L22AC00350

This is a proposal for a three-year FY22-FY24 Pacific Northwest Ethnobotany Native Plant Seed Collection and Tribal Conservation Corps Ecocultural Restoration Project. The project will be led by the Oregon State University (OSU) College of Forestry (COF), working in partnership with Western Oregon Tribal Nations via MOUs. The Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE) and other project partners will also be involved.

We propose to implement the National Seed Strategy and Plant Conservation and Restoration Program (PCRP) by following Seeds of Success (SOS) protocols. This will help ensure a stable and economical supply of native plant materials for restoration and rehabilitation efforts on public lands and contribute to the National Seed Strategy. Our work will take place in Southwest Oregon's dry forests, mixed evergreen, and mixed conifer forest types. This will primarily be on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) O&C lands, with limited activity on tribal lands if requested by tribal nations.

The primary activities will consist of establishing assessment, inventory, and monitoring AIM Current Vegetation Survey (CVS) plots. We will also make SOS collections of native seeds within a 200m radius of those plots. Additional activities will include ethnobotany and soils sampling, as well as pollinator, fire ecology, and wildlife surveys.

In FY22, we will focus on scoping and research design. Expected outcomes and deliverables in FY23 and FY24 include at least 20 collections of 10,000 native seeds per year, 20 AIM CVS plots sampled on BLM land per year, and nested sampling in AIM CVS plots for soils, pollinators, fire ecology, and wildlife. Sampling will take place on tribal land as requested by tribal nations, enabled by MOUs between the OSU COF and each tribal nation.

In FY24, with tribal guidance, including from elders, we will produce a draft ecocultural restoration plan based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and ethnobotany. We will provide jobs for 45 Native Americans who are Oregon tribal nation members by implementing a Tribal Conservation Corps SOS initiative. This will include creating entry-level field technician summer jobs for 35 promising but at-risk tribal youth annually. They will receive training in SOS, AIM, and CVS protocols, as well as in soils, pollinator, silviculture, fire ecology, and wildlife sampling methods. These jobs will help encourage tribal youth to go to post-secondary school, obtain federal agency jobs, and become leaders in plant and forest conservation.

Our project will also support multiple Native American graduate students in natural resources in the OSU COF. Additional project deliverables will include peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and outreach about intercultural partnerships. Collectively, all of the above elements of our project will create a stronger BLM conservation stewardship legacy by expanding public land intercultural collaboration in ecological restoration. This will build resilience to climate change and improve pollinator and wildlife habitat.

Our proposed work will help advance tribal co-management of public lands and awareness of how TEK can help increase ecological resilience and sustainability of natural resources. It will further benefit the American public, which includes Native American people, by raising awareness of tribal sovereignty and self-determination and establishing guidelines for working with tribal nations in a fair, equitable, and just manner. We will advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) by providing opportunities for underserved youth and their communities to benefit via STEM education, jobs, and an influx of resources.

Subrecipient activities will be conducted by IAE and will consist of pollinator ecology surveys and co-advising graduate students studying pollinator ecology at OSU in the COF.

Oregon State University

15.245 - Plant Conservation and Restoration Management

BLM National Office [DOI - BLM]

Oregon United States

State-Wide

Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) National Plant Conservation and Restoration Management (L22AS00208)

Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been shortened from 08/31/25 to 04/18/25 and the total obligations have increased 361% from $1,189,815 to $5,481,942.