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Sign up for the Morning Brief Newsletter . Daily Tidings Daily Tidings Sign up for the Morning Brief Newsletter . facebook twitter Ashland Tribal Youth Forestry Restoration Program Receives $700,000 in Federal Grants By Edith M. on August 28, 2024 ASHLAND, Ore. — The Ashland-based non-profit Lomakatsi Restoration Project (LRP) has received two grants of $700,000 from the Interior Department’s Youth Service Corps to support the organization’s Tribal Youth Ecological Stewardship Training and Employment program. 12 Youth Members Will be Trained to Secure Future Careers Some of the grant money will be used to train 12 tribal youth members of the Indian Youth Service Corps on ecosystem restoration work in southern Oregon. The project will prepare them for careers in forestry work, says Belinda Brown, the group’s director of tribal partnerships. Brown says the program will pave the way for the young tribal people to secure wage- paying jobs, helping them to contribute financially to their families and enabling them to carve a future career in forestry. ‘This elevates them to become mentors for the next generation,’ explains Brown. The project supports ecosystem and eco-culture restoration work of tribal ancestral land and provides training opportunities for tribal members aged 18 to 35. The Project Also Focuses on Reducing Wildfires The executive director of the LRP, Marko Bey, says the focus is also on reducing wildfires that have caused widespread destruction in recent years, as well as on ecosystem resilience. The organization also hopes to include tribal members in management and restoration work. Bey says by incorporating Western science with Indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge, tribal lands can be successfully restored. Apart from developing and implementing forest and watershed restoration programs, the Lomakatsi Restoration Project works to help sustain tribal communities. The non-profit was established in 1995 and works closely with state and federal agencies, Tribal Nations, and communities to restore miles of waterways and thousands of acres of forests. The LRP strives to promote social equity with education, workforce training, and tribal partnerships. The focus of the organization’s 2024 program is to support wildfire firefighting and to undertake job training in vegetation management with the assistance of the U.S. Forest Service and the Rogue Valley Siskiyou National Forest. References www.lomakatsi.org Ashland Jackson County Wildfire Environment Share Related Posts High Levels of Bacteria in Oregon’s Wagner Creek Governor Calls in the National Guard as Wildfires Ravage Oregon Ashland Wildfire Blaze Contained By Scores Of Firefighters Comments (0) Add Comment