A.
Program Background Information The National Park Service (NPS), through the Midwest Regional Office (MWRO), is seeking proposals to document ethnobotany and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) at Wind Cave National Park (WICA), South Dakota.
The NPS is undertaking this project to
establish a baseline of ethnobotany and ecological information that will be used in the protection and resource management of culturally significant plant species.
In addition, the information will be used to help in the analysis of any environmental effects of plant gathering allowed under the federal regulation that allows members of federally recognized tribes to collect plants in NPS units for traditional purposes.
The focus of this project is the inventory and documentation of plant species that members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe use for traditional purposes and that grow within the boundaries of Wind Cave National Park.
The inventory of species will be matched with the botanical inventory already maintained by the NPS.
The resulting compiled inventory and documentation will be used to formulate an environmental analysis on the applicability and sustainability of gathering the species, and any inform management changes needed to ensure sustainable plant gathering at the park.
This collaborative project between the NPS, the selected Recipient, and members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe will rely on ethnographic interviews with tribal members and primary and secondary literature source review and synthesis.
The project will include completion of a report outlining the purposes, methodology, findings, and conclusions of the project.
The study shall conform to professional standards regarding methodology of anthropological and ethnobotanical research and writing.
Stylistic and bibliographical standards shall conform to the current requirements of the journal American Anthropologist, and the current Chicago Manual of Style.