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• 1. [Article] Lifeblood of the Earth: Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) Hydrological Knowledge and Perceptions of Restoration in Two Southern Nevada Protected Areas

  In the arid landscapes of the southern Great Basin and northern Mojave Desert, issues surrounding water resource management are often politically contentious. Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have known and managed ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Lifeblood of the Earth: Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) Hydrological Knowledge and Perceptions of Restoration in Two Southern Nevada Protected Areas Author: Wendel, Kendra Lesley Year: 2014 In the arid landscapes of the southern Great Basin and northern Mojave Desert, issues surrounding water resource management are often politically contentious. Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have known and managed these resources for thousands of years prior to Euro-American arrival in the region. A variety of factors, including federal policies that resulted in the creation of reservations and forced placement in boarding schools, as well as contemporary resource commodification, have influenced Nuwuvi knowledge and practice. In this thesis, I examined the character of Nuwuvi ethnohydrological knowledge, including management knowledge, of two protected areas: Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA), managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). In addition, I investigated perceptions of water health and restoration among participants from the two managing agencies and six Nuwuvi Nations. I addressed these topics using the theoretical framework of political ecology and a methodology that included semi-structured interviews and demographic questionnaires with 16 Nuwuvi knowledge holders and four federal agency participants. I conducted text analysis of partial interview transcripts using the inductive coding method in order to identify recurring themes and concepts related to hydrology, management, and restoration. My results illustrated that Nuwuvi ethnohydrological knowledge, which developed incrementally over time, conceptualized water as a sentient being that required human interaction to remain healthy. There was also evidence that Nuwuvi knowledge of water was changing as a result of political, economic, and social forces. Furthermore, these findings suggest that Nuwuvi and agency approaches to hydrological management and restoration were built upon differing epistemologies, though there was convergence among specific management and restoration techniques. Based on these results, a report of findings from the Nuwuvi Knowledge-to-Action project, including recommendations for collaborative stewardship approaches, was delivered to participants in August 2013. Title: Lifeblood of the Earth: Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) Hydrological Knowledge and Perceptions of Restoration in Two Southern Nevada Protected Areas Author: Wendel, Kendra Lesley Year: 2014 In the arid landscapes of the southern Great Basin and northern Mojave Desert, issues surrounding water resource management are often politically contentious. Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have known and managed these resources for thousands of years prior to Euro-American arrival in the region. A variety of factors, including federal policies that resulted in the creation of reservations and forced placement in boarding schools, as well as contemporary resource commodification, have influenced Nuwuvi knowledge and practice. In this thesis, I examined the character of Nuwuvi ethnohydrological knowledge, including management knowledge, of two protected areas: Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA), managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). In addition, I investigated perceptions of water health and restoration among participants from the two managing agencies and six Nuwuvi Nations. I addressed these topics using the theoretical framework of political ecology and a methodology that included semi-structured interviews and demographic questionnaires with 16 Nuwuvi knowledge holders and four federal agency participants. I conducted text analysis of partial interview transcripts using the inductive coding method in order to identify recurring themes and concepts related to hydrology, management, and restoration. My results illustrated that Nuwuvi ethnohydrological knowledge, which developed incrementally over time, conceptualized water as a sentient being that required human interaction to remain healthy. There was also evidence that Nuwuvi knowledge of water was changing as a result of political, economic, and social forces. Furthermore, these findings suggest that Nuwuvi and agency approaches to hydrological management and restoration were built upon differing epistemologies, though there was convergence among specific management and restoration techniques. Based on these results, a report of findings from the Nuwuvi Knowledge-to-Action project, including recommendations for collaborative stewardship approaches, was delivered to participants in August 2013. Close

• 2. [Article] Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) Ecological Knowledge of Piñon-Juniper Woodlands: Implications for Conservation and Sustainable Resource Use in Two Southern Nevada Protected Areas

  Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have inhabited the southern Great Basin for thousands of years, and consider Nuvagantu (where snow sits) in the Spring Mountains landscape to be the locus of their creation as ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) Ecological Knowledge of Piñon-Juniper Woodlands: Implications for Conservation and Sustainable Resource Use in Two Southern Nevada Protected Areas Author: Lefler, Brian John Year: 2014 Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have inhabited the southern Great Basin for thousands of years, and consider Nuvagantu (where snow sits) in the Spring Mountains landscape to be the locus of their creation as a people. Their ancestral territory spans parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California. My research identifies and describes the heterogeneous character of Nuwuvi ecological knowledge (NEK) of piñon-juniper woodland ecosystems within two federal protected areas (PAs) in southeastern Nevada, the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA) and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), as remembered and practiced to varying degrees by 22 select Nuwuvi knowledge holders. I focus my investigation on four primary aspects of NEK. First, drawing from data obtained through ethnoecological research, I discuss how Nuwuvi ecological knowledge evolved through protracted observation and learning from past resource depletions, and adapted to various environmental and socio-economic drivers of change induced since Euro-American incursion. Second, I argue that Nuwuvi management practices operate largely within a framework of non-equilibrium ecology, marked by low to intermediate disturbances and guided by Nuwuvi conceptions of environmental health and balance. These practices favor landscape heterogeneity and patchiness, and engender ecosystem renewal, expanded ecotones, and increased biodiversity. I then consider the third and fourth aspects of NEK as two case studies that consider NEK at the individual, species, population, habitat, and landscape scales. These case studies operationalize NEK as a relevant body of knowledge and techniques conducive to collaborative resource stewardship initiatives with federal land management agency partners. In the first case study I suggest that the Great Basin piñon pines are Nuwuvi cultural keystone species (CKS), evaluating their central importance to Nuwuvi according to several criteria including number of uses, role in ritual and story, and uniqueness relative to other species. In the second case study I contend that local social institutions regulated Nuwuvi resource use in the past and in some cases continued to do so at the time of study. These local social institutions included a system of resource extraction and habitat entrance taboos that may have mitigated impacts and supported sustainable resource use and conservation. The implications of this research are that Nuwuvi ecological knowledge, disturbance-based adaptive management practices, and resource and habitat taboos are relevant to contemporary land management concerns in piñon-juniper woodlands, offering complementary approaches to adaptive management as practiced in the SMNRA and the DNWR despite divergent epistemological foundations. My research contributed to the Nuwuvi Knowledge-to-Action Project, an applied government-to-government consultation, collaborative resource stewardship, and cultural revitalization project facilitated by The Mountain Institute among seven Nuwuvi Nations, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Title: Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) Ecological Knowledge of Piñon-Juniper Woodlands: Implications for Conservation and Sustainable Resource Use in Two Southern Nevada Protected Areas Author: Lefler, Brian John Year: 2014 Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have inhabited the southern Great Basin for thousands of years, and consider Nuvagantu (where snow sits) in the Spring Mountains landscape to be the locus of their creation as a people. Their ancestral territory spans parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California. My research identifies and describes the heterogeneous character of Nuwuvi ecological knowledge (NEK) of piñon-juniper woodland ecosystems within two federal protected areas (PAs) in southeastern Nevada, the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA) and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), as remembered and practiced to varying degrees by 22 select Nuwuvi knowledge holders. I focus my investigation on four primary aspects of NEK. First, drawing from data obtained through ethnoecological research, I discuss how Nuwuvi ecological knowledge evolved through protracted observation and learning from past resource depletions, and adapted to various environmental and socio-economic drivers of change induced since Euro-American incursion. Second, I argue that Nuwuvi management practices operate largely within a framework of non-equilibrium ecology, marked by low to intermediate disturbances and guided by Nuwuvi conceptions of environmental health and balance. These practices favor landscape heterogeneity and patchiness, and engender ecosystem renewal, expanded ecotones, and increased biodiversity. I then consider the third and fourth aspects of NEK as two case studies that consider NEK at the individual, species, population, habitat, and landscape scales. These case studies operationalize NEK as a relevant body of knowledge and techniques conducive to collaborative resource stewardship initiatives with federal land management agency partners. In the first case study I suggest that the Great Basin piñon pines are Nuwuvi cultural keystone species (CKS), evaluating their central importance to Nuwuvi according to several criteria including number of uses, role in ritual and story, and uniqueness relative to other species. In the second case study I contend that local social institutions regulated Nuwuvi resource use in the past and in some cases continued to do so at the time of study. These local social institutions included a system of resource extraction and habitat entrance taboos that may have mitigated impacts and supported sustainable resource use and conservation. The implications of this research are that Nuwuvi ecological knowledge, disturbance-based adaptive management practices, and resource and habitat taboos are relevant to contemporary land management concerns in piñon-juniper woodlands, offering complementary approaches to adaptive management as practiced in the SMNRA and the DNWR despite divergent epistemological foundations. My research contributed to the Nuwuvi Knowledge-to-Action Project, an applied government-to-government consultation, collaborative resource stewardship, and cultural revitalization project facilitated by The Mountain Institute among seven Nuwuvi Nations, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Close