Download Plants of the Flathead Reservation

Plants of the Flathead Reservation
Leslie Dalbey
7th Grade Life Science
Polson Middle School
Ethnobotany
“the plant lore and
agricultural customs
of a people”
dictionary.com
Project Goals
 Use plant field guides to identify plant
species of the Flathead Reservation.
 Take pictures of plants in the field and use
them to create posters showcasing local
species and their traditional Salish and/or
Kootenai uses.
 Survey nitrogen fixing plants in the
Montana ecosystem.
 Increase students sense of place and
awareness and appreciation of local flora.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
 Utilize technology to take pictures of plants.
 Recall the common names for 10 plant species
from our classroom collection of plants.
 Describe one traditional use for each of the 10
plant species from our classroom collection.
 Speak the Salish or Kootenai name for any 5 of
the 10 plants.
 Identify three Montana plants that fix nitrogen
and explain the importance of such plants.
 Work with a partner to create a poster about one
Montana plant species for the Polson Middle
School Creativity Showcase.
Montana Science
Content Standards
 1.6 Compare how observations of
nature form an essential base of
knowledge among the Montana
American Indians.
 3.4 Investigate and explain the
interdependent nature of populations
and communities in the environment
and describe how species in these
populations adapt by evolving.
 3.5 Create and use a basic
classification scheme to identify plants
and animals.
Materials
 11 x 17 cardstock
 clear contact paper
 flagging tape
 poster board
 colored pencils
 markers
 Rocky Mountain Tree Finder
 Native American Ethnobotany
 Montana Plants and Early Peoples
 ipads, camera phones, and/or cameras
Phase 1:
Plants
of the Reservation
Field Trip
 In the classroom, students will be versed in how to
use plant characteristics along with guidebooks to
identify species.
 On the field trip, students will use the guidebooks
to practice identifying pre-marked plants.
 Students will work with a partner to extensively
photograph one plant species.
 With the help of a Montana nitrogen fixing plant
identification sheet and 1 meter sampling frames,
students will survey the abundance and types of
nitrogen fixing plants at the selected location.
 Members of the Salish and Kootenai cultural
committees will hopefully either join us on the field
trip or in the classroom on another day to share
traditional uses of various plants.
Nitrogen
Fixing Plant
Survey
vegetation sampling frame
Phase 2:
Poster Creation
Utilizing pictures students took in
the field, guidebooks, information
gathered about the traditional
uses of the plant, and art
supplies, pairs of students will
work to create a poster for their
assigned plant species.
Phase 3: Creativity Showcase
 During Polson Middle School’s annual Creativity
Showcase, the completed plant posters will be
displayed for community members to see.
 Show or play recorded oral histories about
traditional Salish and/or Kootenai uses of
several plant species which students can record
using the ipad.
Timeline:
Summer 2014: Collect and press plants to
create classroom collection
September 2014: Plants of the
Reservation Field Trip
Winter 2014-2015: Create posters and
audio or visual recordings of traditional
plants uses
February 2015: Polson Middle School
Creativity Showcase
Special thanks to the following
MSU faculty and staff:
 C.W. (Bill) McLaughlin, Ph.D. Director Science Horizons Initiative
and teaching professor Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry
 Tess Corbin Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry and assistant director
of Science Horizons Initiative
 Nicole Rae, Ph.D. Dean of Letters and Sciences
 Mary Cloninger, Ph.D. Chair of Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
 John Peters, Ph.D. Director of T.B.I, professor of Chemistry and
Biochemistry
 Chris Bahn, Ph.D. Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
 Angela DesJardins Director Montana Space Grant Consortium
 Chris Harmon Project Coordinator Montana Space Grant Consortium
 Jamie Cornish, Ph.D. Outreach Specialist Extended University
 Walter Flemming, Ph.D. Chair of Native American Studies Dept
 2014 MAP Students
Resources
 http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/smp/solo/docu
ments/GTRs/INT_280/Jurgensen_INT280.php#table1
 Plant Pow Wow Kathy Widdicombe
http://www.sciencehorizonsinitiative.com/prev/p
rev.html
 http://bethpartin.com/page/5/
 http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/riogrande/learning
 http://mathbench.umd.edu/modules/envscience_sampling/page09.htm
 http://www.cskt.org/services/index.htm
 http://www.norman.k12.ok.us/index.php?supply
-lists