Camas rejuvenation in the Blackfoot Valley

BLACKFOOT VALLEY – Remnant populations of common camas (Camassia quamash) tell a story of bygone days. History tells that many of the seasonally wet meadows and forest edges in and around the Blackfoot Valley were once home to hundreds, if not thousands of acres of common camas plants. Due to the historical and cultural significance of the camas plant to the Salish, Pend O'reille and Kootenai tribes, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are working with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) to restore areas of camas and make them available for harvest and food. 

Historically the Potomac Valley was a well-known area for common camas. From a 1910 Missoula County map, the Potomac Valley was known as Camas Prairie. It was the only camas harvesting area shown.

According to a 1961 graduate thesis "Study of place names in Missoula County, Montana" by Don Bert Omundson, "There was such an abundance of camas plants in the flat meadows surrounding Camas Creek that the entire area was a brilliant blue when the flowers blossomed in the spring."

Duane Spethman, of Potomac, recalls stories of settlers in the late 1800's seeing fields of common camas blooming along the main road coming from Clinton into Potomac. They avoided the area because they thought the valley was a lake. For the Native Tribes, TNC Western Land Steward Steve Kloetzel said the Potomac Valley had names for "has camas" and "place you go to gather camas."

Kloetzel continued, "The Potomac Valley was a peaceful place for the Indigenous people. Many different tribes would gather there solely to gather camas, which was in abundant supply for everyone. Tipi rings from eastern Montana tribes have been found in the Potomac Valley, indicating how far people came to gather common camas." 

Common Camas is a long-lived perennial with a stalk of showy blue flowers that commonly blooms May through July. Productive camas meadows need to be seasonally wet, open and sunny, free of encroaching tree growth.

According to the BLM, Indigenous people managed the camas by systematic burning of sections of forests and prairies to control the undergrowth and timber health, as well as minimizing prairie and meadow stubble which would choke out common camas. 

Death camas looks similar to common camas but has white flowers. If eaten, it can be poisonous. It is very important to gather common camas with an experienced guide to differentiate between species of camas. Native people weeded poisonous death camas from the common camas fields. 

In Francis Hunter's article "Lewis and Clark Meet the Camas Root -Nearly all the men sick," published July 26, 2011, he wrote that Lewis cautioned the men to obtain the root only through purchase from the Nez Perce rather than gathering it themselves. This was because the edible blue camas could easily be confused with the poisonous white or "death" camas especially when the plants were not blooming. 

Common camas is a historically and culturally valuable plant to the Salish, Pend d'Oreille and Kootenai tribes. Today the CSKT desire to have native plants including common camas available again for harvest and food. 

"Traditional food plants link us to the land and feed our mind, body and spirit. Salish people feel invigorated when they interact with food plants in the processing, preparing, eating and sharing of ancestral foods." wrote Rose Bear Don't Walk in her thesis "Recovering our Roots: The Importance of Salish Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Traditions." "These processes, they believe, reconnect us to our ancestors. To dig camas where they dug, to have fingers stained purple by berries like they once did, and to feed our families, tribe and community these foods is deeply satisfying and rejuvenates all aspects of health." 

According to Misty Beller on Heroes, Heroines and History website, common camas was used as a nutritious food source that was good for storage or fresh preparation as well as a valuable trading item with other tribes. Steaming or pit cooking the bulbs for one to three days broke down carbohydrates and improved taste and food value. Cooked common camas was either eaten or made into flat loaves and sun dried for future use and trade. 

When the Salish, Pend d'Oreille and one band of Kootenai tribes signed the Hellgate Treaty in 1855, they relinquished 95% of their territory to the US government and moved to the Flathead Reservation. The CSKT could no longer manage the land as they had. However, the Hellgate Treaty reserved rights for the CSKT to continue traditional use on Federal "unclaimed" lands. These "Reserve Treaty Rights" include hunting, fishing and gathering plants. 

According to the BLM, as settlers moved into the area, the meadows and prairies were fenced in, wetlands drained, potentially farmed and used as pasture for livestock. Farming, intensive grazing and restricted fire activity changed the ecosystem of the camas prairies so that camas was no longer supported. Today in the Potomac valley, camas grows in only a few places, according to Spethman.

Over time, Federal land in the Blackfoot Valley changed ownership from the Northern Pacific Railroad, to the Anaconda Mining Company and eventually Plum Creek Timber Company. In 1997-2015 TNC worked with Plum Creek Timber to purchase nearly 530,000 acres of land. 

Since 1997, the BLM has accumulated about 40,000 acres of former Plum Creek Timber lands from TNC. Since TNC and BLM honor the Reserve Treaty Rights on lands they own and manage, they have worked with the CSKT to identify and restore native common camas areas. Now CSKT has more input in the management decisions on these now federal lands.

Under the Bureau of Indian Affairs Reserved Treaty Rights Program funds are available to CSKT, BLM and TNC for restoration work on these lands, including funds to collect camas seed, grow plants and use CSKT or contract crews to conduct the restoration tasks. TNC has planted 7,000 common camas plants over 37 acres in the project areas. The common camas plants were grown by the CSKT.

 Restoring populations of camas to areas where common camas once grew is one of the objectives for the lands that BLM and TNC are managing. Meadows on TNC land in Twin Creek, Gold Creek and Lost Prairie have been selected for camas enhancement. There are remnant populations of camas there and the ecosystems favor camas growth. CKST, BLM and TNC plan to collaborate on prescribed burning of the meadows in the fall to further enhance camas.

 "Common camas is a very important cultural plant for the Salish, Olispe' and Kootenai tribes as well as a prime indicator of native meadow health," Kloetzel said. "Our collaborative camas restoration work with the CSKT and BLM will be considered successful when indigenous people can once again sustainably harvest this important food plant in these traditional-use places." 

"All of our food plant engagements, whether it's observing, foraging, processing, cooking or sharing, provide social, cultural, emotional and physical benefits for our body and mind," wrote ethnobotanist Rose Bear Don't Walk on the Salish Plant Society website. "However small it may be, when we engage with our plant relatives it helps us become healthier, culturally rich people." 

Kloetzel is looking for places to collect camas seed for restoration work. If anyone has camas plants on their property that he could collect from or questions about the project, please contact him at skloetzel@TNC.org.

 

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