Modeling spatial distributions of Amah Mutsun priority cultural plants to support Indigenous cultural revitalization

Abstract

AbstractAlong the Central Coast of California, USA, native plant biodiversity has depended on various forms of Indigenous stewardship such as burning, tilling, and gathering. Simultaneously, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band (the Tribe) depends on these native ecosystems for cultural survivance. However, much of the knowledge related to the location and caretaking of cultural plants has become dormant in the community due to the immediate and ongoing effects of Euro‐American colonization. We identified potential gathering areas by modeling the spatial distributions of 10 culturally important plants throughout the Tribe's stewardship area. We utilized community science datasets with an ensemble modeling approach that combines the results of five machine learning models to predict not only the distribution of each species, but also the relative certainty of those predictions spatially. Our results revealed that 265.2 km2 (2.1%) of the Tribe's stewardship area is predicted habitat for seven or more of these cultural plants, and that the Tribe has potential access to approximately a third of these high‐priority areas. Our findings will directly inform the Tribe's cultural revitalization and ecological stewardship programs. We show how geospatial models can support the revitalization of an Indigenous culture by renewing relationships with cultural plants.