Management and Traditional Production of Beaked Hazelnut (k'áp'xw-az', Corylus cornuta; Betulaceae) in British Columbia

Abstract

Hazelnuts (Corylus spp.; Betulaceae) constitute an important food, technology, textile, and medicine resource for Indigenous peoples across Canada. As with other types of traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom, the legacy of residential schools, ongoing colonialism, and continued land degradation and development have affected how people remember and use this vital plant. This contribution focuses on the memories and stories of Elder Wal’ceckwu (Marion Dixon) from the Nlaka’pamux Nation (Interior Salish) of British Columbia to help foster the re-emergence of hazelnut management in her community and beyond. Using ethnoecological, archaeological, and ethnohistoric data, as well as drawing on the memories of other Elders and knowledge holders throughout British Columbia, we hope to draw connections between people and place, and to emphasize how they can preserve knowledge and links to homelands in an ecologically informed and socially just way.