■ Support for food, health, and economic security ■ Inputs for culturally appropriate livelihood strategies ■ Materials for spiritual and ceremonial observances ■ Occasions for sharing cultural stories and teachings ■ Conservation of traditional ecological knowledge and connections to nature ■ Distribution traditions that create social cohesion and provide security for vulnerable community members. Methodology Findings of lack of satisfaction with forest management for NTFPs in IFMAT I, II, and III led to increased emphasis on this important aspect of Indian forest lands in IFMAT IV. The assessment team compiled information on NTFPs from two primary sources: ■ Interviews with tribal members and staff ■ Site visits Interviews used a semi-structured protocol (Appendix ii) designed to elicit both a common base of information across tribes and aspects of NTFP use and forest management that might be particular by tribe and region. Data presented herein represent a sample from 35 tribes, not all tribes from the IFMAT IV sample were included due to time constraints or lack of resources. Regional distribution (by BIA region) of tribes for which NTFP interviews, focus groups, and/
Passamaquoddy maple syrup products, Maine. PHOTO CREDIT: VINCENT CORRAO
or field visits were documented: Alaska (n=1), Eastern (n=4), Midwest (n=6), Northwest (n=14), Pacific (n=4), and Western (n=6). Because much of the fieldwork for IFMAT IV was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, interviews were conducted in person and virtually. In most cases, a primary interviewer asked the question on the protocol and a note taker wrote up the responses. Interview data was supplemented by notes regarding NTFPs taken by IFMAT IV team members participating in
site visits. Written summaries of interview and site visit notes were generally produced within 48 hours. Interview and site visit notes were subsequently analyzed for predetermined and emergent topics using Excel ™ and the qualitative data analysis software program Atlasti ™ . A list of topics can be found in Table NTFP.1. A composite species list was generated from the interviews (Appendix iii). This assessment reports on results of that analysis, supplemented by recent literature on NTFPs and American Indian peoples.
“It’s a problem when forests are managed for only timber.” —IFMAT IV focus group participant
Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) 37
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator