Thanks to a grant from the Volgenau Foundation, Sierra Streams Institute’s scientific and cultural collaboration with the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe will continue in 2017. Last year’s Gathering Garden project restored native vegetation to Nisenan ancestral lands and helped connect the local non-Indian community to the ecological and cultural history of the Nisenan in this area. With support from the new Volgenau grant, Sierra Streams Institute scientists and Nisenan tribal members will next collaborate on an initial assessment of a small portion of Nisenan historic homeland, a 27-acre meadow and forested property now owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Because the tribe’s ancestral land was ground zero in the California Gold Rush, the Nisenan no longer own or have the use of any of the land on which they historically lived. “We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to reconnect Tribal members with this piece of land our ancestors once lived on,” said Rancheria spokesperson Shelly Covert (pictured above). “It’s vitally important for us to be able to bring our youth and elders together, on the land, to pass on the old stories and the traditional cultural practices of our people.”
The Gold Rush also took a toll on the land itself, degrading the landscape and contaminating the soil and water with heavy metals and other toxins. Thus, it is critical to determine the possible health risks before reclaiming the site for use by the Nisenan and the public.
Tribal members, guided by scientists at Sierra Streams, will be trained to collect scientific data, including plant and wildlife surveys, habitat assessments, and soil and water assessments. Water from the natural spring, surrounding soils, and specific plants used for cultural practices will be tested for possible heavy metal contamination remaining from historic mining. By learning how to collect and analyze scientific information from a site of historical, cultural, and personal significance, the Nisenan will be able to determine whether the site is a safe place to conduct traditional cultural practices. This training will also enable Tribal members to work more effectively with scientists and policy makers on future restoration projects.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge from the Nisenan will also be integrated into the project, allowing for SSI’s science team as well as the tribal members and youth to learn from the Nisenan Elders. “Native Americans have been stewarding this land for thousands of years,” said Covert. “We’re excited to share what we know with the SSI team as well as engage the Tribe, especially our youth, in science-based strategies for restoration and preservation.”
Indigenous ways of knowing and protecting the land and the plants, animals and history of an ecosystem are a valuable complement to the knowledge and methods of Western science. “Working with the Nisenan really pushes us to think about how we know what we know – about data, about methodologies – and to be both more creative and more rigorous as scientists,” said SSI executive director Joanne Hild. “This ongoing collaboration with the Nisenan will definitely enhance our work on other restoration projects in the watershed.”
The Volgenau Foundation, based in McLean, VA, believes that preservation of the environment is essential to the survival of life on our planet and that people are inspired and enriched by nature. The Foundation supports organizations that mitigate negative human impacts on the environment through activities that protect and restore land, water, and air resources and that benefit local economies, enrich local communities, and protect diverse environments. Our thanks to the Foundation for supporting this project!