Friday, March 28, 2025 – Tribes vie for better access to traditional plants

For the first time in decades, tribes in the Pacific Northwest will be able to forage for wild huckleberries in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest without competition from commercial companies. The development comes after decades of work by the Yakama Nation and other tribes in a contentious dispute, all while the culturally important wild berry abundance has dwindled. Foraging is also important to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in southern Colorado. A collaboration between the tribe and a conservation nonprofit to facilitate foraging on nearby private land just got a significant boost. GUESTS Elaine Harvey (Ḱamíłpa Band of the Yakama Nation), watershed department manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Bronsco Jim Jr., chief of the Ḱamíłpa Band of the Yakama Nation Josephine Woolington, journalist in Portland Treston Chee (Diné), Indigenous lands program field coordinator with Trees, Water & People MENTIONED: “The true cost of the huckleberry industry” by Josephine Woolington for High Country News Break 1 Music: Honoring The Homeland (song) Radmilla & Herman Cody (artist) Shi Kéyah (album) Break 2 Music: Beautiful Flower (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Kihtawasoh Wapakwani (album)