Tribal Partnerships Program

Restoring ecosystems and ancestral lands. Supporting tribal communities and economies.

Lomakatsi’s tribally led Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Partnership Program and the Inter-Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Partnership (ITERP) support partnerships with Native American Tribes and tribal communities throughout Oregon and northern California to build sustainable ecosystem restoration programs.

Lomakatsi’s tribal staff, representing tribal members from seven tribal nations, work closely with tribal and agency partners to incorporate Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge into ecosystem restoration projects. Tribal Partnership initiatives assist in building a tribal workforce with managerial and administrative capacity to implement ecological restoration and work on their time immemorial ancestral land bases, as the first best stewards. ITERP members represent regional tribes; tribal community leaders; Native American- owned forestry, wildland fire, and natural resource contracting businesses; and tribal-led nonprofit restoration and behavioral health organizations and programs throughout Oregon and northern California.

Key aspects of our Tribal Partnerships Program

• Form tribal and agency partnerships

• Work across federal, private, and tribal trust lands

• Incorporate Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge

• Support forest-related businesses with restoration by-products

• Provide peer-to-peer worker training and long-term employment, including for young adults through the Tribal Youth Ecological Forestry Training Program

Program Elements

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Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge — Intergenerational Land Stewardship

Inter-Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Partnership

Tribal Youth Ecological Forestry Training Program

Tribal Partnerships Program Updates

USDA Under Secretary Visits Ashland and Lomakatsi Tribal Crew

March 22, 2023

Press: Inter-tribal training program builds regional capacity for forest, community resilience

February 23, 2023

Inter-Tribal Ecocultural Exchange

February 21, 2023

Tribal Youth Ecological Forestry Training Program Graduation

February 17, 2023

Tribal crew puts good fire on the ground in Chiloquin

February 13, 2023

Tribal Youth Crew Helps Reduce Fuels in Chiloquin

February 9, 2023

Week 8: Learn and Burn

December 7, 2022

Crews light piles at Buckhorn Springs ahead of winter storm

November 30, 2022

Honoring the first, best stewards of the land

November 23, 2022

Local Forest Supervisor Visits Lomakatsi Tribal Youth Crew

November 22, 2022

Tribally Led Restoration Project Highlights

Tribal partnership initiatives assist in building tribal capacity for the implementation of ecological restoration across thousands of acres of ancestral lands.

We acknowledge that Lomakatsi operates programs across the ancestral lands of Native peoples who lived and live in the watersheds of the Rogue River, Klamath River, Illinois River, Willamette River, Smith River, Umpqua River, and Pit River.

Edison Chiloquin Trust Lands

Klamath County, Oregon

Community wildfire protection and ecocultural restoration

Objectives. Employ a tribal workforce; Reduce hazardous forest fuels; Enhance wildlife habitat; Improve forest health; Promote culturally beneficial subsistence plant species; Reduce the risk of severe wildfire

Partners. Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin tribal communities, U.S. Forest Service Fremont-Winema National Forest, Lomakatsi Restoration Project

Reach. An initial 41 acres within the 580-acre Chiloquin Trust Lands, and adjacent tribally-owned and other private lands.

Funding. Oregon Conservation Corps, Gray Family Foundation, The Roundhouse Foundation, Center for Disaster Philanthropy

Karuk Stewardship Agreement

Siskiyou County, California

Fuels reduction for the reintroduction of fire

Objectives. Thin focal areas for reintroduction of cultural burning to improve conditions of certain sites, objects, features, or properties; Demonstrate the reintroduction of fire as a cultural environmental management practice project

Partners. Karuk Tribe, U.S. Forest Service Six Rivers National Forest, The Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, Lomakatsi Restoration Project

Reach. Approximately 10,000 acres

Funding. CAL FIRE California Forest Improvement Program, U.S. Forest Service, MillsDavis Foundation

Ashland Creek Pond Riparian and Ecocultural Restoration Project

Jackson County, Oregon

Post-fire riparian and ecocultural restoration

Objectives. Restore the ecological function of Ashland Creek and Bear Creek riparian corridors after the 2020 Almeda Fire; Promote culturally beneficial subsistence plant species; Reduce the risk of severe wildfire; Continue restoration efforts underway since 2005 to protect native wildlife population and preserve community recreational attributes

Partners. Lomakatsi Restoration Project, The Freshwater Trust, in coordination with the Shasta community, The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians

Reach. 13 acres of streamside habitat

Funding. City of Ashland, The Freshwater Trust, Jonas Philanthropies, community donations

Taktokeewa Pine Springs Habitat Restoration Project

Modoc County, California

Fuels reduction for wildlife habitat restoration

Objectives. Complete ecologically based commercial thinning; Incorporate cultural resource management; Develop and implement multi-party monitoring; Develop and implement long-term tribal workforce and employment through peer to peer training

Partners. Kosealekte Band of the Ajumawi-Atsuge Nation, U.S. Forest Service Modoc National Forest, Lomakatsi Restoration Project

Reach. Initial 3,000 acres, approximately 20,000 acres over 10 years

Funding. U.S. Forest Service, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, MillsDavis Foundation

Willamette Basin Oak Habitat Restoration Project

Polk County, Oregon

Oak habitat ecocultural restoration

Objectives. Remove encroaching conifers and non-native invasive species; Develop tribal workforce capacity to conduct habitat restoration and long-term ecocultural stewardship within ancestral lands; Promote oak cultural uses and tribal food sovereignty; Collect pre-treatment and post treatment ecological monitoring data

Partners. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, The Nature Conservancy of Oregon, Lomakatsi Restoration Project

Reach. 372 acres at Colburg Ridge and Noble Oaks

Funding. Oregon Watershed Engagement Board, MillsDavis Foundation

Fall River Lake Trail Improvement and Ecocultural Enhancement Project

Shasta County, California

Trail improvement and ecocultural enhancement

Objectives. Reduce fuel hazards to restore 20 acres of oak woodland; Improve trails for low-impact recreational use; Install educational signs; Design and implement tribal workforce training and employment

Partners. Ajumawi Band of the Ajumawi-Atsuge Nation, Fall River Valley Community Services District, Lomakatsi Restoration Project

Reach. 20 acres of oak woodland, 2 miles of trails

Funding. Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council

Oregon Tribal Summit 2023

Lomakatsi is honored to be funded by Meyer Memorial Trust to plan an Inter-Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Partnership Peer-to-Peer Learning Summit with tribal partners.

The event aims to elevate tribal partnerships in forest restoration efforts, and increase tribal inclusion in other forestry collaborative agreements that would benefit tribal communities and empower partnerships to co-manage, co-invest and collaborate on large, landscape-scale initiatives.

More information to follow soon.

Contact

645 Washington Street
Ashland, Oregon 97520

(541) 488-0208
info@lomakatsi.org

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Mission

Restore ecosystems and the sustainability of communities, cultures, and economies.

We acknowledge that Lomakatsi operates programs across the ancestral lands of aboriginal peoples who lived and live in the watersheds of the Willamette River, Rogue River, Klamath River, Umpqua River, and Pit River, in what is now called Oregon and California. From sagebrush hillsides and mixed conifer forests, to oak woodlands and riverine systems, we offer our respect, recognition, and gratitude to the original past, present, and future inhabitants of these landscapes, to whom we dedicate this work.