Purposeful Partnerships: Supporting Native Communities in Heritage Preservation

Chico State | Momi Nak Sa Outdoor Program

The Momi Nak Sa Outdoor Program aims to increase access to outdoor education that pairs the life sciences with culturally relevant learning for PK-12 Tribal youth. It brings together Chico State’s Office of Tribal Relations and its Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve, the Mechoopda Indian Tribe, Four Winds of Indian Education, the Roundhouse Council Indian Education Center and other Tribal partners.

Using funding from the Outdoor Equity Grants Program, administered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation’s Office of Grants and Local Services, the Momi Nak Sa Outdoor Program takes Tribal youth on outdoor field trips, where they learn about traditional ecological knowledge, the life sciences and social sciences—especially around cultural fire and water quality monitoring.

The program grew out of a thesis by He-Lo Ramirez, now a manager at the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve, on the need for culturally relevant life science education for Native American youth that he completed toward his master’s degree in interdisciplinary management at Chico State.

“Research shows that Native American youth, especially in Northern California, have incredibly low education attainment rates, high levels of dropping out of high school, low levels of college completion or even college admission, and one of the highest disciplinary rates in high school and middle school,” He-Lo says. But other research “has shown that when Native American students are taught life sciences in a way that incorporates traditional ecological knowledge and incorporates social sciences, such as the real history of that area, in an interdisciplinary manner, they do better in school, have lower disciplinary rates and are more likely to go to college.”

The no-cost field trips have largely involved outdoor environmental education trips on ecological reserves in Butte and Plumas Counties, along the Sacramento River and Feather River, and in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where the youth participate in science-focused activities to learn about traditional ways of caring for the land. He-Lo, along with cultural practitioners who volunteer their time, demonstrate various stewardship techniques, such as sampling the water to monitor if it is safe for both humans and Chinook salmon—an important animal to the local Tribes—and studying the land and vegetation, such as deergrass and beargrass, before and after culturally prescribed fire. For many of the youth, it is the first time they have participated in outdoor activities like camping, hiking, kayaking or fishing.

“Teaching them skills like salmonid-focused water quality monitoring or interpreting fire effects on the landscape [helps] them think about potential careers,” He-Lo says. “It also strengthens their cultural identity every single time we do some kind of science activity and make sure that we're tying in traditional ecological knowledge and oral history. Strengthening their cultural identity has a whole host of positive effects, not only on educational performance, but also dealing with high rates of suicide, depression, and other social-emotional health issues Native American students experience at a much higher rate than the national average.”

He-Lo says his partners are instrumental in conducting outreach to bring in volunteer cultural practitioners as well as native youth participants. They also provide valuable input for field trips to ensure the program is meeting the cultural needs of the Tribal partners.

“Elders appreciate it. It allows space for them to have a designated time to teach the grandchildren, or for them to see someone else on their behalf teach the grandchildren, the things that they wanted to teach them,” he explains. It’s “family connections and passing on that knowledge.”

Fresno State | Preserving Chukchansi

Through a partnership with the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians that is going on 20 years, Fresno State has been instrumental in documenting and preserving their language.

Since the Tribe first approached the university for linguistic support, the partners have collaboratively created a dictionary, a grammar guide and instructional materials. The dictionary is publicly available in part online with audio.

“There are no children who are learning this language the normal way from their parents. The only speakers at this point are a few grandparents, so this language is no longer being transmitted the way it should be,” Fresno State Linguistics Professor Chris Golston says. “Now the only way to make the language come alive again is through some kind of instruction. You have to have language classes, and the only way to build a language class, unless the materials are already built, is to figure out how the language is put together, what the words are, a writing system and lessons. It’s hard to make a language program without some help from linguists.”

Kimberly Lawhon, a teacher and Tribal member, has used the materials created by the Fresno State linguistic team to create a year-long language curriculum for Chukchansi. Currently, Chukchansi level one is being taught in local high schools, with level two being introduced soon. Lawhon is also planning to develop levels three and four.

She has also successfully gotten Chukchansi level one designated as an approved course toward the world languages requirement for admission to the UC and CSU systems. However, it requires two years of the same language, meaning Lawhon will need to introduce level two in order for students to apply Chukchansi toward the requirement.

“It can't just be an elective that the high school offers; it has to be one that students can get credit for, or we are going lose all the kids who are college-bound,” she says.

In addition, the university and the Tribe are in the process of recording 27 Chukchansi myths that have thus far only been documented in English. Translated and told by Tribal Elder Holly Wyatt, likely the last fluent speaker of Chukchansi and a 2023 Fresno State honorary doctorate recipient, the myths will be recorded in written, audio and video format and will form the conversational basis for Lawhon’s Chukchansi curricula.

“The language is the one thing that's 100% Chukchansi,” Lawhon says. “We lose a lot of our cultural heritage, and things change over time. With our dances, there's some of it that has just been so lost that you wonder if we are keeping it like it was back when our great-grandparents did it. … So many Tribes have lost their language. This is the one thing we have left out of land, out of culture, out of how much blood you have. If we could keep language, that has more value than any other thing we could have from our ancestors.”

Cal Poly Humboldt | Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute

Born from a student-led project developed in an Indigenous Natural Resource Management Practices course in 2019, the Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute (FSL) at Cal Poly Humboldt is dedicated to working with Tribal partners in the learning, research, practice and preservation of traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous science.

The work centers on the concept of food sovereignty, which gives Indigenous communities control over the production and distribution of food and land management, as well as recognizes the importance of foods and natural resources that are culturally significant to Tribes.

“It's a space for elevating and centering the ongoing research and ways that we're bringing back Indigenous science and Indigenous knowledges through how we engage students in understanding the importance of Indigenous science—and how that pertains to the ways in which we need to elevate and support Indigenous peoples and communities,” says Cutcha Risling Baldy, associate professor of Native American Studies and lab codirector. “Our projects are designed as the clearest intervention that you can make into some of these larger issues around climate change, climate justice, food justice and food restoration.”

Opened in April 2024, the lab features a cooking area with ovens, refrigerators, a food dehydrator, food preparation stations and technology set up for livestreaming events. Outside, the lab includes an acorn processing area, a salmon cooking pit, a medicine garden and native plants. Programming began in earnest in fall 2024 with food preparation workshops like jam making and plum dehydration, speaker and film series, food demonstrations by FSL Chef-in-Residence Sara Calvosa Olson and the Wiyot Traditional Foods and Medicines Box Project, which provides boxes of traditional foods and medicines to community members for free.

Other projects include Food for Indigenous Futures, which works with a native youth council on workshops while also addressing the issues of youth mental health and substance abuse, and the Ghvtlh-k’vsh shu'-srnelh-'i~ (Kelp Guardians) project with the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation that will use California Sea Grant funding to restore kelp forests.

“[The FSL is] challenging that stereotype of the primitive hunter-gatherer and [shows] that we have complex ecological management practices that aren't just relevant for learning about a history of a place, but are important for solving contemporary issues around environmental justice and climate change,” says Kaitlin Reed, associate professor of Native American Studies and lab codirector.

To ensure Tribal voices are driving the lab’s work, it involves a steering committee with representatives from Tribes and related organizations who provide feedback on and pose ideas for research and projects. The steering committee does not have a limited number of seats and is open to all individuals who are deeply involved in the preservation of Tribal heritage.

“It’s Tribes who are primarily protecting the biodiversity of the planet; it's Tribes who are restoring lands,” Risling Baldy says. “Our students at Cal Poly Humboldt now are going to be on the cutting edge of what it means to do this type of research and do this type of work—something that makes us stand out amongst most of the ways that people are approaching training the next generation of scientists, social scientists, researchers, people who work in these communities, people who work for the state and people who work for these agencies. … The lab is important to demonstrate to everyone that this knowledge is key and foundational to the future of higher education.”

CSUN | Tribal Nursery and Tree Planting Project

CSUN, the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and the Tataviam Land Conservancy have teamed up on a new project—the Tribal Nursery and Tree Planting Project—to combat the effects of climate change in Los Angeles County’s disadvantaged communities through planting urban forests.

Using a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Urban and Community Forestry Program, the project will rely on traditional ecological knowledge to set up tree nurseries and plant native trees in these communities, which are largely populated by Tribal members. It will specifically address communities with less access to tree canopies and shade and are at greater risk of pollution and urban heat island effects.

“The whole idea behind the project is to provide equitable access to trees, tree canopies and shade” for disadvantaged communities, says Crist Khachikian, CSUN professor of civil engineering and construction management. “It’s to be stewards of the land in ways that public agencies usually cannot.”

The Tribal partners will establish one or two nurseries where they will harvest seeds and cultivate trees that are culturally and medicinally relevant to the Tribe as well as climate resistant and drought tolerant. In addition, with a volunteer force of CSUN alumni called Climate Ambassadors, the Tribes will conduct community engagement to plant the trees in people’s residential yards and instruct them in caring for the trees.

“As the caretakers of our native land in the San Fernando and Antelope Valleys, this grant will enable us to use our traditional ecological knowledge, in tune with current climate data, to bring back the forest and breathe new life into our communities,” said Rudy Ortega Jr., Tribal President of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians.

CSUN will be responsible for the workforce development and academic components of the project. The CSUN team will build a repository of forestry-related materials and curricula as well as collaborate with the Tribe to develop curriculum for CSUN students and Tribal youth in the various professions needed in the urban forestry industry—including in business, engineering and social sciences. Students will also visit the tree nurseries to learn directly from the Tribal practitioners. Then to address the staff shortage in the forestry industry, it will promote the roles available in forestry, encouraging more graduates to enter the field.

“There are these urban forestry-related jobs, as well as sustainability-related jobs, in every type of industry that we need to be preparing our students for,” says CSUN Communication Studies Professor Daisy Lemus. “We wanted to make sure that we developed academic programming that keeps us current with the ways in which sustainability and urban forestry are being studied.”

CSUN | Mapping Los Angeles Landscape History

Created through the work of a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary team, the Mapping Los Angeles Landscape History project developed a virtual map of the Los Angeles Basin before European settlement, detailing its ecological and topographical history, including local Tribes, water, plants and animals.

Led by researchers at the University of Southern California and UCLA, the collaboration also involved partners at CSUN, Cal State Long Beach and Cal State LA—among other academic institutions—as well as Tribal representatives from the Fernandeño Tatavium Band of Mission Indians and Kizh Nation: Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians.

The maps were built using 1928 aerial imagery, historical maps, records of bird populations and flood plains, and cultural information and oral history from the local Tribes.

“In addition to the scientific knowledge and data collected by the team, one of the key components is documenting and incorporating information Tribal representatives were comfortable sharing, which is critical in completing and enriching the historical perspective,” says Danielle Bram, director of the CSUN Center for Geospatial Science and Technology. “We aimed to recreate the historical landscape, so that we could inform our understanding of how we can interact with the landscape today to support conservation and restoration efforts and encourage resiliency.”

For example, the maps can increase understanding around historical flooding patterns or the historical distribution of vegetation, which could aid in planning efforts around disaster mitigation and landscape restoration.

“It’s also a wonderful opportunity to educate those who live in Los Angeles about what was here before, and help inform our decisions about what should be here in the future,” the late CSUN Associate Professor of History Natale Zappia said in a 2021 article​. Zappia, who passed away in 2023, was also the director of CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability and served as CSUN’s lead, especially in maintaining partner relationships, for the mapping project.

Bram adds that the project and resulting maps were a collaborative effort in partnership with Tribal representatives to ensure their voices were respected and included, and that they also benefited. “A comprehensive report like this one, along with important data sets and maps, can be informative for Tribal groups to obtain a full picture of what the landscape used to look like. They can use the information to assist with research, outreach and advocacy efforts.”

The project was completed in October 2023. Now, team members are working to acquire more funding to expand the project with additional data, information and maps.

Cal State San Bernardino | California Indian Languages Programs

Over the past three decades, Ernest Siva—a member of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians—and his wife June have worked tirelessly to preserve the Serrano language with the help of linguists and historians. Other ongoing efforts have also sought to preserve the many Indigenous languages of Southern California.

While the brunt of the preservation work has been done by the Tribes, Cal State San Bernardino’s California Indian Languages Programs, which started in 2013, have partnered with some Tribes to facilitate courses that would teach the languages to the next generation—as well as connect prospective native students with the university.

“It gives them the opportunity to learn their own languages and gives the languages the value and respect they deserve,” says George Thomas, CSUSB World Languages and Literatures Department Chair. “It's particularly important for the Native American students to see their cultures and languages represented in the curriculum. Then hopefully, it creates a bridge between the university and the students.”

For example, CSUSB has partnered with the San Manuel Bands of Mission Indians to offer Serrano courses and with the Pechanga Band of Indians on Luiseño courses.

The courses are largely funded by the Tribes, and CSUSB is responsible for maintaining the class structure and requirements. But the curriculum and availability of each class is dependent on the language and instructor. While the Serrano classes are taught by teachers from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in their own space and is only open to Tribal students, the Luiseño courses are taught fully online and are available to native and non-native students.

“When you learn the language, you learn the culture, the history of the people and everything that has to do with the people,” says Carmen Dagostino, CSUSB California Indian Languages Programs coordinator. “As you lose the languages, you don't truly appreciate the local cultures as much.”

“It shows that we respect those languages, that they're just as valuable as any other language,” she continues. “If the Tribal members see their language being taught at the university level, they know it's an important language, and they're more likely to learn it—maybe because they see it not only as a connection to the university, but as something valuable for their future.”

In the past, Siva, who holds an honorary doctorate from CSUSB, has served as an adjunct language professor for the CSUSB Serrano courses. Eric Elliott, a non-native linguist who recorded the stories of Siva’s aunt, Dorothy Ramon, decades ago, has taught CSUSB courses in Luiseño, Cahuilla and the Aztec language Classical Nahuatl.

“These are all languages that either have very limited speakers or are in danger of disappearing,” Thomas says. “We're keeping these languages alive and revitalizing the communities.”

The CSUSB language program has also created a series of open Native American language courses that could be used to teach any native language through future partnerships.

Finally, CSUSB’s Palm Desert campus is working with Siva to host the first annual California Indian Language Conference to bring native peoples together to share their histories and processes for preserving their Tribal languages. The shared goal of Siva and CSUSB is to assist whenever and wherever possible with the preservation of California’s Indigenous languages.

San Diego State | Collaborative of Native Nations for Climate Transformation and Stewardship

Funded by a University of California (UC) grant, the Collaborative of Native Nations for Climate Transformation and Stewardship (CNNCTS) draws on the work and resources of a range of partners—including San Diego State, Cal State Long Beach, UC campuses, nonprofits, government agencies and Tribal governments—to strengthen Indigenous models of land stewardship and promote climate resilience.

“It came out of a need and desire for greater connections among Tribal communities and external partners … to be able to meet that responsibility to steward the land, to be able to support the persistence of those relatives: the food, fiber and medicine that sustain communities,” says Megan Jennings, co-director of the SDSU Institute for Ecological Monitoring and Management and principal investigator of CNNCTS. “It’s trying to provide that service of being a good external partner and an ally.”

Through CNNCTS, the partners are working on dozens of projects to implement Indigenous-led practices. One such project, Cycles of Renewal, headed up by native woman-led nonprofit Native Coast Action Network​, focuses on revitalizing the Chumash practices of “good fire.”

“Cultural fire is a resiliency issue,” says Teresa Romero, Native Coast Action Network board president. “Without fire, we don't have the relatives—the medicines, the foods, the textile sources, those things that we need on our landscape to support our communities here on the coast.”

Through the project, the Native Coast Action Network is training the next generation of native fire stewards. The participants, all young people from various bands of the Chumash people, are participating in fire training exchanges (TREX), completing firefighter training through “Western prescribed fire training” programs and working with traditional fire practitioners to learn cultural burning. They have also studied burn scars and post-fire growth to better understand fire.

“Our efforts to put good fire on the ground here is a complete revitalization effort,” Romero says. “It hasn't been on the ground since fire was suppressed by the Spanish when they came into this area and stopped us from burning.”

“It is about being reciprocal in relationship with our resources,” she continues. “When we're taking care of our resources, they take care of us. When we're putting this good fire on our relatives—our plants, foods, medicines—we're taking care of them. It also builds resiliency of the landscape and in our community, too, because [the new fire stewards] are building relationships with one another through this process. … They are honoring their ancestors in a special way by building it. It's not that we don't have a relationship with fire; we're revitalizing a relationship with fire that we didn't have for the last 250 years.”

In addition, the network is holding listening sessions for Indigenous communities along the Central Coast—and has taken a group to Santa Cruz Island, the Chumash place of creation, to meet the land stewards working there.

Various partners including San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara have helped provide funds, resources and connections for the program—including access to the Sedgwick Reserve.

“I view our role as a connector and a resource provider,” Jennings explains. She also says SDSU and other external partners can help Native Coast Action Network plan out steps to reach their ultimate goal of developing a purely Indigenous TREX track.