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Summer Research Project 2023

• Title: Amplifying Indigenous Voices at Harvard Forest
• Group Project Leader: Danielle Ignace
• Mentors: Clarisse Hart; Danielle Ignace; Meghan MacLean
• Collaborators:
• Project Description:

  Current and historical records of land use and land stewardship in New England too often exclude the voices and knowledge of Indigenous People, Black People, and People of Color. For over a century, the Harvard Forest has pursued its mission of research & education on 4,000 acres of unceded Nipmuc homeland. Today we are working to build a long-term relationship with the Nipmuc People that ensures that this land and its life-giving benefits are accessible, affirming, and sustaining, and remain so for generations to come.
  
  Current and historical records of land use and forest stewardship plans in New England are disproportionately dominated by Western science and lacking Indigenous voices. Amplifying Indigenous voices in land stewardship and ecology has never been more vital as the world faces the dramatic impacts of global change primarily induced by extractive colonialism. Thus, it is a defining time to diversify perspectives and voices in the forestry and land use paradigm.
  
  The goals of our project, which is now in its third year, are twofold: 1) Build on a pilot land stewardship study initiated with the Nipmuc community during the 2022 HF Summer Program, focused on relationships of culturally important species, invasive species, and fire.
  2) Collect and analyze existing Indigenous forest stewardship plans in the Eastern Woodlands and elsewhere to contribute to tribal forest stewardship plans on newly rematriated Nipmuc forest land in the region.
  
  These two projects are highly complementary, giving students the opportunity to apply an interdisciplinary approach in this group collaboration. Students will be encouraged to work with their mentors to carve out pieces of this project that align most with their interests.
  
  In both projects, students will address questions such as:
  
  * What does it mean to be a land steward before, during, and after land reclamation?
  * How can we engage in respectful knowledge transfer that supports self-determination of local Indigenous communities?
  * What data can be most helpful in understanding the health of ecosystems that are stewarded with Indigenous knowledge?
  * What are the potential focus areas that can be identified by elders from Tribal Nations, scholars, and local Indigenous communities as most needed to help their land stewardship efforts?
  * What framework can be developed that amplifies Indigenous knowledge and coexists with Western science in the land stewardship paradigm?

• Readings:

  -Chapter 4 (Ecosystems and Biodiversity) of The Status of Tribes and Climate Change (STACC) Report. https://sites.google.com/view/stacc2021-itep/home
  
  -St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Akwesasne. https://www.srmt-nsn.gov/_uploads/site_files/ClimateChange.pdf
  
  -Wabanaki Tribes EAB Response: An Ash Resource Inventory Field Manual https://www.maine.gov/dacf/php/caps/EAB/documents/Ash_Resource_Inventory_Field_Manual_Everett.pdf

• Research Category: Regional Studies, Invasive Plants, Pests & Pathogens, Historical and Retrospective Studies, Group Projects, Environmental Justice, Conservation and Management, Biodiversity Studies