Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
The "Climate Smart Agriculture and Indigenous Knowledge Integration project (CSAIKI)" aims to promote food security, empower youth entrepreneurship among the Séliš (Salish), Ksanka (Kootenai), and Ql'ispé (Pend d'Oreille or Kalispel) Tribes (SKQ), and facilitate implementation of food systems to mitigate the impacts of a changing climate. The specific aim of CSAIKI is to build a resilient and self-sufficient community, deeply rooted in cultural heritage while embracing innovation. This project will extend research and extension projects completed by Salish Kootenai College Extension (SKCE) with residents of the Flathead Reservation as well as extending onto the Kalispel Reservation in Washington. By collaborating with Flathead Reservation schools through the 'School Garden Network' and the community 'Gardens for Life' projects we will build capacity to conduct the "Healthy and Sustainable Diets for All" nutritional education program locally and with the Kalispel Reservation working with the Kalispel Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program, (Kalispel FRTEP). This initiative is not only about improving agricultural practices, increasing knowledge, and nutrition education, but also about fostering a sense of community, cultural pride, and economic independence. By integrating traditional Indigenous agricultural practices, SKQ Tribal cultural values, nutritional knowledge, and modern climate-smart farming techniques, this project will provide hands-on training, community workshops, and ongoing monitoring and management of community demonstration and training gardens, raised garden boxes, and family gardens. Additionally, the project will engage youth through internships, podcasting, and peer-led educational activities, fostering entrepreneurship and community cohesion. The long-term goal is to create a climate-smart agricultural framework that integrates traditional Indigenous knowledge with contemporary practices, thereby promoting food security and economic opportunities. The traditional knowledge integrated into this project will be sourced from a diverse range of existing curricula, ensuring a comprehensive approach to sustainable practices.Programs like 'Advancing Healthy and Sustainable Diets,' 'Garden for Life,' 'School Garden Network,' 'Square Foot Gardening', 'Next Generation. Youth Gardening,' 'My Home My Health,' and 'One Health' will form the core of this human and environmental health integrated program. Building upon these developed curricula and foundational knowledge, our initiative also aligns with the values of the Salish Kootenai College (SKC) Living Landscapes web-based Climate Change curriculum. This alignment ensures that our efforts integrate traditional ecological knowledge with modern climate science, fostering educational and environmental resilience within Native populations (https://www.skclivinglandscapes.org/), making them highly relevant and accessible to Native students. This collective wisdom will enrich the program and promote holistic, climate-smart agricultural practices.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
Specific AimsSpecific Aim 1. Improve food and nutrition securityObjectiveImprove food security and increase nutritional knowledge through gardening andeducationActivitiesConduct a three-day "Train the Trainer" workshop to equip members of the Kalispel Tribes with the skills and resources needed to implement the Healthy and Sustainable Diets curriculum within their communities.Use the developed comprehensive curriculum that merges Indigenous agricultural knowledge with modern climate smart practices.Integrate contemporary climate-smart agricultural techniques, such as water efficient irrigation systems, mulching, and methods to improve soil health.Organize existing raised gardens to serve as educational and practical training sites and establish new families.Conduct workshops on nutrition and gardening techniques.Include modules on the nutritional value of traditional foods linking agricultural practices directly to improved dietary outcomes.Specific Aim 2. Increase youth engagement by empowering youthObjectiveEnhance participants' gardening skills that increases youth engagement and interest in agricultural entrepreneurship.ActivitiesCreate entrepreneurship opportunities for youth to oversee and participate in the project and job shadow professional Tribal leaders.Develop a podcast series where youth teach other youth and bring families together.Encourage entrepreneurial activities related to gardening and local food production such as farmers markets, local food purchase programs, and on farm sales.Increase community engagement, knowledge, and behavior change. Host twoworkshops annually covering a range of topics, from basic gardening skills to advanced agricultural practices.Provide training on sustainable gardening methods, including organic pest control, composting, and crop rotation, to ensure long-term soil fertility and garden productivity.Offer nutrition education sessions that teach participants how to prepare healthy meals using produce from their gardens, emphasizing the health benefits of traditional foods.Expand School Garden Network demonstration raised garden boxes.Establish new raised gardens for families who lack access to land, ensuring they have the resources and knowledge to start and maintain their own gardens.Incorporate integrated principles and companion planting strategies in these gardens to maximize biodiversity and crop yield.Specific Aim 3. Measure the sustainability and community impactsObjectiveImplementation of a sustainable system for monitoring, reporting, and management of multiple community engagement activities.ActivitiesExplore different models such as collective impact and ripple effects mapping for documenting community impact.Identify and assess existing raised garden boxes within the community todetermine their current status and needs for improvement.Promote the long-term sustainability of the project through ongoing communityinvolvement.
Project Methods
Working directly with community members, students, teachers, and parents SKCE will conduct workshops on climate smart gardening and agricultural practices. Hands on trainings will teach soil maintenance, irrigation, fertilization, composting, seeding, mulching, and harvest. Opportunities for youth to participate in a garden business project will create ready markets for youth to sell a portion of their products. SKCE will assist the Kalispell FRTEP develp a Healthy and Sustainable Diets for All curriculum for their use. Community service providers involved in food sovereignty, food production, environmental issues, and health and nuttrition will convene to learn about measuring and documenting accumulative community impact.