The Medicine Wheel

MICHAEL E. MARCHAND is former Chair and Council Member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and President of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Economic Development Corporation. KRISTIINA A. VOGT is Professor of Ecosystem Management at the University of Washington. RODNEY CAWSTON is an enrolled member and Chair of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. JOHN D. TOVEY is Director of Planning for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon. JOHN MCCOY is a Tulalip Tribal member and Senator for Washington's 38th Legislative District. NANCY MARYBOY is Cherokee/Navajo, President and Founder of the Indigenous Education Institute at Friday Harbor, Washington, and Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of Washington. CALVIN T. MUKUMOTO provides forestry/business services in Indian Country and to minority small business owners. DANIEL J. VOGT is a Soil and Ecosystem Ecologist at the University of Washington and a Cofounder of the Forest Systems and Bioenergy program in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. MELODY STARYA MOBLEY is Cherokee and the first Black woman hired as a wildlife biologist by the U.S. Forest Service, as well as an independent consultant and author.

The Medicine Wheel built by Indigenous people acknowledges that ecosystems experience unpredictable recurring cycles and that people and the environment are interconnected. The Western science knowledge framework is incomplete when localized intergenerational knowledge is not respected and becomes part of the problem-definition and solution process. The goal of this book is to lay the context for how to connect Western science and Indigenous knowledge frameworks to form a holistic and ethical decision process for the environment. What is different about this book is that it does not just describe the problems inherent to each knowledge framework, but offers new insights for how to connect culture/art to science knowledge frameworks. Read this book and learn how you can move beyond stereotypes to connect with nature.