Integrating traditional ecological knowledge into watershed restoration at Canyon de chelly national monument, Chinle Arizona.

摘要

This thesis addresses the potential for co-managing Canyon de Chelly National Monument (CdCNM) in a way where the community's Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is used in natural resource management decisions. It first examines the history of management of CdCNM and what the National Park Service (NPS) can do to more effectively share power. The recent Watershed Restoration Project serves as an example of an opportunity for richer integration of partnered management. The Watershed Restoration Project is a ten-year effort funded by the NPS in which CdCNM will spend approximately five million dollars to restore the riparian reaches heavily impacted by the invasive Russian olive and tamarisk. An attempt to identify the TEK of the Canyon community, so that it could be used to inform management, was pursued through resident meetings and a qualitative analysis of those transcripts. Many residents no longer live traditional lives and so the TEK is waning. The canyon lands have also been heavily disrupted by the severe environmental degradation of the last 30 years which has lessened the direct relevance of TEK as conditions have changed, but there is a desire to relearn from the eldest generation and a desire from the eldest generation to share. The Watershed Restoration project was developed around community requests to reclaim and restore their land, and this community-informed project has made a positive impact on both the resource issue of invasive Russian olive and tamarisk and the community.