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A Public Forum and Voice for Basketmakers

CIBA has brought attention from many quarters to issues raised by basketweavers. It has empowered basketweavers by investing them with a voice, which in turn has served to bring about positive change.

Weavers have found that their words, direct and from the heart, can have a great effect in shaping the destiny of their tradition. Not only has the formation of CIBA breathed new life into a threatened art, it has fostered confidence and leadership in California Indian women.

Conference Participation

As an organization representing the views of traditional Native American basketweavers, CIBA is now recognized as an effective advocate on issues related to the use of pesticides and Native American land management practices. The ability of CIBA to attract the attention of public agencies and significant individual supporters to address these specific issues of concern has begun to improve the overall environment for the practice of Native American basketry in California and beyond.

CIBA delegates, attending meetings and conferences with agencies, organizations and other Native Americans from around the country, have been encouraged to share their experiences as individuals, their experiences establishing a Native American advocacy organization, and their experiences in affecting change in state and national environmental policies.

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Work to Preserve Gathering Sites

Basketweavers are faced with problems of finding places to gather basket materials. Most traditional gathering sites have been lost to development, agriculture, logging, grazing, flooding, mining, or have become private property. On public lands some agencies require permits to gather plants for personal use and some do not. The first Basketweavers Gathering in 1991 created a forum for basketweavers to speak directly to representatives of public land agencies.

Work With Public Agencies for Land Management Policy Improvements

CIBA has continued the dialogue, with agencies such as the Forest Service, BLM, National Park Service and California Dept. of Parks and Recreation. Open and direct communication and "working from the top down" have proven to be powerful tools.

CIBA also strives to educate agencies, environmental groups and the public about traditional plant management techniques as practiced by basketweavers. By using methods such as pruning, digging, sowing, burning and selective harvesting, optimum plant growth and desired characteristics are achieved.

In addition to physical access, weavers must also have access to carry out these practices. The Association is involved in several programs on public and private lands to perpetuate and expand the use of these ancient horticultural methods.

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Work to Eliminate Pesticides in Gathering Areas

The use of pesticides on private and public lands is of utmost concern to California Indian basketweavers because of the harmful effects their use may have on the health of Native plant gatherers and communities, as well as the health and vitality of the environment. A weaver may be exposed to pesticides by making skin contact while gathering. In addition, most of the materials a weaver collects are passed through her mouth in preparing it for weaving. The plants that are eliminated by herbicide spraying because of their lack of commercial value are often the same plants that provide Native people with traditional foods and teas, are used in baskets and for healing, ceremonial and other traditional purposes.

In Northwest California, there has been a history of herbicide use for many years. National forests in the area have suspended their spraying programs in response to public pressure, but were responsible for dousing many acres with 2,4,5-T in years past, with disastrous results on pregnant women. Private timber companies continue the aerial bombardment by herbicides, using such hazardous chemicals as 2,4-D, atrazine, sulfometuron methyl, and triclopyr. One private timber company owns 87 percent of lands within the boundaries of the Yurok Reservation, which borders both sides of the lower Klamath River. There have been reports of high incidence of cancer, respiratory ailments and heart disease among communities of the lower Klamath watershed. Native people have also reported an absence of honeybees, deformities in fish and lesions on the internal organs of deer. CIBA has continued to bring attention to this situation for several year, yet it is a very difficult one to deal with, as private landholders are not answerable to public concerns about pesticide spraying.

On public lands, CIBA has been active in trying to end the use of pesticides on national forests, which have resumed their use after a moratorium of several years. While some national forests choose not to use herbicides, others such as the Stanislaus, Eldorado and Sierra National Forests are carrying out plans to spray many thousands of acres. On tribal lands, the Hoopa Tribe banned pesticide use on the Hoopa Reservation in 1978. Timber sales are an important source of income for the Tribe; timber sales run in the black, while manual removal of competing brush provides employment. The argument against such methods, however, is mainly an economic one. In terms of dollars, the cost of herbicide application costs less than "hand-grubbing" or mechanical methods. The Forest Service argues that it is necessary to use herbicides in areas where thousands of acres of trees have been burned and reforestation efforts are underway.

CIBA has been active in the effort to stop pesticide use on forest lands, meeting with representatives of State and Federal agencies to express the importance of basketweaving to Indian culture and concerns about the health effects of possible exposure to pesticides in the course of gathering and processing basketry plants and other natural resources utilized by California Indians.

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Work with Native Basketweaver Organizations Outside of California

The CIBA model serves to assist Native American basketweavers in other parts of the US seeking to reinvigorate their cultural traditions. CIBA representatives have traveled to Maine, theNorthwest, Southwest, Great Lakes and Great Basin regions regions to talk with Native basketweavers about our experiences in forming an association, and to encourage them in their own efforts to do so.

State and Regional Native Basketweaver Organizations

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Museums

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