American Indian Forest Management

All forests in the United States were once tribal lands and managed by generations of Native People for multiple values. Today, American Indian tribes manage 19 million acres of forestland in the United States. American Indian forestlands provide tribes with economic resources, cultural materials, spiritual connections, and maintain community values. American Indian forest management is a powerful expression of tribal sovereignty. I have been involved in research exploring American Indian forest management, perceptions of sustainability, and forest planning for invasive species and climate change.

I have worked with tribes throughout the USA but generally work with Great Lakes tribes. I work with the Intertribal Timber Council as a co-chair of their research subcommittee to develop meaningful research activities that address tribal concerns. I also work with the US Forest Service to develop tribal relations strategic direction for research and management. My research includes working with the College of Menominee Nation Sustainable Development Institute on a dynamic model of sustainability that accounts for history, complexity, and culture. I have worked on scenario planning for climate change with several tribes in the Great Lakes. My graduate students work on several aspects of tribal natural resource management including partnership building, Indigenous phenology, Indigenous forest management, and Indigenous fire use.

Tribal Partnerships and Collaboration

Land management and natural resource research necessitates working with tribes. My research on tribal partnerships aims to develop a framework and best practices for building partnerships with tribes and to develop methods for long-term collaborative planning. I approach this area of research through respect for tribal sovereignty and tribal treaty rights. Additionally, tribal engagement is critical for all universities but especially at the University of Minnesota, a land-grant university located on Dakota homelands in a state with eleven federally recognized tribes and large urban and rural American Indian communities. Tribal partnership research has the potential to heal relationships between the university, tribes, and the environment and build the foundation for sustainable natural resource management in the 21st century.

Diversity, Inclusion, Equity

Interdisciplinary research is essential for solving wicked natural resource problems like climate change, invasive species, and sustainability and research has shown that diverse teams can develop more creative solutions than non-diverse teams. My DEI research aims to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (including but not limited to American Indian representation) within our natural resource and higher education institutions. I work with a US Forest Service research team exploring diversity and inclusion within the US Forest Service, one of the largest land management agencies in the United States. This research has the potential to transform our natural resource institutions to reflect society and create equitable and sustainable science and management solutions to our natural resource challenges.