Tribal Stewards Program Launches in Eastern Oregon

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Published June 20, 2024

We are excited to partner with Oregon Natural Desert Association to offer a six-week natural resources training and employment program for tribal young adults in Harney County. Serving nine crew members from the Burns Paiute Tribe, Klamath Tribes, Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley Indian Reservation, and Pit River Tribe, the Tribal Stewards program is providing valuable natural resource field experience to support the growing restoration workforce in eastern Oregon.

The Tribal Stewards program focuses on ecological restoration projects on the U.S. Forest Service-Malheur National Forest, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Participants are paid $20/hour for their work-training, which includes working closely with local elders and other Tribal leaders, professional staff from ONDA, Lomakatsi, and agency partners.

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Last week, the crew supported fence removal to enhance wildlife habitat and put cages around the native species they recently planted on the Malheur National Forest. On Friday, they learned about Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Wilson Wewa, storyteller, Northern Paiute spiritual leader, and the Warm Spring’s Paiute Tribe’s oral historian. This week they are training on wildlife surveys and cultural resource monitoring within the US Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

This program builds on Lomakatsi’s growing partnership with the Burns Paiute Tribe to build ecosystem and community resilience, while creating tribal workforce development opportunities, in partnership with federal agencies and nonprofit organizations including ONDA. We recently established a formal Memorandum of Understanding with the Tribe and are working together to pursue funding opportunities and build restoration projects that enhance and protect ecocultural resources including First Foods.

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The 2024 Tribal Stewards program was made possible by the generous support of many partners, including the National Forest Foundation, Friends of Malheur Refuge, Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation, and National Parks, as well as ONDA and Lomakatsi.