of land. These mega-fires would never have occurred if it weren't for aggressive fire suppression by white settlers and now land management agencies who manage the land that indigenous American's used to tend so thoughtfully and lovingly. I strongly believe that every person in the land management industry need to read this book so that we can begin to restore the land, even on a smaller scale.

I also have to give kudos to the narrator of the audiobook for Tending the Wild. The physical book is thick and incredibly dense-- almost textbook-like. The narrator does an incredible job of making this comprehensive review of native land management very engaging.

Good stories

It has alot of information not so much necessarily about gardening but about how life was and has changed.