Basic Answer: The environment in which a Native American tribe lived influenced their culture. The climate of the Northwest Coast was mild and rainy. The geogra- phy where the Chinook lived was the shoreline. The Chinook had salmon for food, cedar bark for clothing, and trees for shelter.

Many of these plants will grow in mixed deciduous forest conditions as well.

• Vine Maple, Acer circinatum.
• Indian Plum/Oso Berry, Oemleria cerasiformis.
• Red Flowering Currant, Ribes sanquineum.
• Red Huckleberry, Vaccinium parvifolium.
• Evergreen Huckleberry, Vaccinium ovatum.
• Thimbleberry, Rubus parvifolius.

In the Northwest region, Native Americans lived in plank houses. These homes were made from long, flat planks of cedar wood attached to a wooden frame. Plank houses were perfect for living in cold climates. They also could fit more then one family.

Some of the tribes that lived along the Atlantic coast and are particularly familiar to the modern student include the Susquehannock, Nanticoke and Powhatan Tribes. The Woodland period is the most significant period in the development of Native American cultures and civilizations in this region.

The Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest adapted to their environment by making things out of wood. They depended on the fish, wildlife, and plants instead of farming. The Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest modified their environment by cutting down trees for houses, clothing, etc.

Kwakwaka’wakw clothes were the cedarbark garments common all over the Northwest Coast: capes and hats for protection from rain, robes for cold weather, and women’s aprons. Many garments were decorated with dentalia shells. Colorful nose ornaments were made of abalone shell.

In the Pacific Northwest, some of the plants that red-flowering closely associates with include Douglas-fir, bigleaf maple, madrone, bitter cherry, oceanspray, vine maple, elderberry, mock orange, serviceberry, manzanita, salal, sword fern, kinnikinnick, and others.

The North Pacific Coast, although bountifully endowed with fish and game, was deficient in vegetable foods. Except in the southern inland portion where camas (a plant with edible bulbs) occurred and in the extreme south where edible acorns grew, the flora was poor in starch-rich seeds and tubers.

They ate clams, crabs, seals, sea otters, sea lions, fish, herring eggs, and mussels, sea urchins, and seaweed. The men hunted land animals including bear, caribou, deer, elk, and moose.

The Northwest Coast was densely populated when Europeans first made landfall in the 1700s. It was home to peoples speaking Athabaskan, Tshimshianic, Salishan, and other languages. Well-known tribes included the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, Bella Coola, Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka), Coast Salish, and Chinook.

The coastline of the Pacific Northwest is dotted by numerous fjords, bays, islands, and mountains. Some of these features include the Oregon Coast, Burrard Inlet, Puget Sound, and the highly complex fjords of the British Columbia Coast and Southeast Alaska. The region has one of the world’s longest fjord coastlines.

Northwest Coast Vegetation The western edge of the Northwest Coast is the nation’s greatest example of temperate rainforest. Marshes, fens, ponds, and seasonal wet meadows, along with riparian and herbaceous wetlands, each host their own suite of plants and animals.

Artifacts other than ceremonial poles, clothing and masks. The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples.

The Northwest Coastal People lived on the west coast of Canada, occupying the western shore and the islands of British Columbia, and reaching up into the Yukon.

Northwest Coast people believed in existence after death and in ghosts that could be harmful to the living. Funeral and memorial ritual served to separate the living and the dead, and to sustain, honour and appease the dead. (See also Religion and Spirituality of Indigenous Peoples in Canada).