Hello! My name is Alicia Maryott. I was born and raised in Dzantiki Heeni otherwise known as Juneau, Alaska. My father’s people are Tlingit from Haines, AK, Greek and Polish. My mother’s people are Stolo Coast Salish and I’m not sure from where else, as she was adopted, but her maternal family is from Fraser River Valley BC, Canada – somewhere near Chilliwack/Hope area. I have been in Juneau most of my life, but for four years in high school and college that I spent in Oregon and Washington. So my plant knowledge is generally centered around the Pacific Northwest, and more specifically, Southeast Alaska.
I’ve always been in love with nature and being outside, but I really dove into ethnobotany starting in 2020 during the start of the pandemic and enrolled in the EBOT OEC program in 2021. I have been on a journey to learn how to put up our traditional foods and medicines, continue to pass the knowledge onto our youth and help provide for our elders. My favorite plant(s) change – usually depending on where I’m at. This summer I am living in Hydaburg – the original place name is Higdaa Gandlaay in the Haida language or Xaad Kil. As soon as I landed and got in a truck to head from Klawock to Hydaburg, I was enamored by the cedars. They are a cultural keystone species in the Tlingit culture and to other tribes in the area as well including Haida and Tsimshian. So today, my favorite plant is the cedar tree.
Welcome Alicia,
Great to hear about your plant enthusiasm and plans for keeping the traditional ways of knowing alive and incorporate them into hollistic wellbeing. Nothing better than going for a stroll in the woods to relieve some of the stress and anxiety of our daily lives. Cedars, yes, these are some great examples of charismatic Pacific Northwest trees. The cones of yellow cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis (D. Don) Oerst. ex D.P. Little) are gorgeous – Photograph by @) Kevin Newell (Photo ID #1346)