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The letter is a response to a study conducted by Armstrong et al. that allegedly misrepresented the scale of a study by Oswald et al. on Indigenous and climate-mediated fire in southern New England. The authors of the letter argue that settler scholars conducting research on Indigenous Peoples can perpetuate stereotypes and biases. They criticize Oswald et al.'s findings, stating that their data does not support their claim of limited impact from Indigenous Peoples in the region. The letter emphasizes the importance of considering biases and adopting anti-racist and decolonial methods in research on Indigenous land-use. It also acknowledges the need for careful scrutiny of historical and paleoecological data for effective management strategies. The authors agree that broad western implementations of "Indigenous management" should be critiqued and suggest that contemporary practices may omit important aspects of Indigenous management. [Extracted from the article]

Were the ancient Coast Salish farmers? Conventional anthropological wisdom asserts that the ethnographically known communities of the Northwest Coast of North America were "complex hunter-fisher-gatherers" who lacked any form of concerted plant food cultivation and production. Despite decades of extensive ethnobotanical and paleoethnobotanical study throughout the Pacific Northwest demonstrating the contrary, this "classic anomaly" is still a cornerstone of anthropological and archaeological canons. The recent discovery of a spectacularly preserved wetland wapato (Indian potato, Sagittaria latifolia) garden, built 3,800 years ago in Katzie traditional territory near Vancouver, British Columbia, has helped recast this picture, alongside evidence for other forms of resource management practiced by Northwest Coast peoples. This article examines "origins of agriculture" stories from three distinctive perspectives: Coast Salish Katzie people who cultivated wapato for millennia; settlers who colonized the Fraser River Delta historically, bringing with them their own ideas about what constitutes farming; and archaeologists, who are challenged by these data to reevaluate their own understandings of these cultural constructs. These perspectives have critical bearing on the historical appropriation of lands and waterways by settler communities in British Columbia as well as contemporary questions of sovereignty and stewardship in this region and well beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]