MAY THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN
Experiences with Passive Agriculture
Christopher Nyerges

One day I was in a wild section of Pasadena's Arroyo Seco collecting
pencil-thick willow twigs for craft projects. I'd collected wood in
this area for several years, and now I had moved a bit south from where
I'd done my heaviest collecting. I had been in this completely wild
area for about an hour, removing all the dead branches, and pruning
away the many twigs and branches that rubbed against each other or were
otherwise too thick. That was my typical procedure before collecting
twigs that I was going to use.
This day, I noticed that a man had walked along the trail, and
appeared to be hiding behind a tree across the river. He was very
obvious to me, but I think he really thought I didn't see him. After
awhile, I simply called to him, said hello, inviting him to come on
over. He was a young Indian man who told me he was the "caretaker" for
this area, appointed by the local chief. He then went on to say that
his job was to protect the land from people like me who ruin it by all
their careless cutting and damage.
After he explained to me that I was the problem, I showed him that I
had only been removing dead wood, and doing careful pruning. He then
went on to say that he was there to collect some willow shoots for a
pipe he was making, and he didn't think he'd find any good wood there because people like me ruined the trees.
I smiled, and told him that the reason there was no good shoots in
that specific area was not because I was there, but because I had not
been there in the last few seasons. This got his attention. I said that
if he wanted good willow shoots, follow me and I'd take him to where
I'd already done intensive pruning the last two years.
We walked upstream, and there were very healthy willow trees,
well-pruned, and plenty of the shoots he was seeking. He took what he
needed, and I told him that-- in the old days-- when people pruned
regularly, the plants were much healthier and produced more usable
shoots year-round. I told him that I wasn't the problem-- that I was on
his side-- and that such intensive use, done carefully and
scientifically, is clearly a benefit to the forest.
Many times we jump to conclusions when we don't have all the facts. We
also reach false conclusions about these matters when we ask the wrong
questions.
PASSIVE AGRICULTURE

I've long heard of the land management methods of Native Americans,
mostly by means of burning areas of land. When grass and oaklands were
burned, for example, lower deadgrowth would be removed, there'd be a
layer of ash-fertilizer on the ground, and harmful insects would be
eliminated.
In the early 1990s, I was producing craft items from willow sticks and
other woods, which required hundreds of pencil-thin pieces of willow
every week. I would go into wild areas-- areas where there was no
irrigation, and areas which were overgrown and untended-- and carefully
prune these willows and other trees to produce my needed craft supplies.
By the first season, I'd pretty much "staked out" all the local wild
areas where I knew I could go and harvest. But I didn't just go and take. I went to these area with good tools, and I would carefully bring
health back to these little patches of willow (or other native shrubs
and trees). I began by removing all the dead wood. And being a trained
tree-pruner, I could not just prune the twigs I needed. I could not
resist doing some proper pruning-- I removed branches that were
rubbing, or thinned out sections where there were too many branches for
them all to do well, and I removed downward-growing branches.
Even though no one else went into these areas, my "regular" trees all
started to look healthier and begin to put out new growth. With the
dead wood removed, and the trees pruned, they began to receive more
sun. I trampled down the dead branches and pruned branches as mulch for
the trees. Sometimes, ground squirrels took those prunings and built
nearby nests.
By the second season, I noticed that the best "new growth" was
occuring on the trees I'd just pruned, NOT in the wholly wild areas.
A professonal tree pruner told me that there is a scientific reason
for this, that when a tree is cut, it sends out chemicals to that area
to stimulate growth as a direct response to the cut. He didn't recall
the name of that chemical, but he told me that the tree was saying
"Alert! Limb under attack! Send reinforcements." He told me that this
is why pruned trees can be so much more productive than wild trees, and
this is precisely what was happening with the Native American's use of
Passive Agriculture methods-- even though they were mainly using fire.
I'd pruned so many hundreds of trees in my craft work that certain
isolated areas actually began to look park-like, and were consistently
the areas where the best new growth appeared.
I learned of these passive agricultural methods by studying how Native
Americans used fire (and other methods) in their land management of
Southern California. I have also experienced first-hand that precise
and selective pruning and plant collection absolutely results in a
greater yield for the fruits of the land. That I had the opportunity to
share my learning and personal experiences to a modern Native American
gave me great inner joy. This was my way to close the great circle of
human experience, and to make a new friend.
FURTHER READING:
The best book on the passive agriculture methods described here can be found in Tending the Wild by M. Kat Anderson, University of California Press, 2005. Another reference is Christopher Nyerges' Enter the Forest Survival News Service, 2000.

CHRISTOPHER NYERGES is the editor of Wilderness Way magazine. He is the author of Guide to Wild Foods, Enter the Forest, and co-author of Extreme Simplicity. He has led wild food outings and wilderness trips since 1974. For information about his books, videos, and field trips, contact him at School of Self-reliance, Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, (323) 255-9502, or www.ChristopherNyerges.net or www.wwmag.net.