Indigenous Landscape Management Practices in Central California: The Collaborative Research Program at Quiroste Valley

The purpose of this talk is to outline an on-going research project, supported by the National Science Foundation and California State Parks, which is examining various kinds of evidence for landscape management practices employed by Native Californians along the central coast of California. Focusing on Quiroste Valley in the beautiful Año Nuevo State Reserve, a collaborative team of scholars from the Amah Mutsun Ohlone tribe, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Santa Cruz, and the San Francisco Estuary Institute are undertaking a comprehensive study of indigenous landscape management practices employed in the watershed through time. We will describe the project and outline some of the challenges of undertaking research on indigenous burning practices in Native California. Some of our preliminary findings from the archaeological investigation will be briefly discussed.

Speakers:  Kent Lightfoot, Professor, Anthropology, UC Berkeley; Rob Cuthrell, Anthropology, UC Berkeley