Celebrating a successful 2024 Tribal Stewards Program

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Published July 17, 2024

We’re so proud of this incredible crew for working hard to protect important ecocultural resources in eastern Oregon!

Over the past six weeks, the Tribal Stewards Program—a partnership between the Oregon Natural Desert Association, Lomakatsi, and the Burns Paiute Tribe—accomplished ecological stewardship projects in Harney and Grant Counties, across the ancestral homelands of the Northern Paiute. Through this partnership, Lomakatsi employed a crew of six tribal young adults and two tribal crew leaders to support ecological restoration projects on the U.S. Forest Service-Malheur National Forest, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Throughout the program, the Tribal Stewards crew worked under the guidance of Lomakatsi tribal staff, ONDA trainers, tribal elders, and natural resource professionals from the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other tribal, agency, and community partners.

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Over the last two weeks of the program, the crew learned about the National Seed Strategy and helped preserve and restore native plant beds, riparian areas, and springs. The training included how to complete cultural plant surveys and collect native bunchgrass seeds. NPS staff presented on paleontology within the John Day Fossil Beds to wrap up the program.

As a result of Lomakatsi’s Indian Youth Service Corps (IYSC) agreement with the USFS Regions 5 & 6 and a national IYSC agreement with the National Park Service, crew members earned 240 hours from the Tribal Stewards program toward the 640 hours required to earn Public Land Corps certification. This certification makes them eligible for a two-year non-competitive hiring authority program, providing an advantage when applying for job opportunities with the USFS and other federal agencies.

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We are especially grateful to the Burns Paiute Tribal Council and tribal community, ONDA, and our USFS and NPS partners for making this an impactful program and growing a strong partnership, expanding our ability to serve more tribal and rural young adults to support jobs, natural resource career paths, and more resilient ecosystems and communities.