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Symposium

Session: : Indigenous Knowledge, Place-based Ecology, and the Well-being of People and Biodiversity

SYMP 20-2 - The Cherokee Environmental Leadership Program: Indigenous Land Education and Conservation in Oklahoma

Wednesday, August 9, 2023
3:50 PM – 4:10 PM PDT
Location: 258
The Cherokee Environmental Leadership Program is a pilot land education program funded by the National Science Foundation and the Indian Land Tenure Foundation. It is partnered with the Cherokee Nation Medicine Keepers and Cherokee Nation tribal biologists and land managers to train a cohort of Cherokee students in addressing complex cultural and environmental challenges that Cherokee people face today. These challenges include maintaining land-based ways of life amid the fractionation of habitats and the degradation of ecosystems within the Cherokee Nation reservation that have been caused by historical losses of land (Allotment and land privatization) and decades of detrimental land-use practices (e.g., cattle grazing and poultry farms). As such, the program is designed to combine Cherokee language and traditional ecological knowledge with an education on the political aspects of tribal land management and conservation to foster the cultural resilience and overall well-being of Cherokee people. This presentation will discuss the program and its development in the context of other Indigenous land education programs and Indigenous-led conservation initiatives.