Nichił
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/183461976
The Birch Tree that I identified was at Balto Seppala Park. I observed it at 6:30 in the afternoon. In the Dena’ina language nichił is the name for Birch bark. I have grown up in Southcentral Alaska for most of my life and I have found that birchbark is super prominent in my memories as a child. It was constantly around me and gave many people in my family allergies. Nichił is an excellent fire starter due to its bark. There is an excess of betulin on the outside that appears as a white powder which is highly flammable and also water-resistant. This is why it is used for shelters and for everyday household items such as bowls.
There is controversy between Western conservationist circles and Indigenous circles on the ethical harvesting implications of Nichił. On the conservationist side is the idea that humans should not harvest the bark because it kills the tree and on the Indigenous side is the idea that through the proper processing and gratitude for the species, there is balance. From my experience with birch bark artwork, I think that it is a necessary art form for Dena’ina people to engage with to stay tied to culture and place, even if I understand the conservationist point of not wanting to hurt nature. I think that Western ideas of interacting with nature make us scared and timid or outright indifferent and violent about the natural world without teaching the reciprocity between the two. We cannot be separated from the natural world because we are the natural world.
https://alaskaethnobotany.community.uaf.edu/noticing-culturally-marked-birch-trees/
https://www.bates.edu/canopy/species/paper-birch/#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20the%20trees,canoes%2C%20buckets%2C%20and%20baskets.
Comentarios
Thank you for providing information on this tree and the controversy between Indigenous cultures and conservationists. You make a great point that the Western ideas of preserving the tree and limiting interaction with nature scare us and distance us from true appreciation or lead to complete apathy. I think this applies to many aspects of life, and that same "look but don't touch" mentality makes it difficult to understand and appreciate nature, culture, history, and art in their whole forms. Balance is necessary but education alongside it is the key. Thank you for sharing your observations, research, unique opinions, and connections with the birch tree!
Selah;
I liked how your observation talks of the different ideas between the "Western conservationist circles and Indigenous circles" and their effect on the tree. Opinions and thoughts of our world continue to pendulum swing back and forth, and I hope the conversation between the two circles continues with openness to each other.
What you told us made me question how many kinds of Birch exist. The reason is that the Birch is in the old Druid alphabet from the Celtic people. It is their first letter and means new beginnings. I decided to look at the differences between the two. When I did, I discovered that Ireland has two different birch trees. Their names are the Downy Birch Betula pubescens and Silver Birch Betula pendula. (1)
In contrast, the birch tree in Alaska's scientific name has Alaska attached to it, Betula neoalaskana, known as the Boral Birch. (2) I read further that there are twelve species of Birch together. They all can live where there is poor soil. (3) Birch is a very tough, hardy tree. It can grow in very high altitudes and impoverished soils.
I went down a rabbit hole researching and reading about this lovely smaller tree and its beautiful bark.
Gayleen
(1) www.cloudforests.ie/trees-of-the-cloudforests/the-birch-tree
(2) museums.alaska.gov/online_exhibits/birch.html
(3) https://www.thespruce.com/twelve-species-cultivars-of-birch-trees-3269660
Thank you for bringing the controversy surrounding harvesting to this journal post. As I learn more about Native Alaskan conservation practices, I am bowled over by their respect for all living things and their desire to use every part of anything they harvest in the name of respect and conservation. I used to tell my kids that “fair doesn’t mean everyone gets the same thing, fair means everyone gets what they NEED”. Boy oh boy, do I wish the powers that be would listen to that ideology. I feel strongly the Native Alaskans could harvest this birch appropriately where perhaps my own people could not.
Hi Selah,
Thank you for discussing the implications between conservationists and indigenous communities. I have had this conversation in some of my anthropology classes as well. Indigenous groups who use birch in their culture and artwork know how to harvest in ways that does not kill the tree as this knowledge has been passed down for generations.
Having moved from South Central to Juneau, I do notice my allergies have lessened as there is significantly less birch down here than back home. I do sometimes miss the skeleton-esque look of birch trees in the winter back home. Juneau is still very green due to all the spruce.
-Ayanna
The paper birch is such a beautiful tree. I took an Alaskan nature course last semester and I learned a lot about the trees in Alaska, this one always stuck out to me. We have them up here in Nome too and I had though my entire life they were cottonwood trees. If I this is the tree that makes a crackling sound when the wind blows through the leaves.
Gosh, we have a lot of conservationist issues up here too. I understand what they are trying to do but it would be nice if they understood or at least tried to understand our cultures, then maybe there would be a better balance, like you mentioned.
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