OOS 7-2 - Earth stewardship and Karuk world renewal on the middle Klamath river

Tuesday, August 9, 2011: 8:20 AM
16B, Austin Convention Center
Ron Reed Sr., Karuk Tribe, Orleans, CA, Frank K. Lake, Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, Orleans, CA and Bill Tripp, Karuk Tribe
Background/Question/Methods

In the Karuk Tribe’s worldview, planetary stewardship is maintained through the place-based spiritual and cultural philosophy of World Renewal. A philosophy of Renewal reaffirms the responsibility of humans as stewards as well as a critical ecosystem component. The Tribe believes in renewal of the human-environment relationship that is compatible with ecological processes, promotes a sustainable economy, and increases ecosystem resilience. At a landscape scale, how can tribal community-based landscape restoration strategies be conducted in a manner that incorporates tribal Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with Western Science? Presenters will describe and discuss methods of how TEK and best-available science is applied utilizing World Renewal tribal philosophy and practices with contemporary tools and prescriptions.

Results/Conclusions

Examples of strategic planning efforts that implement prescriptions for fisheries restoration, hazardous fuels reduction, and re-instating natural fire regimes are given. The results of successful work among the Karuk Tribe, community organizations and agencies and needs for adaptive management will be addressed. Based on the approaches and lesson learned for case-study projects, a template for Karuk landscape World Renewal is offered for the Mid-Klamath River, Northwestern California.

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Banner photo by Flickr user greg westfall.