Progress 09/01/05 to 08/31/07
Outputs
Native Americans are chronically under-represented in the forestry profession. Despite the need for tribal members to manage forest land on the over 260 reservations that have significant timber resources and the need to include native viewpoints and perspectives in ecosystem management on federal lands, relatively few American Indian students are receiving bachelors degrees in forestry. There are also very few forestry classes that integrate native American culture, traditional knowledge and consideration of the unique management environment that reservations represent. Retention and graduation rates at tribal colleges are approximately double that of institutions that do not provide mentoring and culturally relevant curriculum to American Indian students. Salish Kootenai College addressed this deficit of Native professional foresters by becoming the first tribal college to offer a B.S. in forestry and to develop and integrate culturally relevant curriculum into forestry classes. Based on an analysis of educational needs for a B.S. in forestry, a full complement of courses were identified, created and taught. Course identification was performed by William Swaney, Natural Resources Department Head at SKC and Adrian Leighton, Forestry Program Manager and instructor. Course identification was based on comparison with existing, successful forestry programs including the University of Massachussets, University of Montana, University of Idaho and Paul Simiths and conversations with professional foresters such as Jim Durglo, Department Head of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Forestry Department, Bill Downes, Chief Forester for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Steve Andringa, Chair of the Education Committee of the Intertribal Timber Council. William Swaney presented the new degree program to the Salish Kootenai College Board of Directors and the Curriculum Committee. Once approval was granted from these bodies, Swaney and Leighton received accreditation for the new program from Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Curriculum was designed, tested and taught by Adrian Leighton. Six new classes (junior and senior level) were created, including Issues in Tribal Forest Management, Advanced Silviculture, Forest Ecology and Fire Ecology. Class sizes ranged from 3 to 10 students and formal and informal evaluations were conducted. Students were actively involved in culturally revelant curriculum creation by researching and presenting case studies dealing with such topics as a particular tribe's attempt to integrate ecosystem management or the traditional use of fire in forest ecosystems. To date, six students, all American Indian, have graduated from the SKC B.S. forestry degree program. Of the three students graduating in the class of 2007, one of these students is pursuing a Master's degree at University of Montana, and the other two are professional foresters with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Forestry Department PRODUCTS: Issues in Tribal Forest Management, a senior level forestry class, is perhaps the first forestry course developed anywhere that focuses specifically on the history and unique context of forest management on reservations. Issues include traditional ecological knowledge and restoration, the role of native cultures in ecosystem management, the federal law nexus as it applies to management on tribal lands and the role of a forester in balancing the need to provide income to tribal members while also maximizing benefits of economically efficient and often ecologically lower impact technologies. Guest speakers in this class included Duane Plant and Jim Roessler from CSKT Tribal Forestry, Robert Madplume, Tribal Forester for the Blackfeet Nation, and Salish elder (and retired forester and scaler) Louis Adams All new and existing forestry and natural resources classes required for forestry students have had culturally relevant material such as tribal case studies, journal articles relating to traditional ecological knowledge and tribal management plans integrated into the curriculum. A research internship was developed between SKC and Mary Williams and Jacquie Parks of Bitterroot National Forest. This internship involved students helping Bitterroot Forest Staff devise a plan to protect historic Salish culturally scarred trees during a prescribed burn OUTCOMES: Three students (two Salish and one Blackfeet) became the first graduates of a B.S. program in forestry at a Tribal College in 2007. Three more students followed in 2008 (two Salish and one Cowichan/Coastal Salish), and there are currently approximately 25 Native American students enrolled in the SKC forestry program, representing at least 10 tribes. Student enrollment in the forestry program has been showing a general upward trend, starting at around 8 students in 2005 and currently at approximately 28 All six of our graduates have undertaken senior thesis research related to issues in tribal forest management. Three were on issues surrounding restoration of ponderosa pine stands on CSKT forest land, one was on the use of remote sensing to prioritize fuel reduction efforts in the Buffer Zone surround the Mission Mountain Tribal Wilderness, one was on the use of long term photo plot monitoring to aid with post fire rehabiltation on tribal land and the last was on the role of the Cilvilian Conservation Corps' Indian Division in creating the roads and other infrastructure that supports tribal forest operations on the Flathead Reservation Recent graduates have received USDA multi-cultural scholars support, Intertribal Timber Council Truman Picard Scholarships and BIA National Center for Cooperative Education SCEP positions DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: A presentation was given to Intertribal Timber Council and active recruitment occurs at the ITC Symposium every year. Also, SKC hosted the technical workshops of the 2007 ITC symposium, and Leighton assisted in the running of a workshop on Landsape Management Systems with Larry Mason and Kevin Ceder of the University of Washington. This all-day workshop was presented to approximately 18 tribal and BIA foresters and forest technicians and took advantage of both the SKC computer facilities and a local tribal forest stand.All three of SKC's first graduates in forestry, as well as Leighton, attended the Intertribal Timber Council Symposium in both 2006 and 2007. At the 2007 symposium, ITC honored and recognized the first forestry graduates at a Tribal College at their banquet Leighton worked with Mary Stuever, Forester for White Mountain Apache Tribal Forestry and Eric Geisler of Coeur D'ALene Tribal Forestry to conduct a summer class in forest ecology for 10 technician foresters. Initial planning with Stuever, Geisler and interested members of the Intertribal Timber Council was conducted concerning the development of a hybrid/at distance forestry degree for working forest technicians FUTURE INITIATIVES: SKC is continuing to develop and strengthen its offerings in forestry. Student enrollment in forestry has showed a steady upward trend, to the point where a second forestry instructor was hired for the fall of 2007. Robert Kenning, the new instructor, has a background in GIS and forest mensuration, and has already strengthened and expanded the GIS course offerings available to both forestry and environmental science students Kenning and Leighton coordinated a workshop at the 2008 Intertribal Timber Symposium with the aim of developing hybrid/at distance forestry education for Native American forest technicians currently employed by tribes Discussions have begun with the Society of American Foresters regarding SAF accreditation of the SKC forestry degree. Although SKC lacks the minimum faculty number, with new Associates degrees in forestry being developed at Blackfeet and Menominee tribal colleges, it is hoped that SAF may be willing to develop a group accreditation for tribal colleges
Impacts
According to USDA FAEIS, there were less than 30 Native Americans enrolled in four-year forestry programs nationwide in 2004. SKC has 25 enrolled Native American students in the B.S. forestry program. This is a significant increase in the number of Native students pursuing professional level forestry education. SKC forestry students have chosen to fulfill the requirements of their senior thesis by conducting research on issues in tribal forest management on the Flathead Reservation. This research has the potential to help forest managers and add to the body of knowledge regarding techniques in tribal forest management. Over the last two years, two other tribal colleges, Blackfeet Community College and College of the Menominee Nation, have developed Associates degrees in forestry and Menominee has a long term goal of developing a four year program. SKC has been involved in developing articulation agreements and providing assistance to these two colleges. Through this project, SKC is also taking the lead in developing forestry and natural resource curriculum that is culturally inclusive and appropriate.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/01/05 to 09/01/06
Outputs
Activities carried out during the first year of this grant have aided in the successful advancement of the ultimate goal of this project, which is: To create an educational opportunity for Native Americans to become professional foresters who are trained in both management issues unique to Tribal forestry operations and also sound principles in ecosystem management by establishing the first Bachelor's degree in forestry at a Tribal College. The progress made for each of the objectives will be considered below. Objective 1 Developing and instituting a Bachelor's degree curriculum in forestry The new degree program was approved by the Salish Kootenai College Board of Directors and received accreditation by Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. In determining the core classes for the new degree, courses currently offered in the Environmental Sciences program that will be required for forestry majors (Wildlife Ecology, Habitat Restoration, Water Resources and
others) were examined and modified to include more forest ecosystem focus. At the same time, six new classes in forestry were identified: Forest Management (sophomore year), Forest Ecology and Timber Harvest Systems (junior year) and Advanced Silviculture, Fire Ecology and Seminar in Tribal Forest Management (senior year). During the first year of the grant, the sophomore and junior level classes were designed and taught to the first cohort of students entering the Bachelors degree program. Objective 2 Developing, instituting and testing culturally appropriate instructional materials and strategies for courses in the Bachelor's degree in forestry Throughout the forestry curriculum, from freshman to senior level, case studies and teaching materials that focus specifically on Native American culture, traditional ecological knowledge and current management practices have been researched, identified and included in courses. There has been a noticeable increase in student engagement when
lessons include specific examples of Native American management practices. Examples of this include a unit in forest ecology that deals with traditional use of fire as a management tool by Native peoples and a case study project in Forest Management where each student has to research the management plan of a Tribal Forestry department and present the results to the class Objective 3 Developing and implementing an outreach mechanism Recruitment at several tribal colleges in Montana has proceeded as planned in the grant, and a pamphlet and other outreach materials have been created. During the first year of the grant, little progress was made toward the goals of developing articulation agreements with other tribal colleges or developing forestry curricula available to these schools. The main reasons for this slippage are the time intensive nature of fulfilling the first 2 objectives (considered to be higher priority) and the slow nature of making contacts with appropriate
representatives at the other tribal colleges. However, some initial progress toward both of these goals has occurred in the last month, and significant accomplishments toward this goal are expected in year two of the project.
PRODUCTS: During the first year of this project the Bachelors program in forestry was designed and received approval both from the College's Board of Directors and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (the College's accrediting body) Three new classes in forestry (Forest Management, Forest Ecology and Timber Harves Systems) were designed, developed and taught for the first time. Junior and Senor level classes in the existing Environmental Sciences program (Habitat Restoration, Environmental Adaptations of Plants, Conservation of Biodiversity, Wildland Recreation Management and others)were modified to include material specific to forest ecosystems Upper classmen in forestry were sent to important conferences and workshops, including the Intertribal Timber Council Symposium in Faribanks (four students) and the Society of American Foresters Annual Convention in Pittsburg (four students) Curriculum and education materials relating to Native American use and management of
forests was researched, developed and compiles. Some of this material was also pilot tested in forestry classes at all levels. Recruitment materials were designed and distributed New resources for the library in forestry were acquired, including several key journals such as the Western Journal of Applied Forestry
OUTCOMES: The new program has been approved by the College's Board of Directors and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Junior level classes in the forestry program were successfully completed by five of six students in the new cohort (one student has transferred to an education program at another college)with an average GPA of 3.2. Student recruitment in the forestry program has increased by over 20%, including students from at least seven tribes. After one year of this project, there are as many declared Native American forestry majors at SKC as are reported for all other schools nation wide bu USDA FAEIS SKC was able to successfully apply for student scholarships under the USDA Multicultural Scholars program to support six students in the new Bachelors of Science,Forestry degree program
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: The PI presented the new program and this project at the annual symposium of the Intertribal Timber Council, a consortium of over 65 tribes that manage their timber resources Recruitment material for the degree program has been created and mailed to over 50 tribal forestry programs
FUTURE INITIATIVES: An innovative, hybrid at-distance extension of this degree program is anticipated. This extension will target currently employed tribal forestry technicians who are technically experienced but unlikely to leave their jobs and reservations to receive a Bachelors degree. Articulation agreements with other tribal colleges is expected, and SKC is committed to providing technical assistance to other tribal colleges interested in developing culturally relevant, Native American based forestry curriculum SKC plans to seek accreditation from Society of American Foresters and/or the Intertribal Timber Council to ensure that curricula meets the needs and expectations of the forestry profession
Impacts
After only one year, SKC has approximately doubled the number of Native American students enrolled in four year forestry programs nation wide. As a tribal college that is designed to recruit, retain and educate Native Americans, SKC will help graduates gain and successfully perform management level positions in forestry, especially in tribal forestry departments. This will address a current lack of Native foresters trained and eligible to manage forest resources and ecosystems on their own reservations. For the first several years of this program we anticipate 2-5 graduates annually, with those numbers doubling or more in the next five years.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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