Restoration Toolkit for Ecological and Cultural Resilience
- Indigenous peoples are fighting for recognition of the impacts of changing landscapes on their resources, traditions, and culture.
- There is growing recognition of the value of including Traditional Knowledges (TK) in ecological restoration and adaptation planning.
- Good resources are available to teach western practitioners about TK, but few tools exist to help western practitioners incorporate cultural values into restoration projects.
- Even for Tribal staff who are trained in western science, it can be challenging to include cultural uses in restoration projects & management treatments.
- We realized we needed tools to help us manage for shifts in seasons, temperature and precipitation, AND…
- to make it easier and timelier to incorporate the cultural uses that are most important to tribal members.
- This was the inspiration for the RTCER, a climate and culturally smart toolkit for restoring wetlands and riparian areas in the Nez Perce Tribe’s Indian Claims Commission Territory in central Idaho
The Climate Smart Restoration Toolkit
We decided to take an existing tool: the climate smart restoration toolkit created by Point Blue Conservation Science, our partner, alter it to work with species in our area, and add cultural values to it.
- Open source toolkit with a planting design tool available here: https://www.pointblue.org/tools-and-guidance/
- Simple tool that is fairly easy to adapt to a new region
- Based on Climate Smart Principles
