Tuesday, November 14
5 p.m. – Evening Welcome Ceremony
A Cultural Celebration of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK)
The Summit will open with a gathering and welcome ceremony to honor the cultures, the people, and the landscapes that we are coming together to heal and nurture. Culture Night will create space to hear from tribal elders, and to share traditional songs, drumming, and dances that will help set the tone for the following days and discussions. The evening will include a dinner featuring a variety of carefully prepared indigenous cultural foods. We encourage all Summit participants to join and help cultivate a spirit of collaboration and inter-cultural exchange. Peer-to-Peer inter-generational learning is essential to long-term, sustainable ecological stewardship. To begin the Summit, we also make space for the voices of tribal youth who are supporting ecocultural restoration efforts and emerging as the next generation of leaders.
Mountaintop Drum Group; Klamath Tribal dancers
Wednesday, November 15
Breakfast – 7-8 a.m.
8 a.m. – Welcome & Introduction
8:40-9 a.m. – Keynote Speaker: Merv George, Hoopa Valley Tribe, USFS Deputy Regional Forester Pacific Northwest Region
9-10:15 a.m. – Panel: Tribal Members in Federal & State Natural Resource Management
Tribal members who work for federal and state natural resource management agencies will share their experiences working at the intersection of their agency’s mission and tribal values for land and community stewardship, toward mutually beneficial outcomes. This panel will broadly discuss some of the foundational agreements, mechanisms, and relationships that can support meaningful tribal engagement among agencies to meet legally mandated trust responsibilities, and partner with Tribal Nations and tribal communities to advance landscape-scale restoration.
Panelists: Eldon Brown, Navajo Dine, USFWS Native American Liaison for the Pacific Southwest Region; Nolan Colegrove Sr., Hoopa Valley Tribe, USFS New Orleans District Ranger; Rowena Yeahquo, The Kiowa Tribe/Comanche Nation, USFS Region 5 Tribal Relations Specialist; Bodie Shaw, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Bureau of Indian Affairs Deputy Regional Director for Trust Services
Break – 10:15-10:45 a.m.
10:45 a.m.-12 p.m. – Panel: Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) & Ecocultural Stewardship
Tribal cultural practitioners and ITEK specialists will share about the importance of cultural beneficial resources, from First Foods to plants used for basketry and other traditional practices. Presenters will discuss traditional ecocultural stewardship practices, including the importance of indigenous burning, and the place-based worldview that sustains ecosystems and communities.
Panelists: Jefferson Greene, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and descendant of the Táxshpash, Wasq’úpam, Paiute, Nimiipuu, and Shiwaníshpam Tribal Bands of Oregon, Columbia River Institute for Indigenous Development Executive Director; Wenix Red Elk, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, CTUIR Department of Natural Resources Public Outreach and Education Specialist; Belinda Brown, Pit River, Northern Paiute and Isleta Pueblo, Lomakatsi Restoration Project Tribal Partnerships Director; Elizabeth Azzuz, Karuk and Yurok descendant, Cultural Fire Management Council Director of Indigenous and Family Burning
Lunch – 12-1 p.m.
1-2:15 p.m. – Panel: Tribal Co-Stewardship for Resilient Communities, Ecosystems & Economies
This panel of tribal leaders currently involved in Co-stewardship initiatives with federal and state agencies and nonprofit organizations will highlight successful project models that utilize various agreements and relationships to accomplish landscape-scale restoration. The discussion will also cover the economic benefits of collaborative forest and watershed restoration projects that support tribal jobs and business opportunities and promote Tribal stewardship of ancestral lands.
Panelists: Phil Rigdon, Yakama Nation, Vice President of Intertribal Timber Council and Director of Natural Resources for Yakama Nation; Analisa Tripp, The Karuk Tribe, Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources Collaborative Stewardship Program Manager; Steve Rigdon, Yakama Nation, Yakama Forest Products General Manager; Josiah Jacobs, Kosealekte Band of Pit River Tribe, Tribal Employment Rights Office Director
2:15-2:35 p.m. – Keynote Speaker: Katherine Minthorn, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Associate Director Technical Assistance Network Intertribal Agriculture Council
Break – 2:35-2:50 p.m.
2:50-4:15 p.m. – Panel: Converging Perspectives for Indigenous Ecological Stewardship
The fusion of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK), academic scientific research, restoration ecology, adaptive management and restoration practice is a powerful combination that enhances forest and watershed restoration initiatives. Panelists will discuss this synergy for the integration of the art and tribal science of ITEK— into ecosystem management, ecocultural restoration and climate adaptation for holistic outcomes in planning, analysis, prioritization, implementation and multi-party monitoring.
Panelists: Dr. Frank Lake, Karuk descendant, USFS Research Ecologist Pacific Southwest Research Station Fire & Fuels Program; Dr. David Lewis, Takelma, Santiam, Chinook, Oregon State University Assistant Professor of Anthropology & Indigenous Studies; Dr. James O’Connell, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at University of Utah; Dr. Kerry Metlen, Forest Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy
4:15-5 p.m. – Closing Comments & Cultural Celebration
Thursday, November 16
8 a.m. – Welcome & Introduction
8:30-8:50 a.m. – Keynote Speaker: Dr. Homer Wilkes, USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources & Environment
9-10:15 a.m. – Panel: Government-to-Government Collaborative Stewardship
This panel will present the laws, policies, and legal mechanisms that create the foundation for successful collaborative initiatives. Panelists will cover consultation and government-to-government relationships with sovereign Tribal Nations, and how to navigate policy, funding, and cooperative framework mechanisms including Stewardship Authority, Tribal Forest Protection Act, Public Law 93-638, and Good Neighbor Authority.
Panelists: Direlle Calica, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Portland State University Institute for Tribal Government Policy & Summit Coordinator; Nathaniel Amdur-Clark, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Attorney with Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Monkman, LLP; Wade Christensen, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Silviculture Forester for Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians; Bodie Shaw, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Bureau of Indian Affairs Deputy Regional Director for Trust Services
Break – 10:15-10:30 a.m.
10:30-11 a.m. – Panel: A Model for Tribal-Led Collaborative Stewardship
This panel will discuss an innovative collaborative model between tribes, tribal communities, agencies, non-profits, and philanthropic partners that supports project planning, ecological restoration, cultural revitalization, and tribal workforce capacity development. Panelists will highlight three specific projects in partnership with Klamath Tribal community, the Kosealekte Band of the Pit River Tribe, and the Fort Bidwell Indian Tribe, which weave together federal agreements and funding with state and philanthropic investments to create resilient ecosystems, fire-adapted communities, and healthy wildlife habitat across thousands of acres of forest and miles of streams.
Panelists: Liz Zendejas, Northern Paiute Gidutikad Band, Fort Bidwell Indian Community Council; Erin Borla, Executive Director for Roundhouse Foundation; Kevin Lo, Hewlett-Packard Sustainability; Belinda Brown, Pit River, Northern Paiute, Isleta Pueblo, Lomakatsi Tribal Partnerships Director
11-11:20 a.m. – Short Film: Tribal Hands on the Land
11:25 a.m.-12 p.m. – Emerging Leaders: Tribal Youth Voices
Youth have inherited an incredible responsibility to address ecosystems out of balance. Tribal young adults will share about their experiences in ecological restoration, conservation, policy, cultural resource protection, and community engagement, as they create new paths forward for the land and future generations.
Panelists: Seneca Hescock, The Klamath Tribes, Lomakatsi Restoration Project; Jordan Bruyn, Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, Rogue Action Center; Tule O’Rourke, Yurok Tribe (invited); Daranda Hinkey, Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes (invited)
12-1:30 p.m. – Lunch, Networking, Tabling & Information Sharing
1:40-2:10 p.m. – Keynote Speaker: Doug Grafe, Wildfire Programs Director, Oregon Department of Forestry
2:15-3:30 p.m. – Panel: Summit Reflection & Path Forward
Tribal Chairs and delegated leaders are invited to reflect on conversations from the Summit and share what they need from agency and nonprofit partners to advance ecocultural restoration efforts and related capacity building on ancestral lands.
Panelists: Jeri Lynn Thompson, Tolowa Dee-Ni’ Nation; Arlo Crutcher, Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes of the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation; Diane Teeman, Burns-Paiute Tribe
Closing Comments & Cultural Celebration