THE PALM HAS ITS TIME - AN ETHNOECOLOGY OF SABAL URESANA IN SONORA, MEXICO

Participant observation and formal interviews were used to learn what local people understood of palm natural history and how palms were man aged Ecological and ethnographic methods were combined to assess tradi tional ecological knowledge (TEK) and traditional resource management (TRM). Palm workers understood TEK and TRM for palms. This knowledge w as not general in the population, however. Residence, harvester status , and gender were strongly correlated with TEK and TRM. Harvest practi ces included limiting access, ''sparing,'' controlling harvest rimes a nd levels, and choice of leaf age and palm size. ''Alpha'' management is proposed as practices which maintain populations long-term. In this case, sparing was the single most important practice. ''Beta'' manage ment is shorter term and important for obtaining good quality product in sufficient quantities. Al though the impacts are more subtle, ii ca n affect population structure over time. This study provides one proto type for identifying practices which function ns de facto conservation traditions for wild-harvested species.