A team of five Lomakatsi staff recently traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with national federal agency leaders, national tribal organizations, and congressional representatives to share success stories and discuss how to increase the pace and scale of ecological forest restoration in the face of wildfire and climate change.
Executive Director Marko Bey and Tribal Partnerships Director Belinda shared how Lomakatsi and our many partners are using collaborative agreements and stewardship-based projects to restore ecosystems, build regional capacity for forest restoration and prescribed fire, and reduce wildfire risks to communities and ecosystems. In meetings with national leadership from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Natural Resources Conservation Service, we highlighted successful partnerships and projects from the field across Oregon and northern California.
After a long pandemic, we were honored to be back in the capitol in person for the first time since May 2019, when a Lomakatsi delegation met with agency leadership and Marko testified in front of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands on the subject of Wildfire Resilient Communities.
On this trip, the Lomakatsi team enjoyed reconnecting with high–ranking national leadership charged with managing natural resources, building forest resilience, and addressing the wildfire crisis in the West. Education & Training Program Coordinator Sequoia Ahimsa shared about the success of our replicable youth ecological forestry training program model, and Tribal Initiatives Project Manager George Swartzlender, enrolled member of the Kosealekte Band of the Ajumawi-Atsuge Nation (Pit River Tribe), highlighted the Inter-Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Partnership and the landscape-scale projects that support co-management of tribal ancestral lands in Oregon and northern California. Communications Associate Allayana Darrow supported the executive team and provided insight on the array of natural resource positions needed to accomplish landscape-scale ecological restoration, from administration to boots on the ground.
The Lomakatsi team met with representatives of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Congress of American Indians, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden’s Office, USDA Office of Tribal Relations, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Congressman Cliff Bentz’ Office, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley’s Office, multiple departments of the U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management Fire & Aviation. We also caught up with Dr. Homer Wilkes, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, who we hosted in the Rogue Valley for the announcement of new Community Wildfire Defense Fund Grant funding for the state of Oregon a few weeks ago.
Thank you to all the staff who helped coordinate our visits! Check out these photos.
