Nancy Turner addresses the importance of biodiversity and its importance to First Nations in maintaining the same and enhancing it throughout the history.
She goes on to say:
“Not only is biodiversity important in food systems, technology, and medicine, but plants, animals and fungi are also prominent in First Nations’ belief systems, art, songs and ceremonies (Turner 1988, 2005). Ceremonial species and those featured in art and narrative are often the same ones that had practical application (Garibaldi and Turner 2004). The richness of Northwest Coast First Peoples’ intense connections with biodiversity is reflected perhaps most famously in their world- renowned artforms representing stylized animals, birds, fish and other beings, in magnificent wooden sculptures, totempoles, masks and dishes, as well as in exquisite jewelry and paintings (cf. Holm 1965, 1990; MacDonald 1996).
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