The Medicine Wheel: Environmental Decision-Making Process of Indigenous Peoples

The Medicine Wheel built by Indigenous people acknowledges that ecosystems experience unpredictable recurring cycles and that people and the environment are  interconnected. The Western science knowledge framework is incomplete unless localized intergenerational knowledge is respected and becomes part of the problem-definition and solution process. The goal of this book is to lay the context for how to connect Western science and Indigenous knowledge frameworks to form a holistic and ethical decision process for the environment. What is different about this book is that it not only describes the problems inherent to each knowledge framework but also offers new insights for how to connect culture and art to science knowledge frameworks. Read this book and learn how you can move beyond stereotypes to connect with nature.

RODNEY CAWSTON is an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes, he is the Chair of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville, previously he was the Tribal Relations Manager for WA DNR, PhC University of Washington Seattle in Holistic Management of Nature.

JOHN D. TOVEY is Director of Planning for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, PhC in Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington Seattle, he was an NSF IGERT Fellow.

JOHN MCCOY is a Tulalip Tribal member, Senator in Washington’s38th Legislative District, former General Manager of Quil Ceda village and White House Computer Technician.

NANCY MARYBOY is a Cherokee/Navajo, President and Founder of the Indigenous Education Institute at Friday Harbor, Affiliated Professor at the University of Washington Seattle, PhD California Institute of Integral Studies in Indigenous Science (Astronomy) in San Francisco.

CALVIN T. MUKUMOTO has a Forest Management and a U.W. Master of Business Administration from the Executive MBA Program. He has his own company “Mukumoto Associates” and provides forestry/business services in Indian Country and to minority small business owners.