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This Film Series Documents How Native Alaskans Survive in Endless Snow

“Ties to Alaska’s Wild Plants” explores indigenous ethnobotany.

How have Native Alaskans survived for

thousands of years

in one of the world's harshest climates?

A new series of films produced by filmmaker Sarah Betcher and University of Alaska Museum of the North curator Steffi Ickert-Bond provides some answers by focusing on traditional Alaskan indigenous uses for plants.

The project, Ties to Alaska's Wild Plants, was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

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The first film in the series documents Tlingit elder Helen Watkins in Juneau, Alaska. She demonstrates how a prickly shrub called Oplopanax horridus, or devil's club, can be used to treat a wide range of ailments, from coughs and colds to stomach ulcers. It can survive in up to minus 20 degrees fahrenheit.

In the video, Watkins demonstrates how devil's club can be processed into salves, oils, and even beads for jewelry. She also talks about the plant's spiritual significance.

Many of the people Betcher visited reported seeing the effects of climate change in their lifetimes

In each video, Betcher has Iñupiat elders explain the traditions of their people in their own words. Historically tribal knowledge has been passed down orally, so the videos are an appropriate format for the techniques to be preserved.

Alaska Natives make up about 15 percent of the state's population. Unfortunately, poverty has plagued Native Alaskans throughout the state for decades. In recent years, several tribes have also experienced a devastating spike in suicides.

To make matters worse, police kill Native Americans at almost the same rate as African-Americans, according to the CDC. Alaska's rape rate is also is the highest in the country, and sexual violence is believed to disproportionately affect native populations.

Oftentimes, these depressing statistics are the only story that the media tells about Native Americans. Ties to Alaska's Wild Plants offers an alternative perspective, highlighting positive aspects of tribal culture.

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The films also come at a time when climate change is undermining the traditional lifestyle of many tribes.

Over the past 60 years, the average temperature across Alaska has increased by around 3 degrees fahrenheit, twice the rate of the continental US.

Food is expensive in remote communities in Alaska, and it's not practical for most families to rely on purchased goods alone, but local resources are becoming scant too. As the supply of fish and game decline, many Native Alaskans who rely on fishing and hunting for income and food have struggled to find other alternatives.

Rising sea levels are also causing flooding along some of Alaska's coasts, forcing more than 30 tribes to relocate their entire villages.

Many of the people Betcher visited reported seeing the effects of climate change in their lifetimes. "The Arctic is changing faster than any place on the planet," she said.

"If we record the traditional ways of today, it can help us learn about how traditions change through time, and inevitably help us to adapt as climate change continues to change our world," Betcher said.

You can watch the series here.