![]() ![]() It opened a path for Indigenous people to renew cultural practices and relations with valued places in their homelands. This was a significant development for both national parks and the Tribes with whom they consult. ![]() In 2015, the National Park Service issued regulations for the gathering of certain plants or plant parts by federally recognized Indian tribes. For most of the last century, the federal government has prohibited Wabanaki people from harvesting sweetgrass within the boundaries of Acadia National Park. Wabanaki people have lost access to the coast as settlement patterns begun by European colonists continue to encroach on their traditional territories. ![]() Gathering sweetgrass was once a common ritual along the shores of what is now the State of Maine. ![]() Through their interactions with land, water, sea, and sky, they cultivate knowledge that sustains and transforms their identity. The Wabanaki, People of the Dawn-the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot-have lived in the Acadia region since time immemorial. When they carry the grass home and fashion it into fancy baskets, braids, pottery, medicine, ceremony, and prayer, the fragrance lingers, an elusive blend of vanilla, salt, evergreen, and earth: sweetgrass. As they search and gather, they stimulate the grass to send up new shoots for future years. ![]()
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