Traditional Environmental Knowledge in Practice

Document Abstract / Summary Overview

Realizing the potential of comanagement requires that resource managers and First Nations learn to work together more effectively. This is a distant objective unless negative preconceptions of traditionalenvironmental knowledge and management systems are examined and overcome. This article attempts to foster understanding by exploring and dispelling three myths about aboriginal peoples' relationships to the environment: the primitive technology myth, the indiscriminate harvesting myth, and the "disappearing Indian" myth. We argue that each is unfounded and illustrate our views with a case study of Vuntut Gwitchin ideology, resource use, and management practice.