Diabetes Prevention through Traditional Plants:
A Program of the Northwest Indian College  

Tribal communities have a strong interest in revitalizing traditional foods and medicinal plant knowledge.  Diabetes Prevention through Traditional Plants is a two-year training program that was developed by the Northwest Indian College to support this interest. An important element of the program is to train a couple of people from several tribes, so that they can return to their own communities and serve as knowledgeable resources.  Through learning about the healthful benefits of traditional plants, participants in the program will serve their communities in many ways: 

• A general improvement in tribal health,
• A decrease in the incidence of diabetes,
• Increased exercise through harvesting and gardening,
• An increase in the sense of cultural pride and
• A stronger connection to place.

The program is also expected to revitalize plant communities and traditional foods sites.  When people learn about plants, they tend to become more engaged in caring for the places where the plants grow.
By increasing access to healthy food through gardening projects and traditional plants restoration, tribal communities may also become more sovereign and less dependent on subsidized foods.

Program Components

• Botany (plant identification, plant benefits)
• Health (diabetes, nutrition, wellness, exercise)
• Traditional uses of plants (foods, basketry, clothing)
• Growing, gathering and harvesting traditional plants (including creating and tending gardens, as well as caring for wild plant communities)

In addition to learning how to grow traditional plants as food and medicine, the program teaches about how traditional plants are used in other activities like basketry and natural dyes.   Many tribes in the region are exploring ways that their members can develop cottage industries built around the seasonal work of gathering supplies for the traditional art of basketry, floristry, body care and herbal medicines.  Our program will consider offering workshops and other training programs on small business development for tribal members who wish to pursue this livelihood.

Cultural Property Rights and Protected Knowledge Guidelines

There are many levels of knowledge.  As we study together, we encounter many layers of knowledge around how plants are used.  Just like us, plants have a body, mind and spirit.  Some plants are used for nutritive qualities, specific ailments and also as spiritual medicine. We try to respect these levels of knowledge by speaking mainly about knowledge that is appropriate to share with a greater community.

Knowledge can be wealth.  A family might hold a recipe or an understanding about a medicine that is part of their family inheritance.  They have been trained on how to gather, prepare and administer the food or remedy in a culturally appropriate way that cares for the plant community and the people.

Secret knowledge.  Many people believe that when you speak something, you give its power away.  If you have a special experience with a plant or animal, you may want to hold that experience inside you.  It is yours to carry.  Telling people about it may dissolve the sacredness or power of it.  Do not feel obligated to share anything that feels personal.  The intention of this class is to help people build their relationships with plants in a way that is culturally and personally strengthening.  

If knowledge gets in the wrong hands, it can be dangerous.  There are specific ways to harvest and prepare medicines that make them safe and effective.  Without appropriate training, they can be potentially dangerous.  Information shared about the plants is geared toward safe uses.

Caring for plant communities.  In the past, vast areas of the Northwest were utilized for growing and harvesting foods and medicines.  These areas were actually maintained like gardens.  European cultures did not notice or understand this kind of land management and tried to promote European-style farming of lands and even forests.  Countless traditional gathering areas have been lost to development, deforestation or mismanagement.  This program teaches harvesting in a culturally appropriate way that promotes and restores the growth of our traditional plants.

Respecting the "Knowledge of Place".  Participants in this class come from many different communities and ecological areas of Puget Sound.  The plants have the ability to connect us more deeply to the land we live on.  In learning to appreciate the plants, we become better caretakers of the places they grow.  

Engaging traditional styles of learning. This program will try to present information in a way that engages all the senses and promotes hands-on learning.  The best place to learn about the plants is in the place they grow, whether that is in the mountains, along the seashore or in a coastal bog.

Maintaining flexibility.  The purpose of this program is to explore traditional knowledge of plants in a way that serves tribal.  It must constantly be flexible and responsive to the needs of the communities it serves.