Wabanaki Plant Gathering in Acadia National Park: Employing Indigenous Research Methodology to Restore Traditional Sweetgrass Harvesting.

Suzanne Greenlaw is a citizen of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and a Ph.D candidate at the University of Maine School of Forest Resources. She is an ethnobotanist focused on mobilizing Indigenous Knowledge and cultural practices to address Indigenous cultural resource issues such as reduced access, invasive species planning, and loss of traditional food sources.  

Suzanne currently co-leads a project that facilitates the development of plant gathering agreements between the Wabanaki Nations and Acadia National Park. This interdisciplinary works focuses on Wabanaki stewardship approaches and cultural protocols to assert indigenous sovereignty within natural resource management. Suzanne’s talk will focus on the Indigenous Research Methodology and participatory action research approach to facilitate sweetgrass gathering in Acadia National Park. This research aims to provide a template of culturally appropriate engagement between Native American gatherers and National Parks. 

About the Series: These virtual sessions will highlight the ongoing work of Native researchers and scholars. Participants will have the opportunity to learn from Indigenous people working in fields such as Ethno-botany, Educational Studies, History, and Anthropology.