"Maybe because we have devastated the habitat…we have lost the population of these tropical and neo-tropical migratory birds, which are so important to the Hopi ceremonial cycle."
Being a silviculturalist, I got detailed to the Hopi Reservation for six months, and that was to help them manage, or write a management plan for their pinyon and juniper woodland, as well as their riparian area. What we did is, we went ahead and I did an environmental assessment where we assessed the—especially on the riparian—we were going to try to get rid of the exotic species that were introduced back in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, in the name of soil conservation. These introduced species have pretty much taken over some of these riparian areas. Mainly salt cedar and Russian olive were the two exotic species. The management prescription that I wrote was to get rid of that so that it would go back into kind of a native riparian vegetation, with cottonwoods and willows would be the primary native species. These native species are very crucial habitat for tropical or neo-tropical migratory birds that come all the way from Mexico and South America to go up to the reservation. Really, these migratory birds are not year-round residents. The ecological or cultural connection about this uniqueness is the Hopis, in their ceremonial use, the feathers of these tropical/neo-tropical migratory birds in their feathers, as far as in their ceremonials, as well as their prayer feathers, too. So it's that spiritual, ceremonial, spiritual connection. When these exotic species of Russian olive and salt cedar were introduced—those were the thirties, forties, and fifties—they've taken over pretty much the riparian areas, and so there was a decline in these bird populations, and there was less and less of these birds.
And also, during that era in the fifties, livestock were introduced on the reservation, and a lot of the pinyon-juniper woodlands were cut to make room for more forbs and grass species to grow so that livestock can have something—feed for the livestock. When livestock were introduced, there came along with the livestock is what is called a cowbird. It's a blackbird that feeds on the parasites of the livestock. It's also an aggressive bird that takes over the nests of these tropical and neo-tropical migratory birds. And maybe because we have devastated the habitat for these tropical birds, and because of the introduction of the livestock and these cowbirds or blackbirds, we have lost the population of these tropical and neo-tropical migratory birds, which are so important to the Hopi ceremonial cycle.