COS 149-2 - Practices and Principles of Partnering with Tribal Nations in the Pacific Northwest Using Indigenous Knowledge (IK) to Restore Forest Resiliency to Wildfire and Climate Change

Abstract: Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is knowledge and practices passed down from generation to generation about stewarding the natural world in a manner that involves ethics and reciprocity. Since ~16,000 BCE, Indigenous people used traditional stewardship practices, which included prescribed burning, to maintain Pacific Northwest (PNW) forests that were open, had structural complexity, and provided healthy wildlife habitat and abundant resources for humans, such as food and medicine, and materials for building and for ceremonies. Such stewardship involved using culturally significant plants to stabilize soil and increase the flow of nutrients in forest ecosystems and harvesting these plants sustainably. Settler colonialism disrupted IK stewardship practices, causing shifts in plant communities and creating dense, even-aged fire-prone forests. With increasing occurrence of wildlife in the dry forests on Oregon and California (O&C) lands, comes an increasing need for native seed stock to restore burned lands. We are working with Tribal Nations in Western Oregon to collect seeds of native plants for restoration on these forest lands, in keeping with IK, and to create a forest ecocultural restoration plan the braids together IK and best Western science, in what is referred to as Two-Eyed Seeing. We discuss seven principles for applying IK in full, equitable, government-to-government partnership with Tribal Nations created by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy: acknowledge historical context and past injustice; practice early and sustained engagement; earn and maintain trust; respect different processes and worldviews; recognize challenges; consider co-management and co-stewardship structures; pursue co-production of knowledge. We are applying these principles to our work with Tribal Nations to create environmental justice and help create forests more resilient to climate change that can better meet the needs of humanity.