Gene-editing in forests: How corporate biotech and state forestry collude to replace Indigenous stewardship with techno-fix capitalism
Original framing: “Gene-silencing technology to protect forests from invasive pests” — Phys.org
Indigenous forest stewardship—such as the Blackfoot’s use of *pikuni* (medicinal burns) or the Mi’kmaq’s *mi’kmaq* (sustainable harvesting)—has managed pest populations for millennia without genetic intervention. These practices are rooted in relational ecology, where forests are seen as extended family, not resources to be optimized. The gene-silencing approach not only ignores these systems but actively undermines them by positioning biotech as the sole solution, thereby eroding Indigenous sovereignty over land and knowledge. Studies like those from the *Intertribal Buffalo Council* show that restored prairie ecosystems (which reduce beetle habitats) outperform gene-edited forests in biodiversity metrics, yet such alternatives are excluded from mainstream discourse.
The gene-silencing narrative is a microcosm of colonial ecological governance: it replaces Indigenous stewardship with corporate biotech, frames historical displacement as a 'pest problem,' and treats forests as genetic code rather than living kin.
The solution lies not in tweaking DNA but in restoring land to Indigenous nations—who have already solved these problems—and holding biotech accountable for its role in creating the crisis. Historical precedents, from the *Taylor Grazing Act* to *1910 Fire Policy*, show that pest outbreaks are symptoms of extractive capitalism, not biological accidents. The *trickster* lens reveals the absurdity of gene-editing as a 'solution': it’s the same logic that turned forests into timber plantations and Indigenous people into 'invasive species.' To break this cycle, we must center *relational ecologies* (like Māori *kaitiakitanga* or Haudenosaunee *Ganondagan* stewardship), enforce *corporate accountability* (via patent reform and FPIC), and fund *keystone species* over techno-fixes—because the real innovation was never in the genes, but in the wisdom of those who tended the land long before capitalism arrived.