Fuel

Tamarack

People should leave an offering when collecting any part of a tamarack tree.

Caroline Andre of Tsiigehtchic said, “This is real good medicine. They say you have to pay for it, leave sugar or tea behind.”

English

Spruce

As food

Spruce gum, dzèh kwan' (G) dzih drinh' (T), is the hard, older kind of tree sap or pitch, with a red or rose colour. It can be picked year round from the trees with a knife, stick or fingers. It can then be chewed like a piece of gum. Both the gum and the juice it produces can be swallowed as you chew. Spruce gum was commonly given to children as a treat when out in the bush cutting wood or picking berries.

As medicine

English

Poplar

As medicine
The buds, which are very sticky, are collected in the spring before they open and then boiled. Drinking the tea relieves cold symptoms. The resin which collects on the side of a pot can be used for cuts. The sticky buds can be applied to a sore to aid healing. Long ago, people burned the bark of poplar and then mixed the ashes into dog food. This helped control worms and keep dogs’ fur in good condition.
Source: Andre, Alestine and Alan Fehr, Gwich'in Ethnobotany, 2nd ed. (2002)
 
English

Willow

As fuel
The small, dry twigs found among branches on the willow tree are good for starting fires. Mary Francis (COPE,c) said that willow was used to make smoke for drying meat. 
 
As food
In the spring, the Gwich’in peel bark from the new shoots and lick the sweet juice, chew the stem or eat the tips. Annie Norbert said,

           Mrs. Norris used to eat the pussy buds just like that.

English

Red willow (alder)

As food
Annie Benoit of Aklavik says that scraping off the dark outer covering of the bark is an option before eating or boiling it. Medicine from red willow is considered as valuable as spruce gum tea. The bark can be collected year round from any size of red willow.
 
As fuel
Effie Francis (COPE) preferred alder wood for drying fish:
English

Moss (sphagnum moss)

As diapers
Gwich’in women used to hang wet moss in branches of willows to dry and get rid of bugs. (The bugs crawl out or drop from the drying moss.) The dry moss was stuff and sewn into cloth sugar bags for use as diapers. Strips of cloth were used to tie the diapers on.
 
As cleaner
Wet moss was used for washing dishes, cleaning hands and wiping off fish and fish tables.
 
As trail marker
English
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