NIE American Indians Oct 2020 Proof 2

Natural Resources,
Nature’s Gifts
All life on Earth requires the same five basic needs to survive: air, water, food, shelter,
and space. Whether bear or bug, beaver or whale, life has always, and will always
depend on these basic needs. Humans are no exception. Throughout our history we
have relied on our environment for resources, or the materials and supplies we use, to
satisfy those five needs. Our basic needs have not changed, and the resources around
us have not changed. Yet, in the past 500 years, the way that the peoples living in North
America treat resources and interact with the environment has changed drastically.
Each part of each deer’s body was used and respected as a gift and a sacrifice; nothing
Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans lived in North America. For over went to waste. Even trees were treated with the same level of respect as the animals that
twelve thousand years, Native American Indians hunted and gathered to obtain supplies were hunted. All parts would be put to use; the bark could form wigwams or longhouses
for survival without ever diminishing the environment they depended on. They knew not (Native American homes), the branches became handles for tools, the wood itself was
to overuse the available resources, to only take as much as they needed. turned into dugout canoes or was burnt for heat and cooking. Trees were an important
resource for Native Americans for thousands of years, and are just as important for us
For example, when a Native American came across today. Our staff has a list of over fifty uses for a tree; how many can you think of?
a patch of highbush blueberries, a third of the plants’
fruit was gathered for food, a third was left on the Resources, like trees, were one of the main reasons Europeans traveled to North
bushes for animals, and a third was left for the plants’ American in the first place. Homes, ships, heat, and cooking all required wood, but a
own regeneration. The two thirds of the berries left large part of Europe had been deforested due to overuse of the environment without any
behind ensured that the animals (often the same replacement of what was lost. Forest after forest was cut away and used up without a
animals Native Americans relied on for food) would single new tree being planted. Eventually, Europeans needed to seek out “new worlds,”
survive, and ensured that there would be plenty of or new places, for basic survival resources.
new berry bushes next season.
This deforestation, along with over-hunting,
After hunting and gathering in one place for a time, the Native Americans would migrate, led to the near-extinction of the beaver in
or move their settlement, so they wouldn’t deplete the area of resources. That way, the Europe. Europeans valued the beaver for
environment had a chance to recover from any damage caused by human activity; trees its fur, which has dense under hairs and a
and plants could regrow, and herds of animals could return and repopulate. Castrol gland to make it waterproof. As was
the fashion of the time, the soft, waterproof,
Of course, in order to survive, a certain amount of destruction to the environment was shiny beaver pelts were turned into top-hats.
necessary. Trees needed to be harvested, animals needed to be hunted. But even then, There were not enough resources available
Native Americans practiced respect and restraint. To use the body of an animal for one’s for the beaver to repopulate; Europe didn’t have the carrying capacity for the beaver. In
own survival was a gift. Native Americans cherished and respected the animal that gave other words, there was not enough space for the animal to obtain the food and shelter
its life by utilizing every part of the creature’s body. necessary to survive. People in Europe at the time faced the same problem as the
beaver; without forests to supply wood for their fires and homes, they would struggle to
Many uses of White-Tailed Deer

fulfill their basic needs. So Europeans traveled to the Americas to find more resources.
Today, we still eat meat and we still use wood

to build our homes. Animals and trees from our
environment are used every day to ensure our
survival. But we do not treat these resources
as gifts, the way Native peoples did. We chop
down a tree for a single product and then throw
out the rest. Or we chop down forests, just to
make way for roads or cement buildings. Our
basic needs have not changed, and the resources we have today are no different than
what was here 500 years ago. But unless we begin to treat our resources like gifts, as a
privilege to use instead of as our right to use, we will lose them completely. To use only
as much as we need, to make use of every part, to respect the other life that shares the
same resources, is to honor our gifts.
A family of five needed about one White-Tailed deer every week in order to survive. In Botanist, author, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall
total, that is fifty deer a year just to keep one family alive. That’s a lot of deer that had to Kimmerer, wrote, “Strawberries first shaped my view of a world full of gifts simply
die so that one family would have food in their bellies. And clothes on their backs. And scattered at your feet. A gift comes to you through no action of your own, having moved
string in their bows. In fact, the body of each deer provided dozens of resources for the toward you without beckoning. It is not a reward; you cannot earn it, or call it to you, or
family to use. The animal’s meat was smoked to cook and preserve it, while the hide even deserve it. And yet it appears. Your only role is to be open-eyed and present. Gifts
could become clothing, shoes, blankets, doors, drums, or lashings. The animal’s bones exist in a realm of humanity and mystery,” (Kimmerer, 23-24). Our resources on Earth
and antler were used for tools such as awls and rakes. Even the deer’s tendons could are our gifts for survival.
become cordage for bow strings and its hooves could be boiled and used as glue.
The Institute for American Indian Studies

Museum & Research Center preserves and
educates through discovery and creativity
the diverse traditions, vitality and knowledge
of Native American cultures.
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Natural Resources,

Many uses of White-Tailed Deer

Today, we still eat meat and we still use wood

The Institute for American Indian Studies

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