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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2022
- Title: Understanding And Learning Community Relationships Between And With People: Indigenous Land Stewardship Practices, Methods of Care, and (Plant) People
- Author: Santiago A Alvarado (Rhode Island School of Design)
- Abstract:
We are a team dedicated to amplifying indigenous voices, working within the institution of Harvard. We are working in collaboration with Nipmuc community members, whose land Harvard Forest occupies, to identify land stewardship solutions involving Plant People who are considered invasive. Our pilot experiment’s focus is working alongside the Nipmuc community to identify Plant People of cultural significance and learning about the community relationships of newcomers to this region, such as multiflora rose. We are observing plant communities of two native plants in soil conditions occupied by widespread multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), whose ancestral homelands are Japan, Korea, and eastern China. Multiflora Rose was introduced by colonial land managers (in the 19th century), and since– has grown abundantly across Nipmuc territory, homogenizing open landscapes and displacing a diversity of culturally important plants. We collaboratively defined a research method involving planting seedlings of two native plants (which we will not name here out of respect to our Nipmuc colleagues), and growing them in pots containing multiflora rose soil or burned multiflora rose soil. We are coming from a place of understanding that all life is equal to each other and we honor the life of all Plant People, including those considered invasive because of colonial histories. With this understanding, we hope to reintroduce native plant communities, of culturally important Plant People, to live in relationship with non-native species on Nipmuc stewarded land. Nipmuc mentors have been core to the development of this research project and we look forward to sharing our results as we continue our work. Throughout our team’s relationship with Nipmuc people, we have put marked emphasis on listening and learning what we can do for the living-resistance against colonial powers that continue to exist.
- Research Category: Physiological Ecology, Population Dynamics, and Species Interactions; Invasive Plants, Pests & Pathogens; Historical and Retrospective Studies; Group Projects; Conservation and Management
