Indigenous cultures around the world have an accumulated body of knowledge – known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) — that is heavily place based and concerned with the relationships of all living beings within an environment. Want to learn more?

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2013.

Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad: A Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC). Odanah, Wis.: GLIFWC, 2019.

Guidance Document on Traditional Ecological Knowledge Pursuant to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement prepared by the United States Caucus of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Task Team Annex 10 Science Subcommittee, February 2021. https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/bia/wstreg/Guidance_Document_on_TEK_Pursuant_to_the_Great_Lakes_Water_Quality_Agreement.pdf (accessed January 11, 2022).

Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management by Fikret Berkes. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis, 1999.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Natural Resources Management edited by edited by Charles R. Menzies. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2006.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning From Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability by Melissa K Nelson and Dan Shilling. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Understanding and Respecting Other Ways of Thinking (2016) by Linda Black Elk. Rangelands 38 (1): 3-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rala.2015.11.003

Use of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Marine Conservation (2005) by J.A. Drew. Conservation Biology 19(4):1286-1293. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00158.x

What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? By John Hausdoerffer, Brooke Parry Hecht and Melissa K Nelson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2021.

Anyone in Wisconsin can borrow the above books and more. Just email askwater@aqua.wisc.edu.