A Burning Issue:
Backyard Burning an Unhealthy Practice
 

 by Barbara Gray  
Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force legal Researcher

   It is my belief that many people do not realize the horrible environmental and human health risks linked to backyard burning.  Many of us grew up taking our trash to the burn barrel or ground fire as a way to get rid of the household's unwanted solid waste. 

This article is written in the spirit of seeking to educate people to the risks of backyard barrel and ground burning.   I believe that once people understand the harm they are doing to the environment, themselves, their children, and their neighbors, they will stop the unhealthy practice and use alternative practices like recycling to get rid of their trash.  

Backyard burning has been found to be more dangerous to one's health then smoking.  Many things account for this fact.  Since the location of the burning is in a populated area, in one's backyard, the smoke does not have time to dilute up into the atmosphere.  Instead, the smoke plumes hover near the ground exposing humans and the environment to high concentrations of a mixture of toxic pollutants.   

The smoke from barrel burning contains a mixture of fine particulates and gases.  Unfortunately, the fine particulars can find themselves into the tiniest reaches within one's lungs.  The gases often consist of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, dioxin, furan, benzo-a-pyrene, phenanthrene and acrolein.  These toxic gases can cause numerous health problems, and some have been known to cause cancer. 

To make matters worse many backyard burners absent mindedly throw in painted and treated woods, plastics, vinyl, rubber, fertilizers, pesticides, and other materials that should never be burned in backyard fires because of the release of toxic substances.  According to burnbarrel.org:

"Burning plastics can be especially problematic, with PVC plastic in particular contributing to high emissions of dioxin. Dioxin is a persistent, bioaccumulative toxin which means it isn't broken down into safer chemicals, and it is concentrated in the food chain. As dioxin in burn barrel smoke drifts away to eventually settle on nearby fields, it can be eaten by cows where it is concentrated in their fat. Some is then excreted with the milk while the rest remains in the animal's fat. When humans consume dairy products and meat they end up with the long-lived dioxin in their own bodies. The US EPA now considers burn barrels a major source of dioxin. They also consider that current dioxin levels in Americans, due to consumption of dairy and meat, are high enough to add a significant cancer risk, as well as other serious health risks."  

The smell of sweetgrass always brought a smile to my grandmother's face.  It also triggered in her mind many narratives.  As a child, I sat at the knees of my grandmother and great aunties.  I listened to them speak the language and tell stories as I made black ash splint horses with tiny sweetgrass reins from the leftover basket making materials.  I did not know it then, but as they made baskets and talked, something wonderful was happening.  It was the transference of ecological knowledge from their generation to the next.

 The Latin name for sweetgrass is Hierochloe odorata.  The Kahniakeha (People of the Flint) Mohawk call it wenserakon ohonte. This perennial grass is native to North America, and it grows to be about three feet long.  Sweetgrass is used to make baskets and also has medicinal uses.  "A leaf tea is used for coughs, sore throats, chafing, and in childbirth to control bleeding and expel the afterbirth." (Awesasne Task Force on the Environment, 1998) 

     Sweetgrass grows well in moist fertile soil that is mixed with sand.  It grows well in partial shade.  It also does well in salt marshes and can grow well along the freeways perhaps because of the sand and salt used on the roads during the winter.  Interestingly, sweetgrass does not grow well in soil with too much clay because it prevents the rhizomes (thick white roots) from growing.

Sweetgrass produces seeds but, unfortunately, only 5% of the seeds are fertile.  The best way for sweetgrass to propagate is through its thick white roots (rhizomes). Today basket makers and medicine gathers are having a hard time finding sweetgrass.  Part of the problem is due to the loss of habitat.  A small percentage of sweetgrass habitats are lost naturally as Mother Earth changes swampy meadows into forests.  A greater percentage of sweetgrass habitats are lost to human impacts development projects like housing and the filling in of wetlands. 

Humans and sweetgrass have lived interdependent on each other for years.  Sweetgrass grows about 10 inches tall until it falls back on itself.  It can reach about three feet long.  Humans harvesting the blades of grass actually prevent the plant from smothering itself.  Unfortunately, many have forgotten their traditional teachings and the spiritual loss is adding to the decline of sweetgrass.

I remember the elders warning about improper harvesting.  They said the best way to gather sweetgrass is by pinching the grass, or cutting it with a knife, a few inches above the ground.   This is sound advice because such a manner of gathering sweetgrass leaves the roots intact and able to send up new shoots. 

We are not powerless.  There are things that we can do to assure that the next generation has sweetgrass.  Here are a few things we can do:

• We should make sure that we harvest according to the principles found within our traditional teachings by giving thanks, never taking more than needed, and never harming the habitat or plant so that it can reproduce and continue its duty in the Great Web of Life.

•  Although traditional law, the laws based on our indigenous teachings, provides for protection and conservation, some people in our communities have forgotten or do not adhere to the teachings.  Thus, it might be necessary to create environmental laws, with enforceable fines, that would help to protect sweetgrass habitat and control over-harvesting. 

• We can also plant our own sweetgrass gardens.  One has to be careful about where they plant because with the proper conditions sweetgrass will take over.  

Sweetgrass Planting for the Next Generation

Spring is the optimal time to plant sweetgrass and it is best to use sweetgrass plugs, which are small plants that include the roots, rhizomes, and leaves.  These plugs can be ordered online, or they can be carefully taken from a local population.  The plugs grow best when taken from a climate that is colder or the same as where one is planting the garden.  Plugs should be planted 8 to 12 inches a part.  

Soil preparation is of great importance.  Recently at the Black Ash conference, held at Akwesasne, a researcher spoke about the decline of sweetgrass and the need to plant a nitrogen fixing cover crop the year before planting .  However, the researchers suggestion was to plant vicia villosa, which alarms me since some vicias contain a cyanide compound that can be deadly to children or small animals that may eat the seeds.  

In addition, it seems to me that a better way to approach enhancing nitrogen in the soil would be to plant the area, in the previous year, with a Haudenosaunee traditional plant.  I would suggest planting beans, which is one of the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash).  Beans would have a similar effect since they also fix or provide nitrogen within the soil.  At the same time, it would preserve Haudenosaunee cultural methods and knowledge. 

 Sweetgrass does not like competition so one has to be sure to weed periodically. During the first growing season sweetgrass should not be harvested this allows the plant to establish itself.  However in the following years harvests can take place two to three times a year.  Remember never to use herbicides or pesticides on or near your sweetgrass garden, especially, if you plan on using it medicinally, or for making sweetgrass braids or baskets.