The Ozette Prairies of Olympic National Park - Natural Resources ...

The Makah harvested
the leaves of ca bup (also known
as slough sedge or basket sedge)
(Carex obnupta) from the wetter
parts of the Ozette Prairies
for the horizontal strands in
basketry. Cindy Lee Claplanhoo
(Makah, pers. comm. 2002) described
where it was located on
the Ozette Prairies: “I remember
the grass growing right before
you get right into the marshes,
and we used to gather that and
let it dry.” Gary Ray (Makah, Figure 29. Edie Hottowe, Makah, pointing out a traditional gathering site of bracken fern root on the
Makah Reservation.
pers. comm. 2006) also recalled
basket sedge being
gathered on two prairies: “You’ve got to go down south a little farther at Ozette [Prairies] and Quillayute
[Prairie] to get the grass that they used for weaving.”
Contemporary weavers still gather basket sedge and remember harvesting it on the Ozette Prai-
ries: “We gathered...ca bup [Carex obnupta] to weave with...at the Ozette Prairies,” said Melissa Peterson
Figure 30. Cathy and Ed Wilbur. Photograph by Kat Anderson, 2007.
36
(Makah, pers. comm.
2003). “The leaves of
cabupt are cut off at the
base with a knife from
July to October. I heard
that the later you wait
the tougher and thicker
they are. You separate
the leaves from the stalk,
then take the backbone
off, dry splitting with the
thumb nail or needle.”
Two other plant parts
used for basketry and