Indigenous Food Security is Dependent on Food Sovereignty
July 24, 2019 10:16 AM Subscribe
New research shows that hunting, fishing, and foraging for traditional Native foods help nourish tribal members—but first they need access to their ancestral lands.
Several times a year, the locals at Orleans, California see a surge of sport fishermen and trophy hunters come through town, driving big trucks decked out in camouflage and sporting polarized fishing sunglasses.
The locals, including some of the Native people from tribes in the Klamath Basin, have to enter the same lottery and buy the same hunting permits as the outsiders who may or may not see the cultural and nutritional value of the animals they are harvesting. For some Native people, including Lisa Hillman, seeing their food treated in this way was an unpleasant shock.
Several times a year, the locals at Orleans, California see a surge of sport fishermen and trophy hunters come through town, driving big trucks decked out in camouflage and sporting polarized fishing sunglasses.
The locals, including some of the Native people from tribes in the Klamath Basin, have to enter the same lottery and buy the same hunting permits as the outsiders who may or may not see the cultural and nutritional value of the animals they are harvesting. For some Native people, including Lisa Hillman, seeing their food treated in this way was an unpleasant shock.
oh my god yes. what ahmad khani said. thank you so much, poffin boffin.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:01 AM on July 25, 2019
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:01 AM on July 25, 2019
Each tribe has limited rights to hunting and fishing on their own traditional territories (not on reservation land), but off-reservation hunting and fishing are subject to state and federal fish and game laws, yet another obstacle to accessing their traditional foods.
“We aren’t ‘allowed’ in the eyes of the federal government to do these things,” Hillman said. “We have to apply for a permit to hunt our own Native species that we’ve hunted for a long time and managed for a long time before somebody decided this was their land.”
Oof. So not only do 64% of this group surveyed rely on SNAP and commods, but then they have to pay for permits for off-reservation hunting/fishing. Obviously the rights to Native foods should be expanded to all indigenous, but it would make sense to give free licenses to those already on SNAP. If I'm finding the correct information, the licenses are expensive.
posted by Mouse Army at 1:27 PM on July 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
“We aren’t ‘allowed’ in the eyes of the federal government to do these things,” Hillman said. “We have to apply for a permit to hunt our own Native species that we’ve hunted for a long time and managed for a long time before somebody decided this was their land.”
Oof. So not only do 64% of this group surveyed rely on SNAP and commods, but then they have to pay for permits for off-reservation hunting/fishing. Obviously the rights to Native foods should be expanded to all indigenous, but it would make sense to give free licenses to those already on SNAP. If I'm finding the correct information, the licenses are expensive.
posted by Mouse Army at 1:27 PM on July 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
Oops, and that should have read "indigenous people" not just indigenous.
posted by Mouse Army at 4:40 PM on July 25, 2019
posted by Mouse Army at 4:40 PM on July 25, 2019
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posted by Ahmad Khani at 12:19 PM on July 24, 2019 [12 favorites]