Taking it with them: Early human assisted plant dissemination in northwestern North America

Active plant resource management by northwestern North American Indigenous Peoples is increasingly recognized. Evidence of plant management – more than just “gathering” – has been provided by landscape burning, culturally modified trees, estuarine root gardens and berry gardens. Less studied are human roles in disseminating plants through translocation. Transplanting has been a common practice from the past century or so, as described by contemporary elders. Evidence of earlier human-assisted plant dissemination is more difficult to identify and verify. DNA analysis may be useful but does not confirm human involvement nor reflect small-scale translocation. Linguistic evidence – the borrowing or sharing of names that often accompanies distribution of products into the receiving language groups – is another tool that can be applied to identify potential botanical candidates of human dissemination. Evidence from all of these areas is building a convincing case of widespread and long-standing human assisted plant dissemination, including across major geographic regions.