Kim Yazzie, Navajo Nation, presenting at the recent ITC Annual Timber Symposium. A student at Portland State University, Yazzie received an ITC research scholarship.
Climate change, groundwater, and air quality are just a few of the focus areas of the recipients of the Intertribal Timber Council (ITC) Native American Natural Resource Scholarships announced recently. Connecting these students with U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists is a goal of the continuing ITC-SRS partnership.
“These students are encouraged to reach out to our researchers, who can assist them with their research project development,” says Serra Hoagland, biological scientist with the SRS Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center and co-point of contact for Tribal Relations for SRS. “I am sure both the students and our scientists will enjoy working together. This scholarship opportunity is a great way to uphold our federal trust responsibility with tribal communities by supporting the advancement of these American Indian students in natural resources fields of study,” says Hoagland.
SRS funds will provide each student with a $4,000 research scholarship and an additional $1,000 to offset the costs of presenting a research poster at the ITC Annual Timber Symposium at the Coquille Indian Reservation in North Bend, Oregon. More than 300 tribal forest managers, council members and resource manager along with federal, state and private groups from the United States and Canada will attend the symposium.
Scholarship recipients:
- Grace BullTail, Crow Nation: Cornell University – Researching groundwater quality in oil and gas drilling around the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota.
- Cody Sifford, Navajo Nation: University of Washington – Developing an impact assessment of local air quality as a result of biomass burns.
- Crystal Tully-Cordova, Navajo Nation: University of Utah – Studying stable isotopes in precipitation, surface, and ground waters: Recording the North American Monsoon in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
- Victoria Walsey – Yakima Nation: University of Kansas – Bridging knowledge systems to improve ecosystem management along the Yukon River: How indigenous peoples can prepare themselves for climate change.
- Kim Yazzie, Navajo Nation: Portland State University – Examining aquifer recharge and watershed response to climate change in the Upper Umatilla River sub-basin using the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System.
For more information, email Serra Hoagland sjhoagland@fs.fed.us.
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