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Mission
Restore ecosystems and the sustainability of communities, cultures, and economies.
PANEL 3 of 7
November 15, 2023 | 1-2:15 P.M.
Co-Stewardship for Resilient Communities, Ecosystems and Economies
Program Description
Tribal leaders involved in Co-stewardship with agencies and nonprofits will highlight successful project models that utilize various agreements and relationships to accomplish landscape-scale restoration. They will cover the economic benefits of collaborative stewardship that supports tribal restoration economies through job creation, manufacturing of forest products, return of cultural fire, and native plant propagation.
Moderator: Marko Bey • Founder & Executive Director, Lomakatsi Restoration Project
Presentation Recording
Panelists and Presentation Summaries
Phil Rigdon • Yakama Nation • Superintendent, Yakama Nation Natural Resources Department & Yakama Representative for Intertribal Timber Council
Phil Rigdon talked about the Yakama Nation’s holistic approach to Co-Stewardship in forest and aquatic habitat restoration to maintain a tribal economy founded in a time immemorial place-based lifeway associated with land, water, and food resource stewardship. He cited projects the Yakama Nation co-manages with federal agencies that are increasing the pace and scale of ecosystem restoration work to improve overall resilience of public, private, and tribal trust lands. He provided examples of tribal-led collaborative partnerships that blend science and culture for ecocultural revitalization and stimulate tribal economic sovereignty, and highlighted legal mechanisms that facilitate Tribes’ active roles in forest management, such as Public Law 93-638 and the Tribal Forest Protection Act.
“Place is so important to us; our stories, our legends, our songs, our way of life–it connects us… but it also is our responsibility to these things that make us who we are.”
About Phil
Mr. Phil Rigdon represents Yakama Nation on the Inter-Tribal Timber Council Executive Board. He has been the Superintendent of Yakama Nation’s Natural Resources Department since May 2005 and has worked for the Tribe since June 1996. Mr. Rigdon obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Forest Management from the University of Washington and a Master’s Degree in Forestry from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Steve Rigdon • Yakama Nation • General Manager, Yakama Forest Products
Steve Rigdon spoke to the elements of a viable restoration-based economy in the context of an altered industrial and ecological climate. He highlighted the local and regional economic benefits of developing and reinvesting in timber processing infrastructure and a skilled forestry workforce inclusive of youth. He emphasized the role of the transmission of intergenerational ecocultural knowledge and environmental leadership to ensure a balanced ecological approach that sustains resilient communities and the continuation of tribal subsistence identities and lifeways.
“Those trees are no different than our salmon, our roots, our berries, our deer and elk, it’s food, it’s shelter, it’s sustenance. We honor that death and with that, it takes care of us.”
About Steve
Mr. Steve Rigdon is a Yakama Indian Nation Tribal member and is currently the General Manager of Yakama Forest Products. From 1996 to 2007, he was a Forester for The Yakama Nation, working on high mountain meadow restoration projects, timber sales, planning, forest engineering, and also served as an Administrative Forestry Supervisor. From 2007 through 2015, he served as Resource Manager at Yakama Power. Mr. Rigdon earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Forestry from the University of Washington in 2002.
Analisa Tripp • Karuk Tribe • Collaborative Stewardship Program Manager, Department of Natural Resources, The Karuk Tribe
Analisa Tripp gave examples of how collaborative partnerships serve as a mechanism to return land stewardship to tribes, such as The Karuk Tribe, which has faced negative socio-ecological impacts from extractive industries such as gold, timber, and illegal cannabis within a 1.2-million-acre aboriginal territory–only 0.1% of which is under the tribe’s jurisdiction, with the remainder managed by the U.S. Forest Service. She provided examples of how the Tribe has leveraged the strength of collaborative partnerships to build trust, tribal capacity for cultural monitoring, archaeology services and NEPA planning, and develop projects that employ tribal members and cultural practitioners to lead the protection of sacred landmarks and traditional gathering sites.
“Part of having all these different people in the same room developing these projects together is it also provides different avenues for us to get different kinds of funding to each other, so whatever funding we are able to get through these inter-agency agreements or P.L.93-638 agreements, we can funnel to our partners to be able to serve different functions within our projects and partnerships.”
About Analisa
Ms. Tripp is a Karuk woman who was raised on her ancestral homelands in Northern California, where she continues to live and work today. She has been employed by the Karuk Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources since 2015 and has worked in archaeology, fire, natural and cultural resources management, food security, and more during her time there. Ms. Tripp currently serves as the Karuk Tribe DNR’s Collaborative Stewardship Program Manager. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Native American Studies from UC Berkeley, and was in the Environment and Community Master’s Program at Humboldt State University.
Josiah Jacobs • Kosealekte Band of the Pit River Tribe • Tribal Employment Rights Office Director, Pit River Tribe
Josiah Jacobs spoke of the power of engaging tribes and tribal people to restore and maintain the land and how to support positive relationship-building to achieve shared outcomes, from inter-tribal alliances to approaching tribes with opportunities in reciprocity. He referenced a new partnership that emerged out of shared goals for climate-adapted native plant species propagation for forest resilience and post-fire recovery, streambank stabilization, and tribal food sovereignty, security, nutrition, and sustainability. Building on the foundation of an initial meaningful engagement between the Kosealekte Band of the Pit River Tribe and Sierra Institute, the partnership attracted additional support from NGOs, the tribal community, and state agencies.
“Open their eyes to what you’re bringing to the table…A gift could be opportunity for a tribal community.”
About Josiah
Mr. Jacobs is an enrolled member of the Kosealekte Band of the Ajumawi-Atsuge Nation (federally recognized as the Pit River Tribe) and serves as an elected member of the Kosealekte Band Tribal Council. He is currently the Tribal Employment Rights Office Director for the Pit River Tribe.
Resources
- Catching Fire: Prescribed Burning in Northern CA (Video) [Link]
- Council for Tribal Employment Rights: FAQs about TERO [Link]
- Good Fire: Current Barriers to the Expansion of Cultural Burning and Prescribed Fire in CA and Recommended Solutions [Link]
- Intertribal Timber Council [Link]
- Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources Ecocultural Resources Management Plan [Link]
- Karuk Climate Adaptation Plan [Link]
- Karuk Tribe Westside Fire Recovery Project [Link]
- Klamath Basin Food System Assessment: Karuk Tribe Data [Link]
- Yakama Forest Products [Link]