ABORIGINAL OVERKILL - THE ROLE OF NATIVE-AMERICANS IN STRUCTURING WESTERN ECOSYSTEMS

Prior to European influence, predation by Native Americans was the maj or factor limiting the numbers and distribution of ungulates in the In termountain West. This hypothesis is based on analyses of (1) the effi ciency of Native American predation, including cooperative hunting, us e of dogs, food storage, use of nonungulate foods, and hunting methods ; (2) optimal-foraging studies; (3) tribal territory boundary zones as prey reservoirs; (4) species ratios, and sex and age of aboriginal un gulate kills; (5) impact of European diseases on aboriginal population s; and (6) synergism between aboriginal and carnivore predation. Nativ e Americans had no effective conservation practices, and the manner in which they harvested ungulates was the exact opposite of any predicte d conservation strategy. Native Americans acted in ways that maximized their individual fitness regardless of the impact on the environment. For humans, conservation is seldom an evolutionarily stable strategy. By limiting ungulate numbers and purposefully modifying the vegetatio n with fire, Native Americans structured entire plant and animal commu nities. Because ecosystems with native peoples are entirely different than those lacking aboriginal populations, a ''hands-off'' or ''natura l regulation'' approach by today's land managers will not duplicate th e ecological conditions under which those ecosystems developed. The mo dem concept of wilderness as areas without human influence is a myth. North America was not a ''wilderness'' waiting to be discovered, inste ad it was home to tens of millions of aboriginal peoples before Europe an-introduced diseases decimated their numbers.