January 15, 2010 First Nations, an indigenous peoples of Canada, revive ancient practice of gathering the wild roots wapato and camas for food.
“According to the best available case study, the waters around Sauvie Island, just north of Portland, Oregon, produced enough tubers in 1890 to provide at least 31,000 people with 20 per cent of the calories they needed for the year, all while maintaining healthy wetlands for waterfowl, muskrat, sturgeon and other species. In such quality habitat, an inexperienced person could harvest an estimated 350 tubers (about six pounds) in an hour.”
