January 7, 2002

NDSU Partners in Natural Resource Education Project

North Dakota State University will partner with seven colleges and universities in a $3.8 million effort to strengthen natural resources education in the middle Missouri River watershed in four tribal college communities, according to David Lambert, chair of NDSU’s Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics.

The grant is one of the largest the U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded for a research and education-focused program. Iowa State University will be the lead institution to conduct the project with Fort Berthold Community College and Sitting Bull College, both in North Dakota, Sinte Gleska University in South Dakota, Nebraska Indian Community College, NDSU, South Dakota State University and the University of Nebraska.

The project will enhance educational opportunities for students and community members served by the tribal colleges on reservations and private lands in the Missouri River watershed that runs from northern North Dakota to the Iowa-Nebraska border.

"Although there are increasing concerns regarding natural resources and the environment, there have been few opportunities for partnership projects for research, teaching and extension activities," said Harold Crawford, the project co-director and Iowa State University professor of agricultural education and studies.

"This project aims to build that capacity," Crawford said. "Faculty at the eight schools and others participating from the tribal communities will increase their ability to work together to reach mutually beneficial solutions and, at the same time, better understand each others' cultures."

The project initially will determine priorities for programs in fish and wildlife, forest and woodlands, crop and rangelands, and soil and water. Each tribal college is conducting a natural resources needs assessment with farmers and ranchers, tribal college faculty and students, professionals working in natural resources, and tribal leaders and elders.

Based on the priorities identified, the institutional partners will design and conduct research and extension projects and disseminate the results. "Our hope is that small and mid-sized farmers and ranchers will benefit through the adoption of environmentally friendly and economically viable management practices," said Gerald Miller, project co-director and associate dean for extension programs in ISU's College of Agriculture.

Another objective is to strengthen natural resource programs at the tribal colleges through course development, faculty improvement, collaborative projects and student internships. "This project will improve our natural resource curricula and encourage students of natural resources at the tribal colleges to complete four-year degrees," said David Lambert, NDSU campus coordinator and steering committee member for the Natural Resources Education project.

Kevin Sedivec of NDSU's animal and range sciences department has been working with representatives from the eight schools involved in the project to identify both short- and long-term needs for both natural resource and environmental education and for improving the sustainability of small and mid-sized farmers and ranchers in the tribal college areas.

Lambert says this project will be a model for building institutional partnerships to achieve educational goals. "We look forward to this and future collaborations with these partner institutions," he said.

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Source: David Lambert, (701) 231-7444, dlambert@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Gary Moran, (701) 231-7865, gmoran@ndsuext.nodak.edu