ERI’s Native American Forest and Rangeland Management program has been actively partnering with tribal natural resource management programs, organizations, and federal and state agencies to facilitate restorative management of tribal forests and rangelands.
ERI is hosting its second summer internship through the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP). Mariessa Fowler has joined ERI for 10 weeks to support efforts with Wood For Life (WFL) and the Institute for Native-serving Educators seminars on natural resource curricula. Mariessa is from Coppermine, Ariz., and is a recent graduate of NAU where she studied environmental science with an emphasis in policy and administration.
The Wood For Life partnership supports active forest management and restoration by making firewood available for Tribal and local communities and providing an outlet for small-diameter biomass removed during forest treatments.
ERI recently published “Wood For Life: A needs assessment for northern Arizona,” now available as a report and fact sheet on the ERI’s WFL page. The needs assessment demonstrated that the Hopi Tribe and Western Navajo Agency (21% of the Navajo Nation’s population) use an estimated 25,000—50,000 cords of firewood per winter. Tribal capacity for receiving and distributing firewood continues to grow and needs additional support to achieve active forest management and restoration goals. ERI is working with Southwest Decision Resources, Coalitions and Collaboratives, and other WFL partners to develop a workshop later this year that will support WFL partners by focusing on grant opportunities, agreements, contracting, and business/nonprofit administration.
