Factors affecting the production of berries of the red huckleberry plant in the Redwood Experimental Forest

Vaccinium parvifolium (red huckleberry) is a culturally and commercially valued food for different coastal tribes of northwestern California. Today some tribes are regaining access to ancestral lands, and Indigenous researchers are working to document information about culturally significant plant species and their management to reclaim traditional ecological knowledge and restore food sovereignty. The present study, focused on red huckleberry, Vaccinium parvifolium, took place in the ancestral territory of the Yurok Tribe, currently managed by the US Forest Service as the Redwood Experimental Forest (REF) in Klamath, CA. Geographic Information Systems-based mapping, forest ecological field data collection, and a literature review were applied to study cultural uses of red huckleberry and the legacy of colonial forest logging practices on red huckleberry distribution and productivity in the REF. The study explored the questions: 1) What site-specific factors (such as slope, the presence of overstory species, canopy openness, aspect, and forest management practices) correlate with berry production in red huckleberry plants in REF? 2) What physiological factors (such as stem length, number of stems, and number of nodes) influence the production of berries of red huckleberry in REF? Findings showed that for the REF, red huckleberry plants with the highest berry yield were in areas where clearcut logging had occurred in the past. Further, the number of stems, length of the longest stem, and quantity of stem forks or nodes positively correlated with the berry yield produced per shrub