AUTHORS: Tracy Hames, Wisconsin Wetlands Association
ABSTRACT: This presentation will tell the story of the return of Wapato (Sagittaria spp.) to wetlands within the Yakama Nation’s Reservation in eastern Washington state. Wapato has been utilized by the Yakama People since time immemorial. Past disturbances related to agricultural development and other land and water use alterations, however, resulted in the near extirpation of these plants on the Yakama Reservation. When healthy Wapato beds began to return to wetlands on the Reservation, the return of these plants was unplanned, but not unexpected. The story of how the Yakama Nation helped bring about this return begins in the 1970’s when Yakama cultural leaders called for the protection and restoration of the heavily disturbed wetland and floodplain landscapes in the agricultural portion of the Reservation. During the decades that followed, the Yakama Nation developed a “cultural” approach to wetland and floodplain protection, restoration, and management. This approach emphasized reestablishing, as much as possible, historic conditions to benefit all resources in the locations and proportions that they existed in the past. The results of this large-scale effort on the Yakama Reservation will be shown, and why this approach should be of interest to all waterfowl and wetland managers will be discussed.
