Welcome to the Indigenous Natural Resource Office
The Indigenous Natural Resource Office is a brave cultural space within the Oregon State University College of Forestry where Indigenous students and scholars can honor their Indigenous identities and build community. It provides an Indigenized gathering place where together we can develop relationships and allyships across cultures and respectful, caring, innovative partnerships with the nine Tribal Nations of Oregon, Tribal Nations in the PNW and beyond, and Indigenous people globally. In this office we honor Tribal sovereignty rights. We braid together Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western science and research to help develop solutions to humanity’s most pressing natural resource conservation problems.
Our core values in the Indigenous Natural Resource Office are reciprocity and cultural humility. Our goal is to help guide people and the institutions with whom we work beyond the land acknowledgement to find ways to support and empower Indigenous peoples and their communities, while advancing social justice. We partner and collaborate with many Oregon State University offices, Tribal Nations, federal and state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other academic institutions to support diversity.
Please visit us at 109 Richardson Hall, College of Forestry, Oregon State University. Questions? Contact us!
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Lab
The Indigenous Natural Resource Office houses the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Lab, where we study and explore how multiple ways of knowing can heal our relationship with the Earth and increase climate resilience. We braid together Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western science and research to find ecocultural restoration solutions to humanity’s most pressing natural resource conservation problems.
Principles and Best Practices for Partnering with Tribal Nations
In recent years, partnerships in natural resource research and adaptive management have been growing between Indigenous Peoples and universities. Often supported by federal or state funding, these partnerships bring together multiple ways of knowing to develop solutions to urgent natural resource problems and help create a more sustainable future. However, there remains widespread lack of institutional and academic professional understanding about how to partner ethically with Indigenous Peoples.
The College of Forestry strives to be an inclusive, diverse, and caring community of interdisciplinary, multi-cultural scholars who respect and value Tribal partnerships, Indigenous ways of knowing, and relationships with Indigenous Peoples. The college has started the process of developing Principles and Best Practices for Working with Indigenous Knowledge and Partnering with Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples to provide an effective, proactive, and mutually supportive process built on prioritizing deepening intercultural relationships and helping them flourish in a reciprocal manner.
“I am researching various vegetation treatments and reforestation methods, including my Tribe’s traditional methods, and how they affect the regeneration of culturally significant species.”
“My research honors multiple ways of knowing and explores the benefits of moving away from a westernized approach to ecosystem management.”
Updates + Current Research
Partners and Collaborators