Source: MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
MSU RESERVATION EXTENSION-SERVING ASSINIBOINE AND SIOUX PEOPLE ON THE FORT PECK INDIAN RESERVATION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1029065
Grant No.
2022-41580-37930
Cumulative Award Amt.
$407,512.00
Proposal No.
2022-03197
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2022
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2026
Grant Year
2025
Program Code
[LP]- EIRP Indian Reservation Program
Recipient Organization
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
BOZEMAN,MT 59717
Performing Department
Extension Services
Non Technical Summary
Located in Montana, The Fort Peck Indian Reservation is the 9th largest reservation in the United States and 2nd largest in Montana. There are over two million acres on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The poverty rate for the Fort Peck Reservation was 30.6% in 2015. Located in the northeastern corner of Montana, the Fort Peck Indian Reservation lies within four counties, however, the nearest county extension office is approximately 35 miles east of Poplar, and 60 miles to the west and are located off-reservation. The Fort Peck Reservation is the largest water holder in the State of Montana. There is over 2 million acres of land on the Reservation that isinterspersed with Tribal land, allotted land, and deeded land. Roughly 916,000 acres is Tribal and allotted lands, 385,000 acres (98 unites) is in Range Units, 238,500 acres are pasture/rangeland, and the rest is cropland. The FRTEP Fort Peck Reservation Extension Program has been present on the reservation for 21 years. The program supports the land grant mission by assisting American Indian farmers and ranchers to improve their operations; tribal youth and elders, home horticulturists, and community members, have been empowered to adopt sustainable practices and learn to adapt to address the needs of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. The long-term goal of this project is to provide American Indian farmers, ranchers, youth and their families, with resources to implement into their farming/ranching operations that lead to agricultural sustainability and healthy lifestyles. These resources are designed to contribute to the program's goals and will provide training to address all of the three of the priorities mentioned of the Federally Recognized Tribal Extension program, including positive youth development, native farmer and rancher productivity and management, and native community development.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
60860993020100%
Goals / Objectives
Support non-formal education to increase food and agricultural literacy of youth and adults,Build science-based capability in tribal people and communities to engage audiences and enable informed decision making,Develop programs that increase public knowledge and citizen engagement leading to actions that protect or enhance the tribal food supply, agricultural productivity, environmental quality community vitality, and public health and well-being,Build science-based capability in tribal people and communities to engage audiences and enable informed decision making
Project Methods
Adult programming - staff will utilize a variety of methods including in person workshops or seminars, in field tours, and hands-on workshops. Remoted learning will also be employed as appropriate.Youth Programming - staff will utilize a variety of methods to teach youth including classroom teaching, hands-on workshops, and direct experiential learning. Remote teaching methods will also be utilized as appropriate.EvaluationThe outputs mentioned above will be measured using different tools depending on the activities and age appropriateness. The evaluation component for agriculture and youth will vary, however, some evaluation tools may be paired to gauge individual activity success. Data will be collected for each activity and summarized in an annual report. Data collection will includequantitative and qualitative indicators. Below are examples of quantitative and qualitative indicators used for evaluation purposes of this program. As seen in the table, qualitative indicators include workshop/activity embedded assessment such as resources leveraged, department program goals, workshop goals, workshop evaluations, and community partnerships. Qualitative indicators are a systematic process of gathering and using information regarding the participants' perceptions aimed to improve the quality of the FRTEP-Fort Peck Reservation Extension Program. Quantitative Indicators provide information about the number of participants, workshops, and continuing education credits offered. This project will collect, analyzes, and use all the indicators.Qualitative Indicators Agriculture Extension Department Program Goals, Workshop Evaluations, Resources Leveraged, Community Partnerships, Turning Point Technology, oral evaluations, farm site visits, collaborator meetingsQuantitative Indicators # of workshops, and training, # of Participants, #of unduplicated participants, # of certifications, # of 4-H groups, and participantsIn addition, youth will be evaluated using simple written program techniques in a group setting. Record books and project books will be used for project evaluation. Tracking scores from judging or shooting sports will be used for outcomes. Younger students will be evaluated by methods such as showing hands about the program or drawing a picture of what they learned. Formal written evaluations will be obtained for other program activities. In the end, this project also expects to indirectly impact the reservation through:Agricultural production and management,Community and individual gardeningFood sovereigntyYouth participating in 4-H, traditional and non-traditional

Progress 09/01/24 to 08/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience:FRTEP has been in existence on the Fort Peck Reservation since 2000. We strive to meet the needs of local producers with gardening, farming, and ranching operations, but also local foods, health and nutrition. MSU Extension provides outreach with research-based information, as well as culturally sensitive information. We use the 4-H program principles for both traditional and non-traditional 4-H work, as well as other youth development programming needs. This builds life-skills for learning decision making skills, project and skill development, communication, and networking. One of our new focuses in 4-H has been skill building and personal finance. This also helps build strong leaders, has career potential locally, Tribally, and within peer groups such as the Native Youth Council. Students are learning about leadership, citizenship, advocating, public speaking, classroom instruction, and how to fill out paperwork for resumes, loans, grants, contracts, and tribal work applications. Target programming audiences for agriculture relates closely with the Fort Peck Reservation with conservation style activities, soil health, livestock health improvement, addresses native farmer and rancher management, and increase food availability. Changes/Problems:Regionally and locally, we continue to be impacted by drought. There was some relief at the end of the summer, however, both ends of the reservation were drastically different. This is the 5th year of the drought. We also have grasshopper infestations that were left over from previous years, but it has now been reduced to just hot spots. Irrigation was affected from the previous year by the palled sturgeon experiment from the US Army Corps of Engineers, so irrigators are researching how it affected their production systems and erosion. In June, Kwanele (Portia) Magwaba began as the FRTEP Tribal Extension Agent for the Fort Peck Reservation. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?At the National Association of 4-H Youth Development Professionals, the FRTEP program co-presented about the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day program. At the MSU Annual Conference event, the FRTEP program presented a poster on Montana Beekeeping and Pollinator Education, as well as having a table at the educational trade show. For the alfalfa plot research, a poster was presented titled "Comparison of Conventional, Foundation, and roundup ready alfalfa varieties under dryland conditions in Northeast Montana," at the Froid Research Field Day, the Swank Field Tour, and the State FFA Convention. Other professional development opportunities included the National Association of County Agriculture Agents Professional Improvement Conference, pesticide training, Progressive Ag Safety Day Training, Indian Education for All Curriculum Training, MSU Agriculture Update, National Spring Wheat Show, Fort Peck Planning Retreat on Habit Shift and the Science of Stress, Chrome river, Smart buy training, Adult Education, Content Management Systems and Turf to Trees training. Received a Mental Health First Aider certification from National Council for Mental Wellbeing, trained on the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribe Trust Land transaction and building Supportive Communities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All presentations and training are available to everyone. Some educational meetings are presented in schools and some in community halls and meeting rooms locally, regionally, and nationally. Garden workshops, livestock workshops, and crop seminars are the ones presented locally using information at the Tribal Extension Garden, Senior Tribal Elderly Sites, and Commodity Distribution Center as food hubs. The produce grown from the garden provides nutrition education and local sources, which was also a partner with the Community Services Department local food initiative grant. We worked with the Fort Peck Community College on gardening workshops, and the Fort Peck Tribes Natural Resources Department on high tunnels, forages, and range information. Local producers also came in for farm business consulting on economics, feeding, nitrate sampling, statistics, and pesticide problems. Information about the alfalfa trial was collected in its first year of research data collected and that was presented several times since it is extremely relevant to producers in our region. Other information was provided via social media establishing a new site for the FRTEP program, newspaper articles magazine articles, radio, newsletters, and in proceedings books. Youth programming was disseminated through large school programs such as the safety day, school classwork, 4-H club work, regional 4-H work, 4-H camp, state FFA, the local fair, and teacher training. MSU has also provided information to colleagues about the FRTEP program and educating American Indians in our state. We hold quarterly calls for questions if other agents need assistance in programming to reach those audiences. This was through a statewide needs assessment and through our internal extension system. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Agriculture in Montana continues to be the most important industry and that is still true of the Fort Peck Reservation. There have been significant steps to enhance agricultural opportunities in the last few years. The Tribal Ranch has increased their herd size and will embark on a harvesting animal facility in the near future. This has been an ongoing project that FRTEP has helped with knowledge, education, and science-based information. The cattle market is very strong and more knowledge able markets, insurance, feeds, and nutrition help producers make decisions on what's best for them. Weather stations were also set up throughout the year to help with data on weather decisions. This helps with soil temperatures for crop planting, insurance and FSA programs, and drought monitoring. This last year, the Fort Peck Reservation was once again in a drought, however, the severity was different from one end of the reservation to the other. Learning how to navigate the mesonet information will be used in this year's programming. Other programs that the FRTEP program will provide in the next year will be ag safety, cropping seminars, pesticide training and certification, pulse crops, bee and pollinator classes, horticulture, soil health, farm bill, weed control issues, expanding the local foods program, and FSA/NRCS programs. The alfalfa research trials and the orange blossom wheat midge research will also continue. A major focus on special weed control will be used for palmer amaranth and water hemp. Water hemp was found a few years ago on the Fort Peck Reservation, but not in the recent years until this year again. For youth development, the FRTEP program will do an agriculture safety day in the school. We will also use a native seed ball class that we learned about from the Colville Tribe FRTEP program. The Tribal Extension Garden will continue to provide education as well as produce for elder sites, community members, the food bank, and used for cooking/preservation classes. Meat classes will also be provided using the tribal buffalo from the tribal herd. With 4-H club work, the Fort Peck 4-H Club will be in rotation to host the annual achievement day for the first time. This expands their club opportunities as a newer club and learn those skills. We will continue to work with activities related to horses, livestock, crafts, cooking, and events such as the speech and communication day, project day, and stir-ups cooking contest. In schools, FTREP will expand the 5th grade bread fair to other parts of the reservation. This was a new workshop last year in conjunction with the National Hard Red Spring Wheat Show. We will also continue with other programs using the pedal bike system, bee products class, native seed balls, market quality assurance training, and 4-H curriculum work.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Tribal Extension Garden continues to be a focus of programming for the FRTEP program. This is a collaborative effort between the Fort Peck Tribes, Community Services Department, Natural Resources Department, and the NRCS. There are a few garden spaces that showcase agritourism, high tunnels, research, produce, and bees. Part of the space is utilized as a community garden where people can have space for producing and maintaining their garden. There are ones set aside for veterans and youth as well. We use Montana State Certified seed potatoes to educate on using certified seed to decrease the disease incidence. Some seeds are grown at the garden and others are disseminated to garden enthusiasts to report back. Many of the varieties chosen have done well, some people have chosen Huckleberry Gold which is a low-glycemic index potato that helps with diabetes. Pumpkins are also grown in another portion of the garden. This is a response to the Kindergarten classes that come out and learn about growing in garden and how they are produced and raised. This also serves as an agritourism lesson. The classes then take back the pumpkins and use them as STEM activities in their classrooms. Garden produce was also used for cooking demonstrations, along with tribal ranch buffalo meat to produce a locally grown meal. Any produce that wasn't used in cooking was given to Tribal Elders, community members, and some classrooms for cooking classes. We also grow Lakota squash, Hopi corn, and other culturally relative vegetables. We partner with the local garden center to start plants. These plants are then used in container workshops that we held in Wolf Point and Poplar. We also brought in our horticulture specialist at MSU to learn about seed starting, pollinators, and seed blocking. This horticulture series aligns with many of the goals of the FRTEP project using agriculture products, information, and healthy wellness. Beekeeping classes have also showcased the connection to pollinators, crops, and colony maintenance. We keep a hive in the Tribal Extension Garden and then do an extraction of honey class with the produce. The FRTEP also did a few classes around the community with youth on bees and their importance. They learn that we can raise them in Montana and they are an important part of the ecosystem. The FRTEP program also focused on bee products such as wax, candles, and rubbing art. Another youth program was the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day. This in an ongoing program that the schools are in a rotation with. We showcased 12 different stations and had businesses donate time and money for the take-home bags and to be presenters. According to the data, every 3 days, 1 child is killed in an accident involving agriculture and 33 are injured. We live in a very rural area and want to make sure that just because they may not live on a farm/ranch, doesn't mean they don't visit one. The Fort Peck Reservation is a very rural area and lots of farming and ranching operations are happening. We also have a railroad, major river, and the oil industry in our region, so we wanted to remind students that it's important to stay safe. Over 175 students participated and 40 volunteers. We also had an erosion trailer that shows how to stop water erosion, which was an important factor following the river rise this year. They also learn healthy eating habits, protect skin from UV light, and protect from insects that carry West Nile in the region. Regionally, we also host a 4-H camp on the reservation. The 4-H members get to network with other counties and engage in activities. They created art, used the pedal bike system, and learned about coding. We had 43 campers, and 9 adults. The counselors also come from the region, and they learn about leadership, communication, and mentoring. The FRTEP program also continues to do sausage and jerky making classes with both youth and adults. This is a regional favorite started by the FRTEP program. We had 42 youths, and 11 adults who participated in the program. A new program that we were able to be a part of was the 5th grade bread fair. This is in conjunction with the National Hard Red Spring Wheat show. We made bread in a bag with almost all local ingredients grown in our region since this area is usually in the top 3 producers of many crops. We talk about what farmers go through in raising crops and how it affects us regionally, economically, and how the drought affected crops grown here and honey production. Other programming for farmers and ranchers included learning about drought management since we are in the 5th year of drought. Early in season crops did not fare as well due to later rains. How to manage those insurance issues and FSA programs helped producers understand options. Growing alfalfa regionally has also been an important crop for livestock producers. Many people don't know what research to look at when deciding to choose a variety, so the alfalfa trials have helped with that. All the seeds were sourced locally since there hasn't been any research done on alfalfa comparison to non-foundation seeds in the last 25 years. This is where the roundup ready technology took off. These trials showcased how the crops respond regionally to what is available locally. This was a dryland trial and used the control Ladak standard variety that most producers were used to. Initial pesticide training was offered in the area and included is the training that pesticide portion for reservation lands. We are in a cycle where we make sure to provide licensees can keep up on their credits to keep their license. They also need to be in compliance with Indian Reservation lands environmental policy. They learn how to obtain the EPA add-on certificate to be able to use restricted-use pesticides on Indian Reservation lands. We also monitor pests such as Orange Blossom Wheat Midge with insect traps and closely monitor Palmer Amaranth with is a threat to cropping systems. This year we had some more issues with water hemp which has only been on the Fort Peck Reservation, so we have an education campaign to make sure they know what to look for and how to manage it. With a few new business ventures for Indian-owned food companies, we also provided training and certification under health and sanitation laws under the serv-safe program. We were able to fully staff the program as of late spring, but even so with other county support, the FRTEP program was able to directly reach 755 Fort Peck Reservation members. Youth participants were 380 in number and adults 375. Indirectly with newspaper and magazine articles, it totals 5500. These programs are the pollinator classes, pumpkin patch, sausage and jerky classes, garden products classes, bee classes, farmer and rancher production meeting, soil health, weed seed free program, pesticide training and certification, teacher training, 4-H horse clinics, 4-H camp, 4-H market quality assurance training, alfalfa and orange blossom wheat midge research, carcass quality ultrasounding, serv-safe certification, soil blocking, container gardening workshops, and the ag safety day.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rAnuH16EZUOpJrgeHggi8yj6wFTfwjhp/view


Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The FRTEP has been in existence on the Fort Peck Reservation since 2000. We strive to meet the needs of local producers with gardening, farming, and ranching operations. MSU Extension provides outreach with research-based information, as well as culturally sensitive information. We use the 4-H program principles for both traditional and non-traditional 4-H work. This builds life-skills for learning decision making skills, project and skill development, communication, and networking. This also helps with future career opportunities to lead locally, Tribally, and within peer groups such as the Native Youth Council. Youth learn advocating, public speaking, classroom instruction, and how to fill out paperwork for loans, grants, contracts, and work applications. Target programming audiences for agriculture relates closely with the Fort Peck Reservation with conservation style activities, improving food security, address native farmer and rancher management, and increase food sovereignty. Changes/Problems:Regionally, we continue to be impacted by drought. This is the 4th year of the drought and it is severe. We also have grasshopper infestations that not only impacted the reservation, but the entire eastern half of Montana. Staffing is a large problem as we are currently seeking someone to fully fill this position, but also another county based position that we closely work with. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The FRTEP program was able to present their project on "Montana Beekeeping and Pollinator Education" at the National Association of County Agriculture Agents Professional Improvement Conference. This was also accepted for a SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) proposal to be presented at the educational session. A poster was created. It was awarded 2nd place for the poster and received national finalist award for the Agriculture Awareness and Appreciation Award. The Fort Peck FRTEP program also presented at the National Association of 4-H Youth Development Professionals for their work with the Ag Safety Day program. Other professional development opportunities were the Indian Agriculture Conference, pesticide training, 4-H Congress, Progressive Agriculture Safety Day Training, and Montana State University Extension Annual Conference and Agriculture Update. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information was shared to all. Methods used were educational meetings with local and state speakers to provide information. We had a farm safety bin demonstration at a farm tour, hand-on gardening workshops in the Tribal Extension Garden, Cooking demonstrations at Senior Tribal Elderly Feeding sites and Commodity Distribution Centers, some online learning. We also worked with Fort Peck Community College, NRCS, Natural Resources Program, HPDP, Community Services, BIA (lands department), and local producers for farm one-on-one consultations. Information was also provided through social media, newspaper articles, magazine articles, radio, and newsletters. Youth programming was disseminated through school classwork, 4-H club work, regional 4-H work, the local fair, and teacher workshops. In addition to sharing information to clientele, internally with Montana State University Extension, they have sought and provided training for our colleagues in extension to learn about how programming works in the FRTEP program and across reservations of Montana. Through a statewide needs assessment, it was advocated for learning how to work in and with reservations, agents, grants, tribal entities, and departments. MSU sought out expertise from the FRTEP agents to provide this training at our annual conference bringing in a keynote speaker and breakout sessions. Furthermore, we are now holding webinar trainings to answer questions and provide answers that people may have about Indian Country. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?With the importance of food production and working with changing climates, we will continue to provide educational opportunities in this realm. Science-based information will be used, we have climate weather stations that are being installed in the reservation areas that were once areas of no information. This helps with weather data, insurance, drought monitoring, and crop conditions. We seek out professional development opportunities that align with our goals for the FRTEP program on Fort Peck Reservation. We will continue to do programming in ag safety, youth development, bee and pollinator classes, farming and ranching, cropping, farm bill information, soil health, and natural resources. We will be able to provide information on the alfalfa trials that are connected to this area. With the pedal bike system, we will now further use this in the schools, local celebrations as creative activities and healthy wellness, and power generation. 4-H club work will continue to expand, and the gardening projects for both youth and adults at the Tribal Extension Garden will continue. Meat and cooking classes will continue and build on learning aspects. A new project we are working on with the community services department is buying local foods and recognizing entities that sell them. Montana Extension Agents are hosting the national professional development and improvement conference for the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. We want to also showcase the FRTEP program since there are 4 of them in Montana and bring awareness to what we do and how we are incorporated with extension and NIFA.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Fort Peck Tribes, Fort Peck Tribes Community Services Department, Natural Resources Department, Natural Resources and Conservation Service, and Health Promotion and Disease Prevention continue to support the large garden area with land, staff, and programming. The very large project aligns with the goals of the FRTEP project to provide both knowledge and agriculture productivity, healthy eating, and well-being. On our annexed portion of land the Fort Peck Tribes provide, we continue to grow fresh produce that is common and staple to diets on the Fort Peck Reservation. This helps to provide food sovereignty principal examples for the area. We also adhere to plant disease issues by growing Montana State Certified Seed Potatoes in the potato patch. Several varieties are available, but the largest volume is the Huckleberry Gold. This variety was specifically found and tested in Montana to be a low-glycemic index potato that is helpful with those struggling with diabetes, which is prone to our reservation. This potato is not a genetically modified potato, but rather a natural strain. Garden produce is given away to Tribal Elder Centers, food banks, used in cooking classes provided. Pumpkins are also grown as well and used as an agri-tourism program for the local Kindergarten classes-150 youth-to come and see the garden area and participate in activities learning about growing them. Other classes and departments also use pumpkin products for education opportunities. Introductory bee classes have also started being popular. Individuals learn about beekeeping since this area is ripe with crops and opportunities for honey. There is one commercial beekeeper that is also in the area. The classes help to learn how to raise bees, overwinter colonies because our weather can get to temperatures of -300F. We had successful hives overwinter. There are 4 active hives in the garden areas, and several other hobbyist beekeepers in the area. We even had one local tribal member finish the Apprentice Beekeeping Certification. Extraction classes also are held to learn the products portion of raising bees. The other benefit to beekeeping is learning about pollination and incorporating that into landscapes. We also successfully added this category to the local fair for entries. Other programming for farmers and ranchers included learning about the Livestock Risk Protection Program. This is an insurance program administered through local insurance agents but comes directly from the Risk Management Agency. At the Indian Agriculture Conference, we learned about additionally how it can be a benefit to socially disadvantaged producers. The FRTEP program held a local training on the LRP insurance, and also learned about livestock nutrition especially in our drought conditions. Initial pesticide training was offered in the area and included is the training that pesticide portion for reservation lands. They learn how to obtain the EPA add-on certificate to be able to use restricted-use pesticides on Indian Reservation lands. The FRTEP program has continued with the alfalfa trials planted last season and are starting to obtain results. This project is a demonstration project because there hasn't been any research or programming in our region on alfalfa in over 25 years. Alfalfa is a main feeding component to livestock operations. We also monitor for pest such as Orange Blossom Wheat Midge with insect traps, and closely monitor for Palmer Amaranth with is a threat to cropping systems. We also provided grain bin safety demonstrations at farm tours for adults. Working with youth, we have an active 4-H club -Fort Peck 4-H- that is accomplishing their goals. They are very active in the horse, art, dog, and craft projects. This club has also helped to reopen a horse arena closer to the area that is also an enclosed arena. They are looking towards being able to practice and learn in all the months then. We held an Agriculture Safety Day through the Progressive Agriculture Foundation. This ensures that all youth that live on the reservation and area understand rural safety-even if they don't live on a farm. There are agriculture practices all around with activities, but also having the reservation close to the river and railroads, these are where families recreate and understanding the dangers helps save lives. The students take home the items donated from local businesses and Tribal Programs and make their homes safer. They also learn healthy eating habits, protect skin from UV light, and protect from insects that carry West Nile in the region. 4-H camp was held at the west end of the Fort Peck Reservation. This regional camp had 45 youth and counselers and 11 adults. One of the programs that the FRTEP program showcased was a bike that is equipped with a blender attachment. We taught healthy eating classes and they used ingredients to make smoothies that they would then use the bike to power the blender and create them. They used teamwork skills, decision making skills to put ingredients together, and exercise to create their smoothies-plus it's super fun. We also used the blender bike locally in our 4-H program with cloverbuds. There is also a spin-art attachment that they used to create spin art by pedaling the bike. The bike system was also used at a teacher training to show how they could use it in their classrooms. The FRTEP program at Fort Peck is also continually called upon with programming in sausage making. This class was originally designed here at Fort Peck using meat and all hands-on activities in making fresh sausage, jerky, snack sticks, and summer sausage. The tribes provide us with buffalo meat to use in the classes. Over 127 students participated in the fresh sausage classes and 45 in the jerky class. They create their own recipes, grind the meat, encase sausage, and package it according to USDA food safety guidelines. They also learn portion sizes when packaging and they can take it home and feed their families, increasing their life skills development. With the limited number of staff, drought and insect conditions, and COVID-19 lasting impacts, the FRTEP program was still able to directly reach 912 Fort Peck Reservation members. Youth participants were 552 in number and adults 360. Indirectly with newspaper and magazine articles, it totals 5200. These programs are the pumpkin patch, sausage and jerky classes, garden products classes, bee classes, farmer and rancher production meeting, pesticide training and certification, teacher training, 4-H horse clinics, 4-H camp, food kits, container gardening workshops, and the ag safety day.

Publications


    Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program has had a foothold on the Fort Peck Reservation since 2000. Meeting the needs of the local farmers and ranchers, positive youth development, home horiticulture, and natural resources has been the focus on education efforts. MSU Extension outreach provides essential research-based information and education to enhance agriculture profitiability and sustainability. We also trive to help to support youth education through traditional and non-traditional 4-H. These life-skills will build trust, better decision-making skills, project development, communication, and network relationships. These skills can help develop future career opportunities, leading Tribal governemnt, public speaking, advocating, and technical skills to overall improve their community. Agriculture is the largest sector of economics on the Fort Peck Reservation. The priority for agriculture are to address native farmer and rancher managment, improve food sovereignty, improve food security, and be conservation-minded. Changes/Problems:The region has been impacted by the third year of severe drought and grasshopper infestation. We have had a change of emplyment within the Fort Peck Project, so we are currently seeking someone to fully fill the position. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?I was able to present both a poster called "Freshly Fort Peck," and a presentation at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents about our sustainable food sovereighnty project. Other professional development opportunities were MSU Annual Conference, Pesticide Training, 4-H upate, Progressive Agriculture Safety Day Training, and State 4-H Rec Lab. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To reach the communities in educational engagement, there have been a variety of methods. Educational meetings with sought speakers have come to various communities. Youth meetings have been utilized both in and out of school. Trainings have been held both on reservation and off-reservation to bring agriculture and community development information to members. Locally held hands-on workshops, seminars, online meetings, social media, and food kits were organized. Collaboration projects through Tribal Council, Community Services, Natural Resources, NRCS, Tribal Elderly Program, HPDP, and the Fort Peck Community College were similarly used to educate the public. We were also able to use newspaper articles, radio, and newsletters. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue with the food sovereignty project. The garden produce being grown will also be used and expanded to provide meal kits from the groups discretion. We will continue to provide science-based speakers on agriculture practices, focus on the new farm bill and its changes, and focus on soil health. We will also continue to provide educational classes as fits the needs of our constituents and goals of this project. Some of the projects have now become established and expected and sought after. Newer projects such the bee classes will expand and also topics such as pollination and pollinators will be provided. We will also continue to increase youth participation in 4-H club work, ag safety workshops, and youth development. We would like to increase our focus on food and nutrition and healthy lifestyles.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? To accomplish the goals of the project, the educational focus was on agriculture improvement and food supply. The Fort Peck Tribes collaborated with 4 other deparments including NRCS, HPDP, Community Services, and Natural Resources to start providing more locally grown food. They annexed off a portion of a tribally owned land to be used for extension purposes. A large garden is grown there, bees hives are located at the end of the piece of ground, and an alfalfa trial has been iniaitated. With the results of the project, we used food sovereighty principles to grow local produce or from other Indian producers, and made a food sovereignty meal kit called "Freshly Fort Peck." It was a designed recipe that the ingredients were all from the Fort Peck Reservation. Some of the original ingredients were not able to be grown because of the excessive heat due to the ongoing severe drought and grasshopper infestation. The remaining ingredients were put together (buffalo meat, low-glycemic index potatoes, honey, and squash/pumpkins) were collected and given to Tribal Elders and the food bank. Over 135 kits were provided to low-income households with a market value of $40 each for a cost savings of $5,400. We also were able to dehydrate some of the foods and used them in winter soup kits. In addition to the kits, 29 other educational food sovereignty activities were conducted reaching 489 people. These were containter garden workshops, food demonstrations, sausage making, and bee classes. Apiary or bee classes have become a new favorite. Our area is prime with various crops and bee habitat. Other livestock, range, soil and pesticide seminars were also held throughout the year in conjunction with meetings to increase agriculture literacy. For youth development, we were able to fully enroll our first Indian 4-H Club. They are called "Fort Peck 4-H Club." They learned how to hold meetings, enroll in projects, learn 4-H curriculum, and write record books. They also exhibited animals and indoor projects at the county fair and are involved in the county horse committee. We were able to have learning workshops about small animals, horse clinics, and other group projects such as how to run a meetings, establishing by-laws, community service, and financial record-keeping. In addition to the traditional 4-H work, non-traditional 4-H work or youth development is also heavily utilized. This entails going into the classroom and teaching 4-H curriculum and project work such as arts and crafts, buffalo sausage making, and agriculture safety. We have been holding an agriculture safety day across different communities to increase agriculture safety awareness across our rural reservation. We hosted the Montana State 4-H Recreation Lab, which is a statewide event. Our focus was the local trading area and its dealings with the Native American culture and northeast Montana. Our Native Youth Council came and presented about tipi's and how they are erected. They talked of their significance and step by step procedure. Then using the audience of over 150 youth from around the state, they gathered them into the tipi using 58 individuals. We also had used local Tribal Elder and motivational speaker Tommy Christian speak, and had the Pretty Iron Feather dancers showcase some of their dances concluding with a round dance that engaged the entire audience.

    Publications

    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: https://www.nacaa.com/file?id=a993f1ec-f87a-4061-be78-a1e2dd506b33&w=2000&h=2000
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: https://www.nacaa.com/admin/components/custom/members/presentationapplications/view-application?id=86cb1bbb-8f98-4b29-85e0-daefc1b3d4d2