Conference Highlights

Tuesday

8:00 - 11:45 a.m.

Technology Session III
Sustainable Development using Traditional Knowledge and Appropriate Technologies

Facilitator: John Ochsner, Faculty, College of Menominee Nation

Naomi Carriere, Qualitative assessment of Woodland Caribou
Evangeline S. Galacgac and Criselda M. Balisacan, Traditional Weather Forecasting Methods, Ilocos Norte Philippines
Paddy Peters and Iain Davidson-Hunt, Anishinaabe Processes for Cheekahnawaydahmungk Keetahkeemeeman (Keeping the Land)

12:15-1:30p.m.

LUNCH
Iroquois Complex South

Luncheon Speaker
Graham Cox, Roundtable on Sustainable Forests

1:45 - 4:30 p.m.

Institutions Session IV Sustainability and Institutional Development

Facilitator: Dr. William Van Lopik, Sustainable Development Faculty, College of Menominee Nation

Dr. Uma Acahrya, Local and Indigenous people, traditional knowledge and conservation of biodiversity: A case from Nepal
Bishnu Chandra Poudel, Participatory governance in community forestry: an added challenge for the resource utilization in Nepalese Himalaya
Robin Kimmerer, A University /Tribal partnership for education outreach and research in plant restoration
John Breuninger and Laura Manthe, Oneida Sustainable Community

5:30 - 7:45 p.m.

Human Perception & Behavior Session V
Sustainability and Human Perceptions and Activities

Facilitator: Dr. Holly YoungBear-Tibbetts, Dean of External Relations, College of Menominee Nation

Victor D. Phillips, Mainstreaming Indigenous Wisdom to help dominant society build a sustainable future
Paddy Peters and Andrew Miller, Talking About Fire: Pikangikum Elders Guiding Fire Management Dialogue
Carol Crowe, An Indigenous Perspective on a Sustainable Future

LAND & SOVEREIGNTY

Are integral to the process of sustainable development. The Menominee Nation has a firm experiential basis for their understanding of this process. They know first hand the horror of termination, and the struggle for restoration of their status as a federally recognized Indian tribe. While political restoration has been accomplished, other aspects of restoration are yet unattended. Central to our research and extension mission is the commitment to those topics and activities that re-affirm tribal sovereignty and preserves the tribal estate.

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

The long and successful Menominee experience in sustained yield forestry is the cornerstone of its community's sustainable development. SDI has prioritized forest products, forest ecology, enhanced commerce of timber products, and value added forest products as immediate topics relevant to its scholarship and research and extension mission.

INSTITUTIONS

In aiding in the development and maturation of the institutional life of the rural and reservation communities which we serve, we ensure the longevity of our efforts, maximize the impact of our initiatives, and position our own institution firmly within the community context which has chartered our mission.

TECHNOLOGY

SDI works collaboratively with the Menominee Telecommunications Design Team to enable a multi-media telecommunications infrastructure capable of serving our rural and reservation community institutions. The Design Team includes the College, the Tribal and County governments, and the Menominee Tribal Enterprises. We believe rural and reservation communities are dependent on the foresight of their institutions to assure access to the new wave of information technology. We are committed to forwarding the development of information infrastructure. We are attuned to the potential of electronic commerce, medicine, and judicial practice, advancing local access to technological innovations, and complementing our academic goal of advancing technological literacy.

ECONOMY

Initial entry into extension services to forward this dimension are in nascent development, with an initial emphasis on cooperating with the local business incubator, offering workshops for potential entrepreneurs and service as a research resource for tribal enterprise. We anticipate the local regions designation as an enterprise community will provide additional training opportunities.

HUMAN PERCEPTION, ACTIVITY & BEHAVIOR

A priority for research lies in projects which assure access to safe and reliable food and water resources. To that end, we anticipate complimenting research efforts in sustainable forestry with new initiatives in permaculture, ethnobotany, and preliminary investigation of the feasibility of aquaculture and hydroponics production.

Decision Making

Today we remain dependent on this land and water to sustain us. Therefore, we must make the necessary decisions to sustain it for future generations. We believe Menominee Autochthony is the centerpiece by which decision making must take place for successful sustenance of this nation and land.

AUTOCHTHONY - n. from the land itself; nativeness by virtue or originating or occurring naturally as in a particular place. (Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913).