Flying Finns
Indian Country Program Reports and BIA Forest Statistics
Forest planners on northern California’s Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation use maps like this as harvest planning tools. The black-colored areas are commercially available, meaning there are no restrictions that would limit the harvest. The other colors depict areas where harvesting is limited or prohibited to protect wildlife, cultural or scenic resources. This particular map spans 21,000 of approximately 88,000 acres of forestland owned by the Hupas. It was prepared using aerial and ground level data. The technology needed to do this kind of mapping is not expensive, but the data collection process is often labor intensive. For example, four technicians spent 18 months mapping the spotted owl activity centers depicted by small, dark red, vertical-hatched polygons. The Hupas map 27 different land and resource allocations, though this map shows only nine of them. Not all of the nation’s forestowning tribes can afford to do this kind of mapping, considered essential to the forest planning process.
Indian Country Program Reports and BIA Forest Statistics begin on the next page.
ADMINISTRATION
Tribes Provide More Than 40 Percent of BIA Division of Forestry Budget
More than 40 percent of the funding required to maintain the federally mandated Indian Forestry Program comes from Indian tribes. (Fig. 1) Were it not for these increasingly important contributions, the current forestry program could not have been maintained over the past decade.
Excluding the fire program, the Division’s $77.1 million budget for 1996 included a $31.9 million contribution from tribes whose forestland is held in trust by the federal government. Their contributions included reinvestments of harvest revenue, in-kind capital equipment and facilities contributions and outright cash injections from other sources, including the proceeds of Indian gaming operations.
Although tribes have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to contribute their dollars to this federal program, the federal contribution has not even kept pace with inflation. There have been some increases involving non-recurring expenses and special projects, but the Divisionís administrative budget has declined 37 percent since 1992, and its basic operations budget is down 17 percent. (Fig. 2)
Between 1993 and 1996, the Division’s permanent work force was reduced by more than 23 percent. Although tribal program staffing increased by about seven percent during the same three-year period, the increase is insufficient to overcome Division losses. The combined Division/Tribal program is clearly less viable than it was in 1993. Meanwhile, the work load is increasing, a direct result of the fact that forested acres under Tribal/ Agency jurisdiction increased from 15.9 million in 1992 to 17.1 million in 1996.
More vexing than workload-related problems is the fact the Division/Tribal forestry relationship is far more complex today than it was ten years ago. New federal laws and policies that empower Indian tribes may strengthen tribal forestry programs, but they do not absolve the government of trust responsibilities for which Congress and the courts have held the Division accountable. Although the Division has made steady progress in strengthening its historically strained relationship with tribes, the continuing absence of stronger, more stable federal commitment threatens to undermine a new partnership that holds great promise.
FOREST DEVELOPMENT
Funding Shortage Continues Slowing Progress in Forest Development
By Arch Wells Acting Chief, Division of Forestry Bureau of Indian Affairs Washington, D.C.
Forest development funding has increased modestly since 1992, but a 1996 comparison of acres treated with acres still requiring treatment (Fig. 3) reveals a significant unmet need. Of 316, 850 acres needing reforestation, only 10,186 were treated in 1996. That same year, 43,864 acres needing timber stand improvement were treated, out of 1,031,771 acres needing such treatment.
Forest development covers a range of silvicultural treatments associated with reforestation of harvested areas, or improvement of existing timber stands. Reforestation—replanting, seed cone collection, growth monitoring and other related activities—helps insure adequate restocking after harvest or loses caused by natural disturbances, including wildfires, insects, diseases, ice storms or wind. Timber stand improvements—precommercial thinning, growth monitoring and the use of prescribed fire or herbicides to control unwanted vegetation— help sustain forest productivity.
Forest development investments— from federal and tribal sources—have both near and long-term significance. In the near term, such investments help protect the quality and viability of commercially valuable timber crops. In the long term, they help insure the health and productivity of sustainable forest ecosystems.
There was forest development progress between 1992 and 1996, as Fig. 4 reveals, but a substantial reforestation backlog remains, and there is still almost a million acres requiring timber stand improvement. Fig. 5 presents an area-byarea perspective for each of the 12 BIA areas in the U.S. Of about 1.35 million acres needing forest development work, only four percent—about 54,000 acres— received any treatment in any one year. The problem: a funding shortage.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Tribal Governments See Economic Development As Key to Preserving Cultural Values
By Meri Heilman, Chair and CEO Makah Forest Enterprise Neah Bay, Washington and Gary Sims, Ph.D. Forester, BIA, Portland Area Office Portland, Oregon
 Landing crew trims knots off logs on Yakama Indian Reservation timber sale. |
 A track-mounted timber processor works its way up a 45- degree slope on the Colville Indian reservation in Washington State. |
 KwaTaqNuk Resort on Montana’s Flathead Lake is a Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal enterprise. Many tribes are diversifying their business interests in an effort to increase tribal income and employment opportunities. KwaTaqNuk, at Polson, includes a marina and art gallery plus conference and gaming facilities. |
But thousands of tribal members also work in forest-related businesses of a different kind, ranging from mushroom picking to the gathering of herbs used in ancient medicines, which—for Indians— remain an important cultural link to the past.
The fact that tribal forests are able to serve the needs of such diverse business interests underscores a basic difference between Indian forestry and forestry as it is practiced on federal, state and industrial ownerships. Tribes do take a more holistic approach to management, meaning they account for all of the parts of the forest, including timber, water, wildlife and cultural and spiritual values. Science-based forestry is very important, but it is not the only thing that is important.
Tribes approach their business ventures in much the same manner. Long before the term “holistic” became popular in academic circles, tribal leaders were implementing business development strategies based on their own, centuries-old, holistic approach. By carefully integrating natural, economic and human resources, tribes have developed able work forces and profitable businesses, fulfilling economic needs while honoring traditional cultural and spiritual values.
One of the highest priorities— perhaps the highest priority—in tribal economic development is retention of young people. Minus good paying jobs, and career opportunities, the exodus of tribal youth will continue. Young, growing families are a tribe’s bridge between yesterday and tomorrow. Without them, there is a real danger traditional cultural and spiritual values will be lost. These concerns make the tribal quest for economic strength all the more demanding. The chosen businesses must be profitable, and they must compliment the tribes’ cultural values.
The ability to charter or create businesses on reservations is a sovereign power held by tribal governments. Different business models are used, depending on tribal need. It can be a department of the tribal government, a subsidiary of a larger tribal business enterprise; a stand-alone operation; or a federally-chartered tribal business.
To help insure the success of tribal businesses, and to help hone the financial and decision-making skills of tribal business managers, the Intertribal Timber Council and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have worked with other government agencies and universities to develop short courses and workshops. Among the topics: business formation, including market assessment for forest products; business investment analysis, including evaluation of potential businesses; business financial analysis, to help tribes assess the profitability of their business ventures; and total quality management workshops, taught on-site at tribal sawmills, to help workers develop and maintain quality control programs.
Two ingredients are central to all ITC-sponsored training programs. First, students must have the full and active support of their tribe or tribal business. This insures that the skills learned will be used and further developed. Second, there is a realization that classical financial, economic, and business analyses have their limits in tribal evaluation of potential businesses. Consideration is also given to the place the business will occupy in tribal society and to how it will interface with tribal employees. The process is much more deliberative than that followed by chambers of commerce whose only interest may be in bringing new jobs to their communities. Tribes see job formation as the first step in retaining a skilled Indian work force, which is central to preserving cultural values.
Because successful modern-day businesses do not function in a vacuum, ITC and the BIA have also co-sponsored workshops and seminars that give tribal leaders the opportunity to share their ideas and concerns. Executive Leadership of Political, Social and Cultural Forces in Tribal Natural Resources Management brought together political, business, cultural and natural resource managers to discuss challenges and opportunities. Tribal Enterprise Roundtables brought together tribal political, business and cultural leaders to share individual and tribal experiences and successes in economic development. Indian Timber Symposia, an Intertribal Timber Council presentation, featured plenary sessions and workshops devoted to forest resources-based development.
These programs have helped tribes lay the groundwork for success in economic development, proving that it is possible to develop forest products businesses based on the application of holistic principles, not just in the forest, but in the business itself. Interest in these kinds of training programs remains high, but there is no money to continue them.
WOODLANDS
Long Overlooked Indian Woodlands Prized for Cultural and Spiritual Values
Navajo woodlands west of Window Rock,
Arizona. Tribal members gather fuel wood,
corral fence poles and other cultural
resources here.
By Ron Miller BIA Woodlands Forester Phoenix, Arizona and Bill Downes, Forester Division of Forestry Washington, D.C.
Indian woodlands span 8.6 million acres, mainly in the American Southwest. Long overlooked, these forgotten forests include some of the most unique ecosystems, and highly prized cultural resources, in all of Indian Country.
By definition, woodlands are less than ten percent forested, but this definition belies their beauty, as well as their economic and environmental importance to tribes that have lived in these often harsh environs for thousands of years.
Woodlands are likely the most prominent landscape feature in the entire Southwest. Pinyon-juniper and mesquite stands account for 88 percent of Indian woodland resources. Aspen stands in the Northern Rocky Mountains, oaks in California, the sabal palms in Southern Florida are also important woodland resources, as are woodland riparian ecosystems, which provide exceptional fish and wildlife habitat.
For many Indians, cultural use of woodlands exceeds their commercial value. Among the uses: food from pinyon pine nuts, mesquite seed pods and acorns; heat from pinyon, mesquite, juniper and oak fuelwood; waterproofing and medicinal ointment from pinyon pitch; fencing from juniper poles; and traditional Navajo hogan construction, also from juniper poles.
Woodlands management falls under the purview of the Division of Forestry Woodland Management Program, first funded by Congress in fiscal 1990. The program receives about $500,000 a year— a minuscule sum compared to other federal resource management programs, but an amount sufficient to fund 95 well focused projects involving resource utilization, inventory and planning, reforestation, restoration, manufacturing and marketing. Long Overlooked Indian Woodlands Prized for Cultural and Spiritual Values.
The cultural significance of the woodland resources, combined with the loss of some culturally significant plant and tree species, has raised sustainability concerns. The BIA is working with tribes to develop integrated management plans that meet the needs of people who live in these woodland ecosystems. Here are some examples of tribal woodland management programs started with BIA help.
In Arizona, the BIA and Hopi Tribe are developing an integrated resource management plan for the 197,098 acres of pinyon-juniper woodlands on their reservation. The primary objective: protection of woodland spiritual and cultural values, while providing tribal members with the opportunity to harvest subsistence amounts of fuelwood and fencing material. A pre-planning questionnaire distributed to Hopi households is the basis for the plan. More than 90% of respondents reported they heat their homes with wood. An equal number identified cultural uses for pinyon or juniper. When asked to rank 23 potential problems facing their woodlands, Hopi’s ranked spiritual concerns first, second and third.
Figure 6: About 73% of all tribal woodlands are located in the Southwest. About 48%—some 4 million acres—is owned by the Navajo Indian Nation, and another 25%—about 2.1 million acres—is owned by tribes in the BIA Phoenix area.
Pinyon pine and juniper, harvested from tribal
woodlands, is the only heat source for thousands
of Indian homes in the Southwest.
In New Mexico, the Santa Ana Pueblo native plants nursery enterprise is selling wild plants harvested from tribal woodlands, as part of a plan to reduce stand density. The tribe has also leased a shredder, which is used to eliminate non-native salt cedar and Russian olive, creating open spaces where native plants can again grow. In a related development, the tribe is working with native plants that have been inoculated with mychorrhizae to increase plant survival rates. These plants are sold by the nursery enterprise.
In Utah, the Northern Ute Indian Tribe used woodland funding to start a business that harvests and sells pinyon/ juniper fuelwood, mine props, rails, grape stakes, house logs, dimension lumber, and other roundwood products. The business generates income for the tribe, plus a means of controlling fuelwood harvesting on the reservation. The tribe has also established a woodland demonstration unit, where data is gathered that will help woodland managers decide how best to utilize and protect tribal woodlands.
In California and Arizona, the Colorado River Indian Tribes created the 1,042-acre ‘Ahakhav Tribal Preserve in an aquatic, riparian and upland ecosystem that had been significantly altered by introduced exotic plants and upstream flood control projects. Each year, exotic plants are cleared from 50 to 100 acres. Native plants, including mesquite, cottonwood and willow are then outplanted from the tribes native plant nursery. Drip irrigation helps the roots push downward into the water table, and an extensive monitoring system is used to measure plant survival and growth. The tribe has constructed a visitor center that offers recreational and environmental education programs. More than 2,000 people have used it, including tribal and community members, schools, nonprofit organizations, Boy Scouts and senior citizen groups.
In North and South Dakota, the BIA and the U.S. Forest Service are assisting tribes in collecting data needed to develop woodland resource management plans. New continuous forest inventory plots have been established and measured, and satellite imagery from the Bureau’s Geographic Data Service Center is being used to map woodland areas. Though these projects—and others like them—help insure the future vitality of woodland ecosystems, much work remains to be done. Native American Woodland Resources: A National Overview, a joint BIA/tribal study completed in 1988, detailed the funding requirements for projects spanning the nation’s Indian woodlands. Now, ten years later, only one-sixth of the annual need is being met.
TIMBER SALES
Tribal Timber Harvest is Concentrated in the West
By Mark Petruncio, Consulting Silviculturistand John Vitello, Assistant Forest Manager,Yakima Agency Branch of Forestry Toppenish, Washington
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The calculated annual allowable cut for all tribal forests in the U.S. is 810 million board feet. More than half of this allowable annual cut is from the West region (Fig. 12) where tribes own some of the most productive commercial timberland.
The actual harvested volume, for fiscal years 1992 to 1996, averaged 706 million board feet per year. Nearly 62 percent of this harvest occurred in the West region (Fig. 13) Timber sales in the West also generated almost 86 percent of the total $154 million that was returned to tribal forest owners during this same period (Fig. 14).
Indian forestry programs are guided by tribal resource professionals and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) foresters. There are twelve BIA area offices across the nation to assist tribal forestry operations. For purposes of this report, forested reservations are grouped in four regions: Alaska, East, Southwest and West. (Fig. 7) Most of the 240 forested reservations are located in the East and West regions. (Fig. 8) However, the Southwest holds more tribal forestland (Fig. 9) and woodland (Fig. 11) area than any other region, while the West has most of the commercial timberland owned by tribes. (Fig. 10) As these statistics suggest, Indian forestry is big business, producing significant financial returns to tribes. However, these businesses are different than non-Indian timber businesses because the forests and woodlands that tribes own are also their homes. Because Indians live more intimately with the economic and environmental consequences of forest management, it is essential that tribal forestry operations always strike a balance between economic, environmental and social considerations. As such, Indian forestry can serve as a global model for active and responsible forestry.
FIRE MANAGEMENT
Indian Country On The Forefront In New Approaches To Wildland Fire
Pinyon pine and juniper,
harvested from tribal
woodlands, is the only heat
source for thousands of
Indian homes in the
Southwest.
By Steve Haglund Director, National Interagency Fire Center Bureau Of Indian Affairs Boise, Idaho
Indian wildland fire crews and overhead team members remain the backbone of the national wildland fire suppression effort. Since 1992, Indians have accounted for about 21 percent of all firefighters working major wildfires in the U.S. And the number of Indian crews is on the rise, a result of increased federal appropriations beginning in 1995. Crew training standards have also been upgraded.
Wildland fire fighting remains a multiagency task, involving the highly coordinated efforts of Division of Forestry, Indian tribes, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and thousands of local firefighting organizations.
However, the manner in which wildfires are approached is changing in response to the 1995 Federal Fire Policy and Review Report, which highlighted the long overlooked, but often positive ecological role fire plays in maintaining healthy, naturally resilient forests. The 1993 Assessment of Indian Forests and Forest Management in the United States was used as a basis to win congressional approval for use of FY 1998 fire operation funds for a series of prescribed burns and mechanical treatments designed to reduce hazardous natural fuel buildups in forests where wildfires have been suppressed for almost a century.
As part of these new initiatives, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is now linked to every Geographic Area Coordination Center in the country, as well as all national wildfire coordinating and advisory teams. Agency/tribal wildland fire coordination and cooperation are improving, as is the level of interagency management. Tribal and Bureau fire and forest management staff members continue to serve on interagency incident command and burned area emergency rehabilitation teams. In a series of separate but related events, tribes are continuing to contract all or portions of wildland fire management programs under Self-Determination and Indian Forest Management Act authority and are compacting fire programs under Self-Governance authority.
Although tribes remain deeply committed to wildfire firefighting and fire training, there is a separate, but no less important desire to return fire to tribal forest ecosystems. There are, of course, areas where woody debris accumulations are too great to permit safe use of “prescribed fire,” but where the risk is low, the benefits of low-intensity burning is well documented. Fire ecologists and tribal foresters view prescribed fire as a useful tool for reducing moderate natural fuel accumulations, or changing species composition, vegetation structure or density. Taken together, these fire-related benefits will help restore natural diversity, eventually improving the health of at-risk forests, woodlands and rangelands.
Currently, prescribed fire is being used to treat about 55,000 tribal forest acres annually, less than 20 percent of the 300,000 acres that could benefit from periodic controlled fire. Another 1.5 million acres, many close to communities, are considered unsuitable for prescribed burning because of air quality concerns, or because excess natural fuel accumulations prevent safe use of fire.
Federal and state air quality standards pose a special challenge for prescribed fire users, but by limiting fire to debris that burns quickly, and by burning when weather conditions permit smoke to escape into the upper atmosphere, related particulate emissions can be held to a minimum.
PEST MANAGEMENT
More Funding Needed To Treat Diseased Tribal Forests
Larch mistletoe is a significant
pest in western tribal forests
By Tom Corse Silviculturist and Reforestaton Supervisor Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes Ronan, Montana
Indian Country includes some of the most productive forest land in the United States. But even these forests are vulner-able to attacks by a wide variety of insects and diseases. Resulting mortality and growth losses can undermine harvesting revenues, a major income producer for many tribes.
Insect and disease problems vary in type and severity by geographic area. In eastern forests, defoliators and root rot problems are widespread. Dwarf mistletoe is a big problem in the Southwest, and in the Inland West spruce budworm and mistletoe are major problems.
Many of these outbreaks can be traced to changes in forest species composition and structure. This is especially true in the West, where the so-called “forest health crisis” has reached epidemic proportions in some tribal forests.
Strange as it may seem, these sick forests suffer from a lack of fire. Before white settlement began, western forests were dominated by fire-resistant pine species. Frequent, low intensity wildfires, and Indian fires, kept these forests open, creating ideal growing conditions for naturally regenerating pine stands. Major insect and disease outbreaks were rare. But as Indians were moved onto reservations, and wildfire suppression became commonplace, subtle changes began to occur. Fire-sensitive fir invaded fireresistant pine stands, gradually crowding them out. In the absence of fire, forest density increased, as did competition for sunlight, moisture and soil nutrients. Resulting natural stress has made these forests more vulnerable to insects, disease and wildfire.
To help restore the health of their diseased forests, tribes are implementing a variety of ecosystem-based strategies designed to treat two underlying problems: stand density and an over-abundance of fire-sensitive tree species. Several silvicultural tools, including harvesting, prescribed fire and biological and chemical agents are being used to open up overly dense forests, stimulating natural regeneration and growth among tree species that resist fire, insects and disease.
Although these treatments work well, necessary federal pest control funding has declined from a 1992 high of $683,000 to just $330,000 in 1996. Additional funding is needed to treat diseased forests before they fall victim to catastrophic wildfire. In the absence of such funding, many tribal forest resources—fish and wildlife habitat, historic and cultural sites and revenueproducing timber—will be lost, as will the opportunity for Indians to complete the federally-mandated transition to ecosystem-based forestry.
ALASKA NATIVE FROESTRY
Funding and Manpower Shortages Slow Alaska’s Native Forestry Program
By Chris Maisch Forestry Program Director Tanana Chiefs Conference Fairbanks, Alaska
Funding and manpower shortages are big problems for the BIA’s Division of Forestry and Tribal Forestry Programs in Alaska. Although progress is being made in several important areas—including timber stand improvement, reforestation and fire protection— much work remains undone, a result of the fact there are simply not enough people to do all of the work that needs to be done. In the entire state, only two and onehalf Bureau of Indian Affairs staff positions are dedicated to forestry. Equally troubling, most federally mandated forestry programs are staffed by a single full-time professional.
To make matters worse, the collapse of the Asian economy has throttled tribes and Native corporations that earn most of their income from the sale of valuable Sitka and white spruce. Tribes and Corporations that might otherwise invest more of their own money in federally-deficient programs are now unable to do so, further undermining progress in forestry.
Suffice to say, Division and Tribal foresters face a daunting task where trust lands in Alaska are concerned. The two organizations share responsibility for providing forest management services on Alaska Native lands, which include more than 14,000 separate allotments, plus Southeast Alaska’s Annette Island Indian Reservation.
Since 1988, most of these services— including forest inventory and planning, forest development and timber sale administration— have been taken over by tribal consortiums and individual tribal organizations under contracting provisions authorized under the 1975 Indian Self-Determination Act. Village and regional corporations, formed under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, are also eligible for technical assistance, including many of the same forestry services available on trust lands, but their program—authorized by Congress when it ratified the 1990 National Indian Forest Resources Management Act—has never been funded.
Services provided to eligible tribes and allotees vary widely and mirror the biological and structural diversity of Alaska’s forests. For example, in coastal southeast Alaska’s lush spruce forests, timber is an important component of the Alaska Native economy. The Tlingit Haida Central Council, a primary Self-governance contractor in the region administers timber sales, tracks forest growth and reforestation and manages a precommercial thinning program for recently harvested allotments. The thinning work, which is designed to stimulate growth in high value spruce and cedar stands, is done by Native crews trained and managed by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc., another Self-Governance contractor, based at Fairbanks. Crews work the southeastern region in the spring, then move back into the Interior in early July.
Elsewhere in Alaska, in the vast southcentral region, the Chugachmiut tribal consortium works closely with the BIA, providing several forest-related services, most notably pre-suppression fire management, fire training and timber sale management. The region has been hit hard by a spruce bark beetle infestation, adding even more pressure to already short-handed, underfunded staffs. Many allotments on the Kenai Peninsula have experienced greater than 90% mortality in spruce forests.
In Interior Alaska, forest management services are provided by several organizations, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, The Native Village of Fort Yukon, Tanana Tribal Council and Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc.
The Tanana Chief’s Conference services more than 2,700 allotment parcels. Using a geographic information system, foresters monitor a wide variety of activities, including forest inventory and management planning. GIS technology is especially valuable during fire season, when it can be used to quickly locate allotments in the path of fire, speeding crew response time. The hoped for the addition of a Type I Hotshot crew this spring would significantly strengthen the program.
Tanana Chiefs also provide timber sale and forest development services, including reforestation. Harvest activity depends on export log prices, which have been depressed by Asia’s economic woes. Most of the allotments served are in remote areas accessible only during winter months when ice bridges and winter roads provide links to rail and trucking centers. The replanting work is done during the summer months. One-year-old white spruce seedlings are planted by trained crews recruited from nearby villages. Crew members can plant about 800 seedlings a day and earn up to 25 cents per seedling for their work. On the best growing sites, another crop of sawtimber-size trees will be ready for harvest in 80 to 100 years.
Each Alaska region has unique forest management needs. Despite low staffing and funding levels, Tribal and Bureau forestry programs have become efficient and effective service providers for allottees and Alaska Native Corporations throughout the state.
Winter logging (Top) in Alaska’s Interior is tough on men and equipment. Daytime
temperatures hover in the minus 60-degree range, and daylight lasts about 3.5 hours.
Timber is trucked from remote tribal trust lands to “the outside world” via snow roads
and ice bridges. (Bottom) Chris Maisch, a forester with Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc.,
stands in a recently thinned white birch grove on a Native allotment near Wasilla.
EDUCATION
Haskell Indian Nations University Offers Holistic Education in Natural Resources
Gail Sloan Natural Resources Liaison and Bill Welton Natural Resources Instructor Haskell Indian Nations University Lawrence, Kansas
 Kari Finley is a 1995 graduate of Haskell Indian Nations University, where she earned a two-year liberal arts degree. Now she is a junior in environmental studies at Salish-Kootenai College at Pablo, Montana. She expects to graduate next year, and hopes to be hired by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai forestry department. Haskell helped her find summer employment with the U.S. Forest Service. She is from Arlee, less than an hour south of Pablo. |
The Haskell program evolved from two events beginning with the administration’s 1987 decision to expand its associate degree program to better prepare students for transfer to bachelor of science programs. Concurrently, a federal resource agency personnel recruiter asked Haskell’s biology faculty for help contacting students who might be interested in summer jobs in the Northwest. Of the 50 students who signed up, 25 failed to report to work. Students who did report either had no comprehension of what they were supposed to do, or did not have money for clothing or transportation. From this experience, and a survey of several tribes, it was learned that few Indian students had professional-level degrees in forestry or related areas, and most students who were interested were not prepared for actual employment.
The following year, Haskell invited a group of resource professionals to help develop a sound academic program capable of promoting real-life job training for students. The group included BIA and Forest Service managers, a Society of American Foresters staff member, and two university resource program chairpersons. Working together, they identified these obstacles facing Indian students interested in natural resource careers: inadequate academic preparation, lack of cultural support from higher education, weaknesses in Indian student recruitment, lack of summer work experience or knowledge of cooperative educational opportunities, and lack of necessary financial resources. (A separate SAF report revealed Indians accounted for only 15 of 3,500 students graduating each year with forestryrelated degrees awarded by SAF accredited universities.)
As a first step toward overcoming the obstacles facing Indian students, Haskell established an advisory board representing three inter-tribal resource organizations and several federal resource agencies. With their help, a multi-agency work-study program was developed that provides summer jobs for freshman and sophomore students who are academically eligible and want to learn more about natural resources, including forestry, land management, soils and hydrology.
Successful students who want more experience may also apply for a cooperative education position during or after their sophomore year. The program provides tuition and fees during the regular academic year, plus summer employment. Students are frequently offered full-time employment following completion of their degree requirements. Thus far, Haskell has graduated 28 co-op students. Sixteen have transferred to other universities, and another 12 have completed bachelor’s degrees in natural resource fields. All are working in professional level positions for tribes and agencies.
Academic preparation is the key to the success of the Haskell program. Early on, the staff recognized it was dealing with nontraditional students facing obstacles that often blocked the path to success. But as is often the case, students facing the biggest obstacles often do very well because they understand and appreciate the value of a college education. Many Indian students are additionally motivated by the fact their tribe’s resources are managed by non-Indians, because no one in their tribe has a degree in natural resources. Among these students, there is a strong desire to graduate, then return home to help manage their tribe’s natural resources.
Another key to the success of the Haskell program is its mentoring and role-modeling program. Haskell alumni who have completed their four-year degrees are asked to advise and mentor students transferring to their alma maters.
By maintaining their cultural identities, and accepting the challenges and opportunities offered by today’s society, Haskell students—and graduates—help bridge traditional and modern cultures. Many return to their tribes or to local BIA offices, where they put their education to work helping manage their natural resource heritage.Others go on to work for other local, state and federal agencies involved in resource planning and management. Either way, Haskell graduates often become their tribe’s most valuable resources.
For more information about Haskell Indian Nations University, please call the Natural Resource Liaison at (785) 749-8427.
“...a cadre of well-qualified Indian professionals managing Indian forestlands.”By Scott Gasperin Director of Forestry Nez Perce Tribe Lapwai, Idaho Where forestry education is concerned, the nation’s Indian tribes have made a significant financial commitment to preparing themselves for eventually assuming full management control over tribal forestlands currently held in trust by the federal government. The commitment to education is spelled out in a long-range document called Vision 2000, which was approved several years ago by the Intertribal Timber Council, a consortium of 70 Indian tribes and Alaska Native Corporations that own and manage forestland. The document covers a variety of ITC-related activities, including education. The education vision is both blunt and revealing: “By the year 2000, there will be a cadre of well-qualified Indian professionals managing Indian forest lands.” To meet this ambitious goal, ITC directors established three educational objectives for its education committee. (1) Evaluate ways to encourage increased contact by Indian natural resource professionals with Indian youth. (2) Where possible, use existing tribal programs as models for similar regional or national efforts. (3) Work with other organizations to explore ways to increase Indian youth awareness of career opportunities in natural resources. Recently, ITC entered an educational partnership with Project Learning Tree. The groups will co-sponsor two and three-day facilitator training sessions with an Indian Country focus. Once trained, these facilitators will form local teams that will work with school districts to bring forestry education programs into classrooms. Through its Truman D. Picard Educational Scholarship program, ITC also grants scholarships to Indian students interested in furthering their education in the natural resource sciences. Since 1988, 49 scholarships have been awarded, including ten for $1,500 each in the past two years. This year, eight $1,500 scholarships will be awarded. Scholarship funds come from a variety of sources, including interest on ITC investments, registration fees from council-sponsored training sessions, and a raffle conducted annually at the National Indian Timber Symposium. Additionally, the BIA Division of Forestry funds intern and co-operative education programs for Indians who want to pursue careers in natural resources. Since 1981, thirty-seven intern candidates and 12 co-op students have completed their course work and are employed as natural resource professionals in tribal, state or federal agencies. Several tribes also fund their own cooperative education programs, providing academic and work experience for members interested in pursuing careers in natural resources. A complete accounting of these programs is not yet available, but a survey is underway. |
SUMMARY STATISTICS
human need to use natural resources is fundamental to our continued presence on earth."