NPS and lomakatsi restoration project (lomakatsi) will collaborate on an indian youth service corps (iysc) initiative to support tribes and tribal communities in building capacity in habitat…

This Cooperative Agreement award from the National Park Service (NPS) under the Youth and Veteran Organizations Conservation Activities program (CFDA 15.931) provides $1,387,000 to the Lomakatsi Restoration Project, a non-profit organization based in Ashland, Oregon. The funding will support a 3-year Indian Youth Service Corps (IYSC) initiative to build capacity in habitat restoration, climate adaptation, ecosystem resilience, fuels reduction, and stewardship of ecocultural resources through training and workforce development opportunities for young adults and veterans in tribal and rural communities near NPS units in the western U.S. Key project activities include providing Public Land Corps hiring certification, delivering forestry and natural resource management training, and engaging participants in hands-on restoration work to improve the resiliency of sagebrush, woodland, and riparian ecosystems and associated cultural landscapes at City of Rocks National Reserve, Castle Rocks State Park, and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

NPS and lomakatsi restoration project (lomakatsi) will collaborate on an indian youth service corps (iysc) initiative to support tribes and tribal communities in building capacity in habitat restoration, climate adaptation and ecosystem resilience, fuels reduction, and stewardship of ecocultural resources through training and workforce development opportunities. Lomakatsi will facilitate this initiative through their tribally-led tribal ecosystem restoration partnerships program, building on over two decades of successful collaboration with tribal partners. Workforce development opportunities will be layered into existing projects, providing participants with highly relevant training experiences while also accomplishing additional restoration treatments on the ground. This training will include the public land corps hiring certification that provides preference for hiring in federal jobs. The public land corps certification provides 640 hours of documented work, per participant, on public and or tribal lands. Lomakatsi will utilize their tribal ecological forestry training employment program, which engages indigenous participants in hands-on experience to gain nationally recognized professional certifications required for wildland firefighting, forest restoration, watershed and wetland restoration, cultural resource monitoring, and land management on federal lands. This program integrated with iysc is designed to introduce young adults ages 18-30, and veterans up to age 35, to a wide range of natural resource career pathways through engagement with experts from the U.S. Forest service and other partners. The inter-tribal ecosystem restoration partnership (iterp), currently chaired by lomakatsis tribal partnerships director, will also be leveraged to engage the tribal community, tribal departments and tribal governments within the project geography to build relationships, and develop new projects, opportunities, and partnerships. Iterp is composed of initiative and project-based steering committees and partners representing regional tribes, tribal community leaders, native american owned forestry, wildland fire and natural resource contracting businesses, and tribally-led non-profit restoration and behavioral health organizations and programs. Iterp is committed to the creation of ecological restoration jobs and the incubation of tribal businesses, supporting tribal members to work on their time immemorial ancestral land bases, as the first, best stewards. This project will collaboratively develop and implement natural and cultural resource conservation projects by NPS and lomakatsi , and with project partners, for public purpose to benefit the american public, provide employment and education opportunities to young people and veterans from tribal and rural communities in and around NPS units. The project will provide participants with job training, education, and professional development, including public land corps hiring certification, through crew-based work and teams that may also involve some individual assignments to meet the project goals. The specific objectives of this project are to improve the resiliency of sagebrush steppe, woodlands, and riparian ecosystems and associated cultural landscapes and resources in and around the NPS units of the western US. The project will be developed and implemented in phases. Phase 1 of this project will occur over three years to restore and enhance resiliency of the city of rocks national reserve and CO-managed castle rocks state park (in combination, ciro), and in craters of the moon national monument and preserve (crmo). Subsequent phases of this project will be described in future agreement modifications.