Fight to save #PugetSound #KelpBed underscores NW #habitat challenges

July 25, 2024

"The #WashingtonState Department of Natural Resources and the #SquaxinIslandTribe have announced a partnership to conserve the #SquaxinIsland Kelp Bed, the last major kelp bed in South Puget Sound.

"DNR and the Squaxin Island Tribe will work to surround the kelp bed with a priority habitat zone, try to reduce #environmental stresses to improve the kelp bed’s health, and partner with #PugetSoundRestorationFund on future #restoration projects, according to a news release.

"Since 2013, DNR and Squaxin Island staff have seen a 97% decline in the kelp bed, which holds both ecological and cultural significance. In #Oregon, the #coastline lost more than two-thirds of its canopy of #BullKelp.

"'We recognize how important it is to protect this critical resource,' said #KrisPeters, Squaxin Island Tribe chairman, in a statement. '#Squaxins can’t do it alone; it takes us all coming together as partners. That is why this local inter-governmental agreement is so important and monumental.'

"The Squaxin Island Kelp Bed is the first habitat DNR is prioritizing in its statewide #KelpForest and #Eelgrass Meadow Health and Conservation Plan, which state legislation directed DNR to hatch in response to the loss of bull kelp and eelgrass on the Washington coastline.

"The plan’s goal is to conserve and restore at least 10,000 acres of kelp forest and eelgrass meadow habitat by 2040.

"Restoration efforts will initially focus on three pilot sub-basins: South Puget Sound, the Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and Grays Harbor. As DNR works toward its 10,000-acre goal, it intends to explore conservation and recovery in all sub-basins, according to DNR’s website.

"'Squaxin people have been stewarding these waters and lands for thousands of years,' Peters said in a statement. '#KelpBeds have also been stewarding these waters for thousands of years, providing nourishment and a critical ecosystem for the many plants, animals, and fish of the #SalishSea.'"

https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2024/07/fight-to-save-puget-sound-kelp-bed-underscores-nw-habitat-challenges.html?outputType=amp

#Northwest #LandBack
#NativeKnowledge #Nature #IndigenousKnowledge #conservation #sustainability #decolonization #PacificNorthwest #PNW #environmental
#IndigenousLedProject
#reclamation #decolonialism #Restoration #Landback #Rewilding #RestoreNature #Salish

The #ClamGardens #RestorationProject has reclaimed #W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge, improved #ecosystems and provided the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation with additional funding.

From 2014 to 2019, #ParksCanada, the #W̱SÁNEĆNation and the #Hulquminum #FirstNations participated in the Clam Garden Restoration project.

Clam gardens are #AncientSites along shorelines in W̱SÁNEĆ territory that #Indigenous people tended for thousands of years to enhance the production of #clams and related sea creatures. Clams were an important source of protein for W̱SÁNEĆ people. The Clam Restoration project spent 5 years working to restore clam gardens in W̱SÁNEĆ territory. In addition to improving the #ecology of two clam gardens, the project also aimed to reclaim W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge, practices and culture related to clam gardens.

Learn more & sign up to help out:
https://wsanec.com/the-clam-garden-restoration-project/

Bourque Bearskin & Victoria Dick of #Tseshaht are currently working on creating a #curriculum, “from the ground up”, called the #Indigenous #Graduate #Education & #Nursing #IGEN program for #UVic.

For Bourque Bearskin and Dick, the work they’ve been doing over the last few years, including the development of the #MastersProgram, is better aligning #healthcare with the principles of #UNDRIP.

https://www.capitaldaily.ca/news/two-indigenous-nurses-pave-way-overcoming-colonial-past-health-care

Alongside groups Native Pathways and Reimagine Research, I'm getting ready to truly start on a project that investigates how to support Native American Knowledge in STEM contexts with the Smithsonian NMAI.

This should be amazing and a wonderful application of my equitable evaluation principles and the Equitable Evaluation Framework from EEI.

Rewarding and challenging in all the ways that make this work worthwhile!

Tweten is of #Cree ancestry and now lives on #PEI working on the PEI #ForestedLandscape Priority Place project as a #Mikmaw engagement co-ordinator. 
The project #protects #SpeciesAtRisk & their #habitats & while it's hard to know how many #BlackAsh #trees are left on the Island, Tweten said 450 is a good guess.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6868539

#Academics from across the country travel on the #Amundsen every year to conduct #research on a wide range of #ocean related topics. Pamak and Saunders's research on the trip is part of #Nunatsiavut attempt to establish a #MarinePlan for its #waters . This plan would #manage Nunatsiavut's ocean space & #balance the #demand for human activities w/ the need for #environmental #protection

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/nunatsiavut-amundsen-1.6771930

#IndigenousPeoples have been #managing & #governing #water since #TimeImmemorial. #Indigenous #knowledge has #contributed to the #development of #WaterManagement practices that are #sustainable # based on the #principles of #stewardship , #conservation & #equity . Considerable #research & #advocacy have been done on #IndigenousKnowledge #SystemsOfWater

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/it-urgent-recognize-contribution-indigenous-knowledge-water-governance-and-management

https://cap-net.org/joint-commitments-to-transforming-water-governance-climate-adaptation-and-biodiversity-indigenous-peoples-member-states-and-the-un-system/

The #Hopi of the Southwestern U.S. know so much the rest of us ought to learn.

The Hopi way -- humility, cooperation, respect, and universal earth stewardship -- explains their close to connection to #corn and its role in their creation story. Now #ClimateChange and persistent droughts threaten this tradition.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27112022/corn-nourishes-the-hopi-identity-but-climate-driven-drought-is-stressing-the-tribes-foods-and-traditions/

Currently reading/listening David #Graeber and David #Wengrow.s book 'The Dawn of Everything'.
Super insightful take on how the way we tell our story requires fundamental changes in perspective after all. Very inspiring and thought-provoking book! Highly recommended.
#enlightenment #nativeknowledge #history

For a ~1h talk with the author see eg https://youtu.be/bTIlkttdnmU