History Forum: Restoring Indigenous Traditional Environmental Knowledge to the Northern Monterey Bay Region

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When the 2020 CZU fire destroyed the historic structures at Big Basin State Park previously hidden terrains were exposed. Subsequent archaeological surveys by Mark Hylkema and others expand the existing record of ancestral Native American places in the park.

When the first Spanish land expedition reached the Monterey Bay area in 1769, they documented encounters with many different tribal communities while rarely making the association between the people and the region’s natural abundance. Yet numerous indigenous communities managed specific locations through Traditional Environmental Knowledge (TEK). What followed in the 1700s was suppression of the continuation of Native American TEK. Fortunately, partnerships between today’s tribes and entities such as California State Parks, strive to correct this imbalance and restore engagement with TEK. Hear expert archaeologist Mark Hylkema’s riveting discussion of Traditional Environmental Knowledge and its relevance today.