PART 1: ONLINE COURSES (2 hours each)

• Introduction to Cultural Sensitivity and Land Stewardship: March 20th, 4-6pm
  
• Integrating Traditional Knowledge into Land Stewardship Projects: March 27th, 4-6pm
  
• Shared Stewardship – Land access and arrangements for sharing land, power and resources: April 3rd, 4-6
  

PART 2: LAND TENDING FIELD DAYS (4 hours each)

• Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge at the Andrew Reasoner Preserve: April 21st, 2-6pm
  
• Indigenous land stewardship and land rematriation: Cha Tumenma – Komemma Cultural Protection Association: May 5th, 1-6pm
  
• Native informed gardens and ecological restoration: Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI) Garden Program: May 19th, 2-6pm
  

Online Course 1: Introduction to Cultural Sensitivity and Land Stewardship

March 20, 4-6pm on zoom

A movement to recognize Indigenous peoples and invite them into conversations related to land use, ecological restoration, and climate adaptation is occurring within academia and the realm of public policy. This movement occurs on the ground as land stewardship organizations and practitioners seek to partner with Indigenous people to integrate their priorities and Traditional Ecological Knowledge into projects.

Because of cultural and philosophical differences, these conversations often fail or become one-sided and lead to pitfalls inherent in unequal and historically traumatic relationships between the descendants of a settler population and Indigenous peoples. This workshop provides context, historical and cultural background, and foundational concepts critical to the readying of organizations and practitioners to take steps towards meaningfully and respectfully collaborating with local Native people on land stewardship projects.

This course requires about 1 hour beforehand watching a pre-recorded video of David Lewis on western Oregon history. 

*This module is a prerequisite to all other modules for non-native participants and anyone who has not taken an introductory decolonization course.*

Instructors: Deana Dartt and Heron Brae of Live Oak Consulting

Topics Covered Include:

• Know your local Native history (David Lewis lecture, pre-req)
• History of Native and land conservation policy
• Worldview differences and Native values connected to land
• Cultural sensitivity
• Settler privilege/activating allyship 

Online course 2: Integrating Traditional Knowledge into Land Stewardship Projects

March 27, 4-6pm on zoom

Regional land projects typically involve many facets from a host of state agencies, watershed councils, and conservation districts, independent contractors, and land owners. Too often, Indigenous engagement is often overlooked or is tokenized, but through dedicated work, models are emerging that weave Native leadership into these projects. This module will consist of a presentation and discussion of regional land-based initiatives that center Indigenous knowledge and leadership. Through stories of successes and challenges encountered in cross cultural and multi-stakeholder projects, participants will gain insights into arrangements and protocols that lead to good outcomes for both people and the land.

Instructor: Joe Scott – Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program

Goals:

• Institutional arrangements that lead to culturally sensitive multi-partner  collaborations and the application of Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• Highlight successful regional projects in order to learn from their successes
• Interrogate common pitfalls in white-led land stewardship projects
• Provide  tools/understanding to support collaborative, mutually-beneficial Native/non-native land stewardship projects 

Online course 3: Shared Stewardship – Land access and arrangements for sharing land, power and resources

Date: April 3, 4-6pm

This module will explore the concrete ways that we can move forward as individuals and communities to creatively expand Indigenous land access and tenure. We will explore the current legal mechanisms which can be used to this end, with case studies involving Indigenous communities. Stay tuned, as the full roster of presenters is TBD.

Instructor: Ellen Fred, Conservation Partners

Goals: 

• Learn legal options for increasing Native land access
• Highlight regional projects/examples 
• Provide steps for mutually beneficial shared stewardship arrangements 

PART 2: From Theory to Practice: Land Tending Field Days

Goals:

• Provide restoration practitioners with real world experience in land stewardship practices and skills for cultural sensitivity
• Assist land projects to advance their goals and capacity to steward their land and serve their people
• Inspire new restoration practitioners to participate in the sector 
• Activate collaboration across a network of land holders, practitioners, support organizations (like watershed councils and conservation districts), and Indigenous leaders and communities.

Field Day #1: Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge at the Andrew Reasoner Preserve

Date: April 21, 1:30-6:00 pm

The Andrew Reasoner Wildlife Preserve is 293 acres of mixed species woodlands, savanna, and upland prairie, located southwest of Eugene in the upper Long Tom Watershed. The site has hosted the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program (TEIP, formerly Team TEK) since 2018, serving more than 120 Native youth and family members. The privately owned preserve is managed for multiple uses, including recreation, forestry, and conservation, and is a site of active habitat restoration. Legacy trees, greater than 200 years old, dot the property, including incense cedar, ponderosa pine, and white and black oaks. Prairie acres and meadow openings in woodlands also support hazel, camas, tarweed, wild strawberry, and cat’s ear lily. 

A unique agreement with the TEIP and the landowners has established a stable place where Native youth and families are engaging with traditional harvest and tending methods of cultural species. 

This field day will be presented by Joe Scott. We will review the history of the land and the collaborations that led to project success of the TEIP. We will discuss practices involved in preparing for and carrying out burning on the site and we will engage in a hands-on project to care for the space as a learning landscape.

Field Day #2: Indigenous land Stewardship and Land Rematriation: 

Cha Tumenma – Komemma Cultural Protection Association

Date: May 5, 12:00 – 6:00 pm

The Cha Tumenma Land Project is led by Esther Stutzman, a Kalapuya elder, and her descendants. They are in the process of transitioning land to their organization the Komemma Cultural Protection Association (KCPA). The site covers more than 200 acres within their traditional territory and will represent a permanent base for Native youth summer camps, a community garden, and land stewardship projects, including cultural fire and ecological forestry. The Stutzman family has been running summer camps for Native youth for over 40 years and recently published the first Kalapuyan dictionary. Long-term planning for land stewardship is ongoing and KCPA is developing goals for the care of the mixture of pine woodlands, open grasslands, riparian forests, mature conifer forests and legacy oak and madrone woodlands across the site. Land tending projects for the coming year may include pine woodland thinning, biochar production, prescribed fire, trail building, creating a cultural education garden, and oak release projects.

This field day will be presented by Esther and Shannin Stutzman. We will introduce the work of the Komemma Cultural Protection Association, discuss the history of the land, and provide an overview of the planning process being undertaken to set the stage for long-term stewardship across the site. There will also be an opportunity to help with a camas planting at the end of the day. 

Field Day #3: Indigenous Informed Gardens and Ecological Restoration: Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI) Garden Program

Date: May 19, 1:30 – 6:00 pm

The Garden Program is a new program being developed by the CTSI Health Clinic to steward a 38-acre property into a diversified organic practicing farm that provides healthy food options and cultural opportunities for Tribal members. The program seeks to improve the health of Siletz Tribal membership by providing access to clean organic produce, outdoor recreation, and cultural activities in a safe space. 

The stewardship of the land is guided by a Garden Committee, the needs of the community, Traditional Ecological Knowledge pathways, and a variety of internal and external partnerships. Half of the landscape is designated wetlands with wetland meadows, shrub/tree wetlands, and a seasonal creek that is being stewarded to host and enhance habitat for native plants and animals with a focus on Beaver habitat. The front half of the landscape has been historically cleared and grazed into open pasture which is being stewarded to fulfill the Garden Program’s needs. The program has installed a rainwater catchment system that will serve vegetable and plant production, a 5-acre garden with an exclusion fence to deter grazing animals such as Elk and Deer, a greenhouse nursery for plant and vegetable production, various facility and access renovations for programming activities, and is developing a Garden Master Plan that will continue to guide the future activities in the landscape. 

This field trip will be an overview of the various Garden Program activities that work to achieve Food Sovereignty for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Discussions will center on the future plans of the Garden Program and hands-on activities will focus on people-centered, land-based restoration of first foods, native plants, and our local wetlands.