Alaska Natives Explore the Health Benefits of Indigenous Berries Using “Screens to Nature”
August 2009 marked the third year of collaboration between GIBEX and the Alaska tribal communities of Seldovia, Akutan, and Point Hope. GIBEX scientists from the University of Illinois, Rutgers University, and North Carolina State University returned to Alaska with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to interface with communities and share with them the findings generated from laboratory research on the berries. This trip continues the Environmental Protection Agency STAR Program grant entitled “Impacts of climate change on health benefits of a tribal Alaskan resource: Integrating traditional ecological knowledge with risk assessment through local monitoring”. This project blends social science and biological science approaches while engaging with Alaska Native Tribes, and is part of a program for Methods Development for Modeling Health Impacts of Global Climate Change, through the National Center for Environmental Research (NCER).
Point Hope, following a winter with above-average snowfall, had a bumper crop of berries, and the whole community was excited about the berry-picking season. The team went out a local guide, wandering east of town through the tundra. Our guide was eager to show the team the great harvest as well as some secret berry patches. The cool wind blowing off the Chukchi Sea sliced across the tundra, a sharp reminder of how soon winter clamps down this far north. We wandered across the spongy landscape, helping her pluck the reddish-orange salmonberries, while talking about the history and culture of Point Hope.
A community forum generated ample discussion about the berries, and the potential effects climate change could have upon their beloved fruit. These unique indigenous berries are believed to be health promoting by elders for generations, and they have relied on wild berries as part of their subsistence diets. The local tribal people were pleased to have laboratory science support wisdom of the elders, even providing specific evidence to the berries’ ability to aid in fighting diabetes and obesity, was welcome news. The effects of climate change were more sobering to a community that was already describing changes in their traditional lifestyles, including shifts in the sea ice and permafrost.
Later, the team spoke to school classes, ranging from 3rd-12th grade, about the project. Teachers and students were very engaged, as it was their work on the Screens-to-Nature which began the laboratory work. Several students remembered their time working on the assays, and recognized the assays from the pictures and descriptions in the presentation. The community was very inviting, with people of all ages interested in talking about the project, swapping stories about their families’ berry collecting habits, recipes, and lifestyles. We even were invited to the school’s annual picnic on the Chukchi Sea coast, and had the chance to sample the traditional dessert agutuk, a mixture of salmonberries, blackberries, sugar, and animal fat (like caribou oil).
The team also visited the southern coastal village of Seldovia, on the Kenai Peninsula. The berry season was much different from that of Point Hope, as we learned while scouting for salmonberries near Red Mountain. While the summer was long and warm - according to the local guide who accompanied us – with good rainfall, the winter had not been optimal for berry fruit growth. Scant snowfall left the berries exposed to a cold snap, and there were fewer berries produced as compared to other years.
The community meeting was engaging, with a lot of questions about the laboratory research, how the berries were treated, and the final analysis of the fruit. The mouse study, where the berry extracts reduced the post-meal blood glucose levels, were of special interest to them and its effects on diabetes.
The team attempted to reach Akutan to share the findings of the research, but variable weather conditions and high winds kept the sea plane (known locally as the “Goose”) from flying its regular schedule, and the team was forced to cancel the trip. They are in plans to have a video conference with the community later this fall to fill them in on the details of the project.
By Josh Kellogg
