Be a Respectful, Responsible Forager

Welcome - Tai ggut itra - Tsiin - Dunilggux - Awa'ahdah aanda'lAxsha'a'ch'L

As we are all here to celebrate the welcoming of our fungi resources; it is important that we hold space to respect the forest, the land, and the people who depend on it.  Over the last five years or so, foraging for wild foods has had a huge resurgence in the world of fine dining and outdoor culture. It is important that with this new hobby, people respect and care for our land and its resources. The practice of harvesting wild plants like fruit, flowers, leaves, and fungi has been a part of Indigenous foodways and culture since time immemorial. Today we call this practice Subsistence.

It is important to know and understand that there is no cultivable land in this area. A few people have kitchen gardens and small greenhouses, but there is no farming here. The people who live in Cordova year-round rely on these wild foods to sustain them through the winter, especially at times when the quality of store-bought food is low, and the cost is high. While we are all here to educate ourselves about fungi and enjoy the practice of harvesting, follow these tips to be a safe, respectful, and responsible forager:

8 Ways to Responsibly Forage

  1. Educate yourself about foraging so that the forest is better taken care of.

  2. Be sustainable in your harvest. Make your impact as small as possible. Don't go off the beaten path, avoid creating new trails. There are many other plants and resources people rely on and trampling over the forest can damage other prized foods.

  3. Don't pick what you don't know, be 1000% sure of what you pick.

  4. Be respectful of other people. Remember that these resources you are harvesting are people's food. The community who lives here year-round relies on these resources to sustain them. 

  5. Leave the forest cleaner than when you came. Never litter and pack out any trash you might find.

  6. Be open to leaving things behind. Not every foraging trip needs to result in a big yield. Enjoy the outdoors, and increase your awareness and education. If you find a small patch or juvenile fungi, leave it so it can grow. If you find a large patch, don't take it all. An Indigenous practice is to only take what you need or what you can process on that day. There are other beings that harvest alongside you.

  7. A good practice when harvesting mushrooms is to use a basket so that the spores can fall through to disperse back on the land.

  8. When harvesting, don't take the roots.  Use a sharp knife or scissors or break the mushroom at the base of the stem where it emerges from the ground. You want to leave the roots of the fungi in the ground.

 

AwA’ahdah – Quwanakcuk – Quyana – Gunałchéesh

Raven Cunningham, Chugach Regional Resource Commission