Noondamikwe – Beaver hunting – Benjamin Ironstand

Amik – The Beaver:

Amik can decimate a wooded area. You can see the place across the valley where the trees used to be that amik cut down. Though they are considered nuisances for this, they also change the habitat and create larger wetlands for other animals.

Amik is one of the wisest animals and appears in our creation stories. It used to be one of our primary food sources before colonization and also is a source of traditional medicine. During the fur trade, amik was one of the main resources sought after by the European fur traders to make hats. After the hats went out of style the fur trade declined and the relationship between European and the Anishinaabek shifted. Europeans no longer needed to trade with the Anishinaabek and began to colonize and viewed the Aishinaabek as barriers to progress.

Today amik is largely left alone and as a result, the population has risen. Consequently, he causes problems for some farmers and landowners. Amik is notorious for devastating the tree population and can turn a beautiful wooded area to a decimated landscape in just a year or two. Although amik is still respected. He is the only other creature that can change the flow of rivers besides humans. Amik knows the landscape and oral tradition says he can sense when climate change is coming and prepares and protects the water from danger and damage.