Tribal Research Partnerships: Indigenous Agroforestry, Food Security and Sovereignty

Associate Professor of Cooperative Extension, Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California, Berkeley

Jennifer Sowerwine is an associate professor of cooperative extension in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley, co-founder of the Karuk Tribe-UC Berkeley Collaborative and affiliated faculty at the Berkeley Food Institute. Her research and extension programs engage diverse stakeholders across the food system to examine barriers and co-create solutions to achieve healthy, equitable, culturally relevant, and sustainable food systems under changing climate conditions. In partnership with Tribes, immigrant, and urban communities, she examines the cultural politics of resource access and governance, and the relationship between bio-cultural diversity, food security, food sovereignty, and health.

Cultural Resources Tech lll, Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources

Vikki is a Karuk, Yurok, Paiute, Pit River auntie, artist, and community member. She lives in the area of Perch Creek, in the larger town known as Orleans; or Panamniik, California. Vikki grew up in and around Orleans and has lived mostly at Red Cap Creek where her grandparents have their home. She works as a Cultural Resources Technician at the Karuk Department of Natural Resources, a job which incorporates archeology and traditional ecological knowledge to resource management. Much of her work is to restore cultural burning practices to Karuk Aboriginal Territory. Vikki holds a Masters of Arts in Environment and Community from Humboldt State University.

Pírish Plants Division Coordinator. Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources

Heather is the Coordinator for the Pírish Plants Division for the Karuk Tribe where she is part of building Plants-related restoration and monitoring capacity with collaborators. She has been involved in the Klamath Basin Food Security Initiative, prescribed fire effects monitoring, and K-12 Environmental Education on behalf of the Karuk Tribe. Heather holds a Masters of Natural Resources, Cal Poly Humboldt, Department of Forestry, Fire and Rangeland Management, with a research focus on legacy hardwood mortality following low intensity Rx fire.

Karuk Cultural Practitioner and NIFA AFRI and other food security project mentor and research partner

Kathy is a Karuk cultural practitioner, former Forest Service archaeologist and forest ecologist, now serving as an Executive Director for the Mid Klamath Watershed Council and project collaborator with the Karuk Tribe-U.C Berkeley Collaborative

Forest and Community Program Director, EcoTrust. Current Principal Investigator lead for a NIFA funded/supported PNW Tribal Agroforestry project

Stephanie Gutierrez (San Carlos Apache, she/her) is Forest & Community Program Director for Ecotrust. Stephanie works closely with Tribes across the Pacific Northwest to center community-engaged decision making and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in forest planning and management. She also leads a growing body of work around Tribal Forestry Workforce Development, Indigenous Science and Forests education, and Indigenous Agroforestry. At the root of her work, Stephanie is dedicated to increasing access, representation, and decision-making power for Black, Indigenous and People of Color and Women, non-binary, and two-spirit individuals in Forestry.

Research Ecologist/PSW Tribal Liaison

Frank Kanawha Lake is a Research Ecologist, and the Tribal Liaison/Climate Change contact for the Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service. His research involves wildland fire effects, indigenous knowledge, tribal agroforestry, Climate Change, and ethno-ecology. His current focus is on Indigenous Knowledge data governance regarding the Co-production of Knowledge for research and resource management. Frank is of mixed Native American and European ancestry, being raised with and identifying more with his Karuk and Yurok family’s heritage in Northwestern California.