The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs will collaborate with many universities for an environmental study on tribal lands as part of a $4.5 million USDA study.
A $4.5 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture will allow an Ohio University school to collaborate with other entities for an environmental study on tribal lands, according to a university news release.
Derek Kauneckis, associate professor with OU’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, will participate in the study, which looks to help tribal communities in the Great Basin and American Southwest develop plans, policies and practices for sustainable agriculture and water management.
Ohio University is one of the entities involved in the five-year program, Native Waters on Arid Lands, which brings together faculty and students from three of the West’s 1862 land-grant institutions— University of Nevada, Reno, University of Arizona and Utah State University.
Kauneckis is also an affiliate faculty member with the Desert Research Institute and a senior member of the Native Waters integrated program team.
Elements of the Native Waters program include developing climate scenarios and water supply projections for tribal lands, evaluating the effects of Indian land tenure on water management and agriculture and infusing paleoecological data with tribal knowledge to understand the impacts of a changing climate.
“While across the nation different communities face very a variety of challenges to managing natural resources, the central question of determining the set of options under conditions of scarcity and environmental change remain the same,” Kauneckis said in the release.
Faculty from the Voinovich School will help look into policy alternatives and understanding community options in response to droughts.
American Indian farmers and ranchers are an economic base for the Great Basin Desert and American Southwest, according to the release.
Decreasing water supplies, urbanization, ecosystem change and federal Indian policies challenge American Indian agriculture for ceremonial practices, sustenance and trade.
“Water is a precious natural resource and also has profound cultural and spiritual significance to tribal peoples,” John Phillips, executive director of FALCON, a professional association of 1994 land-grant administrators, faculty staff, said in the release. “This program will help Native American communities in the Great Basin and southwest region carry on their historical role as strong environmental stewards for the Earth and its natural resources.”
@megankhenry
