June 2024: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge in Restoration
“Together, we can empower tribal nations and help America meet the climate challenge” - Christina Eisenberg.
In April, I attended the Montana Native Plant Society's annual conference in Bozeman where numerous accomplished practitioners and organizers discussed their restoration efforts. Their activities range from seed collection to assessing plant compatibility with pollinators.
One presentation that stuck with me was the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) habitat restoration program in Montana. I was specifically interested in their efforts on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in partnership with the Society for Ecological Restoration.
Their framework for the program follows this equation:
western science + indigenous knowledge (TEK) + social justice = restoration success
The project covers multiple facets within the plant and human community. The partnership aims to provide job training for Indigenous youth while continuing to nurture indigenous culture and traditions. Currently, they are focused on collecting seed and protecting populations of the sensitive plant species of the Northern Great Plains.
Native youth enroll in the program and are trained to collect native grassland population data and seeds. Known as Community Fellows, the enrolled teenagers are taught both Western restoration principles as well as ancestral stories and Indigenous ways of knowing, providing opportunities to deepen their connection to the landscape.
In 2020, the team collected twenty-three pounds of native seed, with 96% coming from Tribal Lands. The program empowers the Aaniih and Nakoda tribes of the Fort Belknap reservation, giving them autonomy over the seed and allowing them to choose what it's used for. Tribes can elect to sell the seed to the BLM for future restoration projects on public lands.
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