The Plant Ambassador
Spring 2004

Happy 20th Anniversary AERA!

Jill Dedera and Phyllis Hogan pressing Sam Boone’s plant
specimens in the herb room at Winter Sun, 1984.

In November of 1983, AERA received official notice from the Internal Revenue Service that we had been recognized as a 501(C) 3. Based in Flagstaff, Arizona, AERA was the first independent nonprofit ethnobotanical organization of its kind. We are a bio-regional, educational and conservation grass roots organization that combines the wisdom of traditional native science with contemporary scientific methods.

AERA originated from the valiant desire of Navajo herbalist Sam B. Boone to preserve his herbal knowledge for future generations. Our first project with Sam was to document the plants he and other Navajo herbalists collected on and around the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff. The Peaks are known to the Navajo as the Sacred Mountain of the West and constitute a traditional Navajo herbal pharmacy. Founding members of the AERA are Phyllis Hogan, her eldest daughter Denise Tracy, and Mary and Sam Boone, Sr. Charter members are Jill Dedera, botanist with a special interest in rare and endangered plants of the southwest; Theresa Boone-Schuller Navajo bilingual educator; Michael S. Moore eminent southwest medical herbalist and director of the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine; Lucille Watahomige and Melinda Powski Hualapai bilingual educators; R.Carlos Nakai Navajo flautist and educator; and Pam Hyde Nakai, educator and southwest herbalist.

Ethnobotany is an old discipline still practiced around the world today and is commonly aimed at identifying novel plants with economic potential. This aim,however, has never been a priority to AERA. Western culture often values empirical knowledge to the exclusion of sacred and traditional knowledge. AERA places value in the wisdom of traditional ecological knowledge which is predicated on the natural laws of nature. We focus our attention on the youth because we believe that if a positive environmental transformation can occur it will happen by sharing traditional values with future generations.

AERA offers mentorships to indigenous students interested in applied ethno-ecology. We work as consultants to schools in both tribal and Anglo communities. We teach students by validating ancient oral history that dictates respect for nature and all living things.

We have assisted in the development of bilingual ethno-ecology programs, and teacher training on the Hualapai, Havasupai and Navajo reservations. Research projects include documentation and preservation of the comparative uses of beneficial plants by the indigenous people of the greater Southwest. We have conducted floristic inventories and threatened and endangered plant surveys for the National Park Services and the Coconino Forest Service. Our herbarium is the repository of more than 1,000 plant specimens that reflect the vast knowledge of the traditional indigenous herbalist and ceremonial practitioner who we have assisted over the past 20 years. A popular annual event is the Ethnobotanical Symposium we sponsor in early October.

We are grateful for the teachers and friends who took the time to instruct us in the value of nature and the important role plants have had in the history of human life on this planet.

The following is a photo Documentary of our beloved mentors who inspired us in our youth to respect and honor nature and all living beings. Their inspiration and wisdom lives on as it is passed from us to the next seven generations.

Sam B. Boone Sr. and Mary Archie Boone at Hart Prairie, Flagstaff, Arizona. Photo by John Aber, 1983.	Herbert Talahaftewa, a renowned Hopi bone doctor, herbalist and traditional practitioner fought for environmental justice and the protection of sacred traditional medicine gardens. His wife, Evangaline was an award winning basket weaver as well as head matriarch of the women's basket society in the village of Shongopovi. The Talahaftewas are pictured here in front of their home in the village of Shongopovi, Second Mesa, AZ in 1973. Photo courtesy of MNA
Alfred Frank Whiting, renowned Southwest Ethnologist and author of Ethnobotany of the Hopi. Pictured: A.F. Whiting trading with Vivian Tiwangihoma at Mishongnovi. Photo by Robert Fronske, 1938. Courtesy of the Museum of Northern Arizona	Dr. Walter B. McDougall, charter member of the ecological society of America and recipient of the 1977 eminent ecologist award. Dr. McDougall is pictured in his office at the Museum of Northern Arizona Herbarium. Photo by Marc Gaede, 1973. Courtesy of MNA
Senora Marion Valencia, proprietrous of Casa Valencia, practiced the art of herbalism for 50 years in the Sonoran Desert. She accumulated a vast comparative ethnobotanical repertoire of plants used by both Native American Indigenous cultures and Northern Mexican Curandaras. Senora Valencia is pictured here in front of her herb store in Coolidge, AZ. Photo by Phyllis Hogan, 1974.	Phyllis Hogan and Sam Boone, Sr. at Buffalo Park, Flagstaff, AZ in the spring of 1982. Photo by John Aber