Connor Fitzpatrick continues with the series for UBC Research Week: Dr. Shannon Cowan is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. She shares her research today.

Dr. Shannon Cowan is conducting community-based plant research with B.C. First Nations in Nlaka'pamux Siska Band and Boston Bar Band.

Traditional food is associated with "healthy eating and living" in Aboriginal Canadian communities (here is an article, second from top, exemplifying this point). Current dietary practices in Aboriginal communities are also inextricably tied to cultural traditions and norms, which have seen significant shifts in Canada in the last few decades. Traditional food resources themselves are changing based on political and physical modification of environments including climate change, industrial development and contamination. There is a lack of research evidence regarding traditional food plant knowledge / beliefs and practices and how that affects traditional food consumption and health in Aboriginal communities.

Interdisciplinary research linking ecological knowledge, dietary knowledge and practices is needed to improve nutritional status in Aboriginal Canadians, and must be informed by an understanding of contemporary patterns of food procurement, preparation and distribution.

The Siska-UBC research team includes a Siska Community Research Committee (H. Michell, C. Michell, B. Munro, M. Williams), Siska Traditions Society Board Members, Siska Chief F. Sampson, UBC graduate student N. MacPherson, community member researchers and participants, and Dr. S.E. Cowan (UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Botanical Garden and Center for Plant Research).

UBC-Siska Research Goal: Addressing health and education needs through community-based revitalization of Ecological Knowledge and Practices with Traditional Food and Medicine Plants.

Saskatoon (s/cáqw-m) has been identified as one of the dominant shrub species in the harvesting area under the Siska Forest and Range Agreement. Through the Traditional Knowledge for Health Research Project, the Siska-UBC Research Team is conducting cross-generational community-based research and education that involves this food plant resource through a traditional food survey (dietary interviews and traditional food guide creation), harvest training research and education, traditional food practices (berry jam making that bridges youth-elder generations), and a youth traditional food interview video project.

Concurrently there is a non-UBC project underway (Siska Researchers, M Keefer & Teal Jones Group) that is designed to test different strategies for enhancing saskatoon and other key cultural plant species on sites that have been in decline (see: Measuring success in managing for Saskatoon berries and other traditionally important plants). Timber management in the area, and the absence of traditional management techniques such as pruning and fire has been hypothesized as being directly related to the decline. Ecologically, saskatoon is known to be a key browse species (ungulates and bears), and some experiments have been designed to enhance the resource for wildlife habitat. However, there is a gap in the literature concerning management of saskatoon stands for berry production as a traditional food resource. Results of the UBC-Siska and the Keefer et al. projects will be integrated for economic and food security in Siska Band, traditional use plant species abundance, improved harvest yields, biodiversity and compatible management of forests for berries and trees, climate change mitigation and wildlife enhancement.

The first two photographs show saskatoon in fruit and flower, while the third shows M. Keefer working with a Siska youth.

Here (PDF) are the proceedings of a workshop, which included Siska Chief F. Sampson, at Royal Roads University concerning native plants and First Nation people