HIGH SIERRA adventures

Why are plants crucial?

A few years ago, I went on a quest to find a deeper meaning of life that I felt I would never obtain from living in a materialistic world. My every stress and worry in life was entirely self-created and superficial. Stress had very little to do with survival on a daily basis or where my next meal would come from. I had to find a way to completely shut out that material influence and get down to my roots. I had to experience life like a primitive man in order to find a deeper and more fundamental meaning of life. So I did the best thing I knew how to do. I studied.

I learned about the useful plants of the Western States and studied nearly every wild edible and medicinal plant of the Pacific Northwest. I practiced making traps from cordage that I could tie from plants, and making fire by friction with certain soft woods. I went to Alaska on a survival expedition and I built a hut from grass and spruce boughs. I ate strictly WILD plants. For the first time in my life, I lived off the land and experienced life more closely to nature than ever before. Nature provided me with everything I needed to survive and live well on the land. It gave me a better understanding about what life is all about. It was the greatest feeling I'd ever had.

Plants are crucial because they are everything that allow us to exist as humans. They are forms of life-energy that we can eat and use as natural medicine. We can manipulate them to catch food and shelter us from the weather. They give us life. And for that, we can truly appreciate plants and the variety of lifestyles they allow us to live.

Logan Parker, author

This index of wild plants of the Sierra is organized by HABITAT. Click on the links below to explore a selection of wild edible and medicinal plants of the Sierra Nevada.

Plant Habitats:

Wet or Moist Places

Dry Places

High Altitude

Shady Woods

Open Meadows and Sunny Places

Open Woods

Disturbed Land (roadsides, etc)

Rocky Slopes

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