Under an awning at the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Birch Tree House in Old Town Kenai on Thursday, a small group of some of the tribe’s younger members rubbed steel wool along the stems of freshly cut devil’s club. The plant found throughout southcentral Alaska is known for its maple-shaped leaves and prickly stems.
As thorns fell to the ground, some began peeling the external layer of the stem, exposing a wood-like root. That’s one of the first steps in processing the plant for medicinal use.
Earlier in the day, the group harvested about 10 stocks of devil’s club with gardening shears during a rain shower in the Nikiski woods. Before snipping and chopping, the youth were reminded about traditional harvesting protocols.
“We go out and we prepare our mind and our hearts to be pure when we’re harvesting," said Audré Hickey, project coordinator for the tribe’s suicide prevention program. She led the day’s youth workshop.
"We thank the land, so you can give a strand of your hair, you can give water to the land, as a way of saying thank you for providing the devil’s club for us,” Hickey said.
Once collected, the group returned the leaves to the land and placed the devil’s club stems in a bucket. They’ll later mix the stalks with olive oil and beeswax to create a salve and make beads.
The young people participating in the program signed up for different reasons. Most wanted a way to entertain themselves during the last few days of their summer break. Others have experienced the healing properties of devil’s club first-hand and were curious about the process of making salve.
“My older sister, she gave me some devil’s club salve,” said 15-year-old Iris Hale. “I had a heart monitor on for a while, and the sticker left a rash thing. It really helped to heal that.”
Other youth at the workshop, like 12-year-old Julia Anderson, hadn’t thought much about devil’s club before. Now, she wants to use her new knowledge to help others.
“I wanted to see what I could do with the salve, for what it could be used or what to put it on, because I didn’t know what it was for,” Anderson said.
Hickey hopes the workshop opportunity will encourage indigenous youth to honor, respect and feel a deeper connection to the land. Not everyone has strong ties with plants in their daily lives, and she says working with native plants and learning about their uses can foster a deeper appreciation.
“We’re a suicide prevention program, so our main focus is culture," Hickey said. "I’ve had elders tell me that when we know who we are, we don’t hurt ourselves, and so we believe in strongly rooting youth in their culture to have a sense of self, to have a solid foundation for their life.”
The tribe’s suicide prevention program hosts hands-on activities throughout the year, including traditional oil lamp carvings, hikes, mushroom pickings and more. For more information about the program or to view upcoming events, visit the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Facebook page.
