Johnny Bob, a spiritual leader from Yomba Shoshone Tribe, gathering pine cones in a mountain valley in central Nevada. (Photo by Joseph Zummo).
There’s a very good article at ICTMN about the Western Shoshone tribes and a staple of their diet, pine nuts. A staple, which is considered sacred, and is healthy, it also treated with utter disregard by non-natives, who have been using any excuse to destroy the trees.
“Everything depends on the water and the trees,” said spiritual leader Johnny Bob, from the Yomba Shoshone Tribe, as he prayed for the start of a Western Shoshone pine-nut gathering. In September, members of several bands came together in a steep-walled mountain valley in central Nevada to collect the protein- and nutrient-rich nuts that were once the mainstay of their diet.
Some people took hold of long sticks and began to knock the sticky green cones off the tops of the pinyon trees. Others gathered fallen branches to chop up for the fire in which they would later roast the cones to release the sweet, creamy nuts. These can be eaten out of hand, added to soups and stews or parched and ground for gravy or mush.
“As we collect, we are pruning the trees to ensure there are even more cones next year. We are also cleaning the forest,” explained Joseph Holley, former chairman and now council member of the Battle Mountain Band of Te-Moak Western Shoshone.
[…]
This critical food source, along with game living in the forest, began to disappear during the late 19th century, as newly arrived settlers chopped down trees for fuel over many square miles around towns and mining operations. Starting in the 20th century, these losses were amplified by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service, which together have uprooted more than 3 million acres of pinyon-plus-juniper woodlands.
To destroy the forests, the federal agencies use tractors to drag gargantuan chains through them, ripping up everything in their path. The ruined landscapes look like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. Sometimes, the agencies eliminate woodlands in order to increase rangeland for grazing, an activity that further damages the fragile arid lands where pinyons flourish. Scientists estimate that soil in an erosion-prone “chained” landscape may take 10,000 years to recover.
The full story is at ICTMN.
Pine nuts being primarily a food of the First Nations surprises me for at least two reasons: I recall eating them when I lived in California, and they are eaten here in France. For instance, I had a very nice tarte with a pine nut topping the other day. And I think I have a bag of roasted(?) pine nuts lurking somewhere.
However, Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge does concur that they are mostly a First Nations food, and suggests wider availablity is, in part, a west coast (of USAlienstan) phenomenon, possibly partly due to Italian cuisine. It also mentions a drink I’ve never heard of: “Pine nut coffee, known as piñón […], is a specialty found in the southwest United States, especially New Mexico, and is typically a dark roast coffee having a deep, nutty flavor”.
And whilst the above-linked Ye Pffft! article does mention the destruction of trees, it only says “In the United States, millions of hectares of productive pinyon pine woods have been destroyed due to conversion of lands” with no further explanation (and an unsatisfactory reference). Not entirely sure how tree destruction relates to land conservation, assuming the trees are not an invasive species?
Apart from Indians and Mediterranians, also the indigenous peoples in Siberia have been consuming pine nuts (in their case Siberian pine, Pinus sibirica, кедр [kedr] in Russian). Also there was a proposal here in the 19th century to introduce the Siberian pines (sembramänty in Finnish) here as an emergency food source, to be used in times of famine, but eventually not implemented. Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine, the species naturally growing in Northern Europe) seeds are also supposed to be edible also, but the small size makes them difficult to use unless you’re a squirrel.
It’s saddening to hear the pine-juniper lands being destroyed to make pastures. (I wonder just how long do the pastures stay usable in those conditions before becoming barren?)
Ice Swimmer:
In comparison to the trees? Not long. The constant claim for destroying the trees is “fire”, but Pinyon related fires are so rare, there are centuries between, which is mentioned in the article. This is yet another excuse to destroy Native culture and tradition, and this sort of encroachment has been common for hundreds of years.
It’s not just the Western Shoshone Tribes who are having problems with pine nuts. There are a number of California tribes who depend on pine nuts as the main staple of their diet, and they too have had the number of trees on their lands illegally reduced, and beyond that, there’s been illegal harvesting of Indian owned trees, because pine nuts are so “fashionable” with the upper class white crowd.
This time of year we see people out gathering piñón and it’s considered a crop, really. It’s worth about $20.00 a pound here. Every little town has some space where people can set up their table and sell things so we often see piñón and ristras (big strings of red chiles all tied together) for sale. I have known of/seen people chaining areas to clear cedars but did not realize they would take out the piñón too.
As for how long pastures stay usable before becoming barren… it all depends how they are managed. Some people are better at this than others. Some people are quite thoughtless and take no heed to the fact that the soil has to be managed and built up. For example: we just made cider from our orchard. Well, that means we took away from the trees -- we took the apples -- so we have to give something back to the trees. We have to feed them. Because after all they are feeding us, and fair’s fair. Also that’s the only way to keep your trees productive and thriving; you have to be sure they are well fed and well cared for. Same thing has to happen with pastures. Not everyone is that mindful.
Pine nuts are everywhere in mediterranean cuisine. For instance, they are one of the five ingredients of the pesto alla genovese pasta sauce. But where I’m now (Northern France) they’re harder to find, and quite expensive too!
Pine nuts have been a part of my pantry for decades. And not just for pesto. We have been buying imported pine nuts, I think. But I will check to make sure. I am not the least bit surprised to find out that demand for pine nuts would adversely impact am indigenous population.
Pine nuts have been a part of my pantry for decades. And not just for pesto. We have been buying imported pine nuts, I think. But I will check to make sure. I am not the least bit surprised to find out that demand for pine nuts would adversely impact an indigenous population.
Oh for foof sake. I double posted.