Gathering Medicine

Episode 5

Indigenous peoples in California relied on traditional gathering to provide for all of their food and medicinal needs. California's landscapes produce hundreds of indigenous plant species that have been used thousands of years prior to European contact. And many of these plants and their preparations as medicine informed modern pharmacopeia, most notably aspirin, which is derived from the bark of the willow tree. Native herbalism continues to be relevant today. There is a resurgence of traditional medicinal practices in Native communities and a growing interest in this knowledge in popular culture. In this video, we explore how Native herbalism is practiced today and how a holistic approach to health and the environment can inform healthy living.

Co-produced by KCETLink Media Group and the Autry Museum, this six-part multimedia series and one-hour documentary special are presented in association with California Continued, a groundbreaking exhibition now on view at the Autry.

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traditional ecological knowledge, native plants, Tending the Wild Episodes

Full Episodes

Tending the Wild

tending the wild

E1: Cultural Burning - How Native American Peoples Use Fire to Rejuvenate the Land

Episode 1

Suppressed for over a century, indigenous cultural burning is still practiced today and holds important lessons for managing the threat of destructive wildfires.

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Tending the Wild

tending the wild

E2: Keeping the River - How the Klamath River's Native Peoples Maintain Their Relationship With Salmon

Episode 2

The Yurok, Karuk, and Hupa peoples have maintained a close relationship with the Klamath River. They have secured traditional fishing rights and mobilized against the threats of dams and agriculture, setting an example for Native environmental rights.

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Tending the Wild

tending the wild

E3: Weaving Community - How Native Peoples are Rediscovering Their Basketry Traditions

Episode 3

Despite barriers to access, traditional gathering and basket weaving is still practiced across California as a new generation is rediscovering and preserving its cultural heritage.

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Tending the Wild

traditional ecological knowledge

E4: Decolonizing the Diet - How Native Peoples are Reclaiming Traditional Foods

Episode 4

The Chia Cafe Collective is working to revive Native food practices and raise awareness about the threats to native plants in Southern California.

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Tending the Wild

traditional ecological knowledge

E5: Gathering Medicine - How Native Medicinal Practices Are Thriving Today

Episode 5

Native herbalism has a long history and continues to be practiced today. This video explores a holistic approach to health and how the environment can inform healthy living.

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Tending the Wild

Tending the Wild shines light on the environmental knowledge of indigenous peoples across California by exploring how they have actively shaped and tended the land for millennia, in the process developing a deep understanding of plant and animal life. This series examines how humans are necessary to live in balance with nature and how traditional practices can inspire a new generation of Californians to tend their environment.