Track 1: Incorporate Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Marine Geosciences into Native Environmental Science Program for Native Americans

Northwest Indian College, Bellingham WA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Marine Geoscience Education Project is enhancing the geoscience content within the new Native Environmental Science program, the first Bachelors degree program to be established at Northwest Indian College (NWIC). This place-based project integrates Western Science's value of rigorous observation and testing with Native Science's value of connectedness and deep human development. In partnership with the Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP), the project is providing Native American students from NWIC and the Lummi Nation High School with a deeper understanding of the coastal environment on which they depend. A team of college faculty, 2 undergraduates, a CMOP graduate student, and 2 high school students are working to: (1) gather oral histories and traditional ecological knowledge from at least five Lummi commercial fishers and two Lummi canoe familes; (2) compile locally relevant marine geoscience data from Federal, state, and Tribal agencies; (3) develop educational resources that can be incorporated into the college and high school curriculum. Once the program has been developed and tested at the Lummi campus of NWIC, it will be disseminated to other coastal communities served by the college.