I’d like to acknowledge the traditional lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən speaking peoples on which I learn, play in band, and have fun.

Throughout our time visiting Swan Lake we read this book and responded with our own thoughts to various sections. This is one of my responses. For this particular braiding sweetgrass, I focused on my theme and it’s all about what introduced species actually are.

Braiding Sweetgrass

What species are introduced?

An introduced species is "A species that has been intentionally or inadvertently brought into a region or area. Also called an exotic or non-native species". This I found off wikipedia. And although this is true I feel like an "introduced species" is more than that. An introduced species is something that was brought to the land but it doesn't belong. It doesn't naturally grow there. Some will harm other species but some also won't.

What are invasive species?

An invasive species is "an organism that is not indigenous, or native, to a particular area." Now this is also true, but usally an invasive species causes harm to the environment. For example, English Ivy is an introduced species (as it was brought from somewhere else), but it's also an invasive species. It uses its vines to choke out the native trees and slowly kill them.

Are all introduced species invasive?

No. The species that don't cause harm to an environment are called introduced and the species that are harmful are invasive. Not all introduced species are invasive, but all invasive species are introduced.

Why is biodiversity important?

To me, biodiversity means a place full of all different types of living organisms. Biodiversity is important because if you think about it, everything is interconnected. Everything lives off of each other and it's like a circle of life. Once one thing dies the whole cycle restarts. Imagine you're a hummingbird. You will need to pollinate flowers and plants. And you will also need a tree to make a nest. You also need to eat the little insects flying around. If the flowers, trees, and insects didn't exist, you would have a very difficult time surviving.

What can we learn from plants?

Plants could teach us a great deal of things. I'll only explain a few though. Plants care for us and everything existing around them. I'm not saying that humans don't care. I'm saying we could care a lot more. The plants take care of us and we could start learning how to do that a lot more. Plants also don't give up. If an obstacle comes their way, they don't just give up and die. Some people do try but it's hard. We've all been there. But we have to stop giving up so easily or else we'll never survive in modern society. Plants also give. They give so much all the time and they give until they have nothing left. Not only do they give, but they never ever expect anything back. Humans really need to learn this. It's ok to give and be generous and everything. But if you do something nice for someone, you shouldn't expect to get a free favour or something back in return at a later time. Plants don't do any of the things I listed so why do we?

These are some highlights of what I learned about restoration:

• Invasive Species
• Introduced Species
• Native Species

Examples: I learnt all about English Ivy (Hedera helix), Daphne (Daphne laureola), Periwinkle (Vinca minor), Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) and more!

English Ivy is a 5 pointed leaf that if touched can be quite itchy. Ivy mainly grows along trees or anything it can access sunlight and other nutrients from. They are very disruptive and invasive because once it wraps around the tree, it chokes it out and weakens the tree making it (the tree) more likely to get infected.

Daphne is poisonous and also has a toxin in the plant that irritates skin. It forms very dense thickets so it kind of blocks out the native population from getting the nutrients they need.

Periwinkle is also very invasive and spreads very rapidly. It can cover the whole ground also causing other plants to die off by choking them out.

And lastly, scotch broom can cause more forest fires and crowd out native plants that other organisms and animals really rely on to survive.

WIth all of these invasive species, I would recommend wearing gloves and using big loppers or secateurs. Sometimes pulling the roots out by hand can also work. It is really important to get the root too or else it’ll keep growing back. For most of these plants, we need to bag them in a big plastic bag to stop it from spreading. An example is English Ivy. Let’s say we pull it out, but if we just left it on the ground it would start growing again. It was kind of fun to remove all of these plants. Since we came back every week for a while, it was nice to see the improvement from when we started.

Braiding Sweetgrass

Self Actualization - Creativity, problem solving; there are lots of grassy plants within a marsh. People could build camp crafts (tools and crafts like tables, chairs, beds). They would use the grass to make rope by braiding it. And they could also use large pieces of wood they find to make a table or stool. Rocks can be used to be attached to a stick or something to be made into a weapon or tool!

Esteem - Confidence, respect of others; as we know, there are many plants in a marsh. I think it's really important to respect everything, especially plants. So someone could respect all the different types of plants. I find that just being out in nature in general, my confidence gets better because you're surrounded by so many beautiful things everywhere and you just really stop to think and look at all the plants.

Love and Belonging - Family, friendships; it would be interesting to look at all the little animals and creatures in a Marsh and see how they interact with each other. It would be a bit like a research project. You would see how they interact with you but with other animals and plants. If you get really lonely you could possibly make little "characters" that would always be there for you. Or you know, just befriend the plants!

Safety Needs - Security, health; health is really important to all living species. Not just physical health but also mental health. In the case of physical, it's good to recognize when you're hurt or when you need help. For mental health, it's a bit more difficult to recognize but it's also still really important. If you're stuck in a Marsh, I think it's good to keep busy so you don't get too lonely and down in the dumps.

Physiological Needs - Food, water, warmth, shelter; all of these are SO important to literally survive. You can make shelters from wood and rope (grass) and lots of other plants like moss. You can make a filtration system by harvesting clean water from somewhere and then filtering it so that you know it's safe to drink. It's simple to make a fire: you basically just need tinder, kindling, and wood. You also need a spark and oxygen but it's pretty easy to start a fire with the right tools. And lastly for food, there's lots of edible plants that can be found. Berries and other plants like water chestnuts, and wild rice. Of course you can also catch some fish or small animals with a snare.

I think it's very possible to survive off the land if I were stranded in some woods. As mentioned earlier, I would make sure I was always busy doing something like making camp crafts, finding food, making a shelter, making a fire or other things like that. On Vancouver Island there are so many edible plants. Some include Salal, Oregon Grape, Dandelions, Morels, and if I'm stranded on the coast there are plenty of fish in the sea as well as small animals. To catch or forage my food, I would make a fishing rod and net to catch sea animals, and for smaller animals (like rabbits, squirrels, and things like that) I think I would make a snare (a kind of trap) to catch the animal. To forage I would make a basket (made out of different types of grasses with different lengths and thickness) that I can put everything into.To make my shelter I would find bigger logs or pieces of wood and tie it together with braided grass I made. To cover it, I would add moss or weave grass through it so that it would block out some light and maybe keep it a bit warmer. I would also make a fire with wood and use one of the natural ways to start a fire. Using 2 pieces of wood to make friction or rocks to create a spark. I would also put the fire fairly close to my shelter for warmth and to ward off bugs. For my health, if I get injured, I could create a splint or if it's a minor injury then I can use natural resources (like moss) to cover it because it's somewhat like gauze. Those are all just basic things I could do if I were actually stranded in the woods! It's always great to be prepared though.

I took a 3 week survival course with Cadets in the summer! :)

Braiding Sweetgrass

The Honourable Harvest basically means asking permission from plants, animals, and any other organism. If you find that it doesn't feel right don't take it. And always listen to the answer first. It also points out that you only take what you need. Because if you take too much there will be consequences.

Never Take the First - In my opinion this means that if you're harvesting something, you do it together as a community instead of doing it solo. I know it might be tempting to harvest without anyone around but it would be better to harvest as a group so that everyone ensures you only take what you need and that you ask permission.

Ask Permission - If you're harvesting plants or any type of food in general, it's really important to ask for permission. You are essentially taking the life of that organism and then you have to make sure that it will be able to survive for the next year.

Listen for the Answer - This goes with asking permission. You need to make sure you listen to the answer. If the plant somehow indicates something through signs, or something just seems off that means you shouldn't take its life. Let's say for example I ask a bean plant if I can take its beans. The plant looks a bit off and rotten in some parts, that would be a sign not to take it. Just do whatever feels right and listen to your gut.

Take Only What You Need - This is exactly what's in the name. Only take what you need. You don't need extra because you won't be able to use it. In the reading it had a story talking about this man fishing but he overfished and one day a fox stole all of it. There can and will be consequences if we take too much.

Minimize Harm - We need to try to do things the most sustainable way possible. Our world won't last that much longer if we keep going with how we're doing things now. With keeping things sustainable that means we also have to try not to harm anything. Say, if I wanted bark from a tree, I wouldn't cut down the whole tree. I would strip it so that it's only a small part and that can regrow instead of killing the whole thing.

Use Everything You Take - If you take too much you won't be able to use everything you take. So only take what you need, but make sure you use all of it. It would be a waste and that animal or plant would've given its life for nothing. In order to honour it and to have more of those plants and animals the next year you need to use everything that you get from that.

Share - Sharing is a big part of Indigenous peoples lives. I think people make more than they know they can eat in order to share the food with neighbours and friends. This brings together the community and it makes sure that you don't have too much leftover.

Be Grateful - This is a really important one. As mentioned earlier, the animal or the plant have given its life for you. We need to be more grateful because it's like the circle of life and things will keep on giving for us if that's what we need.

Reciprocate the Gift - The land cares for us so we care for the land. This also includes the plants, animals, and whole environment. The land gives us so many invaluable things that we can't all give back at once. But taking care of the land and animals is a huge step we can take to try. If we care for the animals and plants, then we will have those types of species the next year instead of having their population slowly decrease and finally become extinct.

The Honourable Harvest is really important and I think everyone should try to stop and consider if it's part of this in their everyday lives.