How did indigenous people use

the trees of Alberta?

The Lodgepole Pine
● Alberta’s Provincial tree
● Used to create tipi poles
○ Size
○ Height
○ Abundance
● Where would we get the
straightest trees?
 The Manitoba Maple
● All tree sap has sugar in it, but maple has
the most
● First Nations discovered how to render this
sap into sugar and syrup
○ They sold maple sugar and syrup and
Fur Trading Posts
● Inner bark can be eaten fresh, dried,
powdered
○ Thickened soups and used in bread
● Wood was used for: baskets (trap fish),
snowshoes, bows, spear handles
 Sitka Spruce
● From the roots, First Nations
water tight hats and baskets
● Inner bark was eaten as a
source of Vitamin C
● Pitch (like dried out sap) was
used as medicine for burns
and skin irritants
Wolf Willow
● The seeds were used as beads in
necklaces and decorations by First
Nations people
● The fruit and seeds are edible both
cooked and raw and were used as a food
source
● The bark is strong and flexible so it was
used for weaving and rope making