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“Building Tribal Capacity for Climate Change Adaptation”

Wednesday, December 3, 2014 | 10:30 am
134 Morrill Science Center Conference Room, UMass Amherst (speaker will present remotely)
Chris Caldwell and Marie Schaefer, College of Menominee Nation Chris Caldwell and Marie Schaefer, College of Menominee Nation
Chris Caldwell, Director, Sustainable Development Institute, CMN
Marie Schaefer, Research Assistant, Sustainable Development Institute, CMN

College of Menominee Nation Sustainable Development Institute hosted a 3-day summit in October 2014 focused on different levels of climate change adaptation training for Tribes.  This event  included opportunities to network between indigenous practitioners, tribal leaders & land managers, federal agencies, and climate change scientists.  The information was specific to the northeast region, but was open to all who are interested in the issues of climate change and Tribes.   The Summit provided an opportunity to gain introductory and more advanced climate change adaptation planning skills and information, identify the next steps for adaptation, and make connections between tribes and academic/governmental climate change programs that can provide the tools and resources that tribes need.  This webinar will focus on Summit participants and activities, lessons learned, outcomes, and plans for future Tribal adaptation training.

Chris Caldwell has been the Director of Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) at College of Menominee Nation (CMN) since October 2012. He is responsible for coordination of SDI staff and resources in the delivery of nonacademic programming, research, contractual services, and other projects in support of the Institute’s mission, and the broader mission of CMN. Chris is an enrolled member of the Menominee Nation and has worked in different facets of the sustainable forestry field for over twenty years. His work experiences include working on a Menominee based Wisconsin Conservation Corps (WCC) Crew, a couple summers at Menominee Tribal Enterprises (MTE) sawmill, several years as a forestry technician/marking crew member in the MTE Forestry Department, a few years as a forestry student/intern with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a couple years spent with different research/work units at the USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory, and seven years as Director/ Compliance and Enforcement Officer for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin’s (MITW) Department of Trust Resources. During that same time period, he returned to school to earn an Associate’s Degree in Sustainable Development from College of Menominee Nation (CMN), a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and a Master’s in Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay.

Marie Schaefer is a Research Assistant for the Sustainable Development Institute and is in the cultural anthropology PhD program at Michigan State University. She is an Anishinaabe from Michigan and has had the opportunity to work for tribes in Arizona and Michigan. Marie's research focuses on indigenous knowledge revitalization, especially manoomin (wild rice) revitalization, and braiding indigenous and scientific knowledges using a indigenous community-based participatory research framework. Her work at the Sustainable Development Institute focuses on being a bridge between climate scientists and Tribes in the Northeast region.