By Daniel Hart.
While the Great Sand Dunes are probably most well known as a natural and geological wonder, the shifting folds of graceful sinuous sand conceal wonders of a whole different order. Where sand slowly yields to grass, grass to bushes, then bushes to ponderosa pine trees, those with a sharp eye may notice that some of the more venerable ponderosa pine trees along Medano Pass exhibit what look like ancient battle scars where bark has been torn from their core.
These scars are not from an odd lightning strike, trail blazes, or from wild game; they are a rare living cultural resource found at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in abundance, and as far as researchers can tell, in one of the highest densities anywhere else in North America.
Marilyn Martorano, the leading archaeological expert in culturally modified trees (CMTs) has been studying these trees at the Park and Preserve since the 1970s. Her studies of these trees tell a story.
According to a 2009 study, there are 202 CMTs showing 222 scars throughout the Park and Preserve. The largest concentration of these is a large grove of ponderosa pine trees known as Indian Grove. In this grove, 72 trees exhibit 88 scars, some having more than one mark from repeated use.
Martorano said, “These trees tell us about past lifeways and events from a particular span of time of about 150 years.” Through dendrochronology, or tree ring dating, she dated the peeling activity to between 1777 and the early 1900s, the bulk of which happened between 1820 and 1879. There is a noticeable drop after 1879, which corresponds with gold being found nearby and an influx of Anglo mining. It is also the time when Utes were forcibly removed to reservations.
These culturally modified trees were a staple resource for dozens of Native American tribes from North Dakota to Oklahoma to Arizona who considered the Great Sand Dunes traditionally significant. Ponderosa pine trees were particularly sought out. They produce an especially sweet sap and their phloem (an inner layer just under the bark that is about 2-10 mm thick) is very nutritious. This sweet tasting, edible layer is a good source of carbohydrates, calcium, vitamin C, and other minerals and was used for food, medicine, and other traditional purposes. Harvested phloem could be stored for later use or eaten fresh. Traditional uses include it being made into tea, used as a preservative for meat, used as medicine to treat infections, or as a healing compress.
According to Richard Begay, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Navajo Nation, the trees were used for more than just food and medicine: “The trees were peeled like this to get the strong inner wood to make tools out of without harvesting the whole tree.” Bryan Vigil of the Jicarilla Apache also discussed the use of the trees by the Jicarilla.
The trees were used for food and medicine alike. In addition to helping with stomach problems he said, “That’s how we survived, eating those trees.”
The Southern Ute tribe has deep roots in the San Luis Valley and especially the Great Sand Dunes. They have oral history describing the use and significance of these trees. The Capote band in particular identifies the Great Sand Dunes as their ancestral home. According to Ute oral tradition, a cut was made at the bottom of the tree and the bark pulled upward.
Only enough bark was pulled away so they could get what was needed and no more to ensure the tree would live and could continue to be used in the future by people and animals for food and shelter. In some cases, these cut marks can still be seen and have not been completely covered by regrowth. Cassandra Atencio, the Southern Ute Tribal Preservation Officer, described how the Ute used these trees:
“These trees were used by our people coming out of winter when all they had been eating all winter was dried berries, dried jerky, and pemmican. It helped eating the cambium which brought their energy back.”
Her late father Alden Naranjo, the previous Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, also indicated it would help with stomach ailments from a limited diet all winter.
Today these trees still stand as a powerful symbol and direct link to the past for tribal members and those seeking to learn about the Park and Preserve’s cultural past. The power and significance of these trees as a cultural resource has been recognized at a national level. Fred Bunch, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Chief of Resource Management, said, “These are naturally occurring living things on the National Register (of Historic Places), not gardens or buildings or structures, which is traditionally what the National Register is designed to preserve, so these trees are really remarkable in that sense.”
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is designed to protect nationally significant archaeological, historical, and architectural sites but very rarely are living things ever nominated and accepted on the NRHP because they are a fleeting, changeable resource that cannot exhibit significance over time. So that makes these trees even more precious and a rarity among already rare things — worthy of the highest levels of protection and preservation.
So, if during a visit to the park you see these trees, be gentle, be respectful, and be stewards by only taking pictures and leaving them as memories of what was and for many tribal members what still is.