A clam garden (k’yuu kudhlk’aat’iija in the

Haida language Haida (', ', ', ') is the language of the Haida people, spoken in the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the coast of Canada and on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. An endangered language, Haida currently has 24 native speakers, though revitalizatio ...

, lux̌ʷxiwēys in the

Kwakʼwala Kwakʼwala (), or Kwak̓wala, previously known as Kwakiutl (), is the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous language spoken by the Kwakwakaʼwakw (which means "those who speak Kwakʼwala") in Western Canada. Kwakʼwala be ...

language) is a traditional Indigenous management system used principally by

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coas ...

peoples. Clam gardens are a form of

mariculture Mariculture or marine farming is a specialized branch of aquaculture (which includes freshwater aquaculture) involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other animal products, in enclosed sections of the open ocean ( offshore mari ...

, where

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

peoples created an optimal habitat for clams by modifying the beach. These clam gardens are a food source for both First Nations peoples and animals. They also provide food security as they are a food source that can be readily harvested year-round. Clam gardens are found along the west coast of North America. Over 2,000 clam gardens have been identified on the coast of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Though most clam gardens are currently untended, restoration of sections of previously untended clam gardens are occurring in

Fulford Harbour Fulford Harbour is a residential community on the southeast side of Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, located near the island's southern end. Fulford Harbour is the site of a BC Ferries terminal with regular ferry service to Swartz Bay, Britis ...

Salt Spring Island Salt Spring Island or Saltspring Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada, and Vancouver Island. The island was initially inhabited by various Salishan peoples before being settled b ...

and on Russell Island located in the

Gulf Islands National Park Reserve Gulf Islands National Park Reserve is a national park located on and around the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada. In the National Parks System Plan, this park provides representation of the Strait of Georgia Lowlands natural region, the ...

Composition

Boulder wall

Once a location was chosen by an individual or a group of First Nations peoples, clam garden construction began with the creation of a boulder or rock wall along the shoreline of a beach. Strong individuals would roll large boulders down to the lowest tideline on the beach, thus creating a rock wall. The rising tide brings sediment over the rock walls, where it accumulates and creates an extended soft sediment beach area, creating ideal clam habitat. The rock wall is low enough that it allows the clam garden to be submerged at high tide, but tall enough that the beach is exposed for harvesting during low tide. Due to weather and the movement of tides, rock walls require continual maintenance. Historically, clam gardens were regularly tended to by First Nations individuals who moved rocks from inside the clam gardens onto the rock wall. Both archeological evidence and traditional knowledge assert that boulder walls were built up over time and continually maintained. New rocks were regularly added to the top of the boulder wall when First Nations peoples harvested the clam beds.

Sediment

The accumulation of sediment trapped by the boulder wall creates a flatter beach, which is an optimal growing habitat for clams. This sediment has an optimal density for clam growth, free from fine clay and silt particles that are washed away by the high tide. The density of the sediment was also due to the process of aerating the sand while clams were harvested. Many clam gardens also have a high amount of gravel and shell hash, which aid in aerating the sand. This density allows for freer movement of clams, in addition to easier removal of clams from the sediment.

Animals

Clam gardens are an ideal habitat for many animals. The modified beach attracts growth of many clams, notably:

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

, littleneck, cockle and horse clams. Animals such as

barnacles A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive ...

chiton Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora (), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized. They are also sometimes known as gumboots or sea cradles or coat-of-mail s ...

snails A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastrop ...

crabs Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

mussels Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,0 ...

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

, urchin, and

sea cucumbers Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuria ...

also live in clam gardens. Other animals such as ghost shrimp and

worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city **Worms (electoral district) *Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio, Italy Arts and entertainme ...

are found buried in the loose sediment.

Usage

Food source

Clam gardens were a food source for many Coast Salish peoples, and provided food security to many diverse First Nation communities. This was due to the abundance of clams that could be easily harvested and were readily accessible. Women and children were the primary group tasked with harvesting clams at low tide, though everyone in the community could participate. Once harvested, families could consume the clams immediately or smoke them to be preserved for the winter. Resources of clams, either smoked or harvested from the gardens were important since they served as sustenance when other foods were scarce. Some nations, such as the Kwakwaka’wakw nation, traditionally harvested clams from October to early March so as to avoid the

red tide A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural phycotoxin, algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are ...

. Clam gardens were not exclusive to humans but also served as a protein-rich food source for animals, such as bears, during the spring or summer. Animals such as raccoons, mink, river otters, bears, sea ducks, and geese also feed in clam gardens.

Knowledge transmission

Traditional clam harvesting also allowed for intergenerational knowledge transmission, with Elders passing down knowledge about clam gardens to the next generation. Clam gardens were similar to an outdoor classroom, where

traditional knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Organ ...

, language and cultural practices could be learned by the community.

Ownership

Each Nation has specific protocols and governance systems around land management, and many access areas are family-based. For clam gardens, families often asserted ownership by regularly tending to the beach and maintaining the rock wall. These clam gardens were stewarded for the next generation. Historically, unmanaged clam gardens could be harvested by anyone in the community. Families could claim ownership by building their own clam garden on an undeveloped beach area in their traditional territory.

Historical age

The exact age of the origin of clam gardening is unknown. In present day, scholars argue that accurately dating clam gardens is difficult due to the rock wall being submerged, in addition to rising sea levels. Archeologists are studying the ages of clam gardens using methods such as

optically stimulated luminescence In physics, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) is a method for measuring doses from ionizing radiation. It is used in at least two applications: * Luminescence dating of ancient materials: mainly geological sediments and sometimes fired pott ...

and

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

on the rock wall. Scholars are using both methods to gain a better understanding of the age of clam gardens. The results are different depending on the sample as evidence suggests walls were built up by communities over time. Dating results suggest that clam gardens range from 1000 to 1700 years old, whereas other samples indicate that they date back to 3000-3500 years. Conversely, many First Nations peoples have a different perspective of clam garden creation. For example, Clan Chief Adam Dick, ''Kwaxsistalla'' of the Kwakwaka'wakw nation, states that clam gardens have been around “since the beginning of time.” Tom Sewid, a Native Watchman of the Mamalilikulla-Qwe'Qwa'Sot'Em nation, states that his ancestors have maintained clam gardens over "thousands of years" citing clam gardens as title to his traditional lands.

Restoration

Today, the interdisciplinary and collaborative research group "The Clam Garden Network" is actively involved in continuously furthering the research about traditional clam garden management. In 2014, restoration work began to revive two clam gardens in the

in a project between Parks Canada and the Hul'q'umi'num and Saanich nations. The Swinomish Tribe of Washington built a new clam garden on

Kiket Island Kiket Island is a small islet in Washington, co-managed by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. Located at Snee Oosh, less than northwest of the town of LaConner in Skagit County, Wash ...

in 2022. It is believed to be the first clam garden built in the United States in over 200 years.

References

{{Reflist Clams Aquaculture Coast Salish