"Tending the Wild is an examination of the extensive knowledge Native Americans brought to bear in managing California's natural resources and the imprint this management left on the state's landscape. M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information gleaned from biological research and historical literature, as well as interviews with California Indians who describe the Old Ways of relating to nature they learned from their parents and grandparents and still practice today. The complex picture that emerges dispels the stereotype of Native Americans as hunter-gatherers, a stereotype long perpetuated in anthropological and historical literature."--Jacket.