Final report for YENC25-226
Project Type: Youth Educator
Funds awarded in 2025: $6,000.00
Projected End Date: 01/15/2027
Grant Recipient:
Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute
Region: North Central
State: Minnesota
Project Manager:
Joni McSpadden
Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute
Project Co-Managers:
Winona LaDuke
Akiing
Project Information
Summary:
We wish to create a team of Young people who are able to horse log, and better care for our forests. To do this, we will host a workshop with Cedar River Horse Logging offered to approximately 12 Native youth on the White Earth reservation. Our goal is to teach safety, equipment, directional felling and how to care for our forests with horses, protect our biodiversity, strengthen relationships with animals and each other and have safe ways to be in the forest.
Project Objectives:
- Foster biodiversity protection through horse logging, which minimizes ecological damage by up to 30% compared to conventional methods.
- Restore respect for the forest and careful logging methods, while strengthening our skills as horse people and harvesters.
- Train the next generation to be safe, effective, and create essential skills for the regional forested economy while keeping our horses and teams in shape for maple syrup harvest, the summer and farming.
- Create a premium quality industry standard, which carries with it a valued price.
Educational & Outreach Activities
1 Other educational activities: 3 day training in the woods, with hands-on lessons
Participation summary:
2 Farmers/Ranchers
8 Youth
2 Other adults
Education/outreach description:
Does not apply to this project. Outreach was directly to youth.
Methods used to share with other educators:
- Other
Other methods used to share with other educators:
Shared informally with peers.
Learning Outcomes
8 Youth gained knowledge, skills and/or awareness
Key changes:
Sustainable logging
Results and discussion:
The horse program went really well. Tim Carrol came up for three days, and worked with the youth in the woods. There were about 8 youth in attendance. All of them had gear which we purchased with the grant or with other funds, including boots, helmets, and chaps. Each moring, Tim went through the instruction and safety manual about the use of chainsaws, and also about the felling of trees. This included use of a manual on horse logging, and chainsaw safety. The meeting was held at on Round Lake. Then after that, they went to the woods, and began to cut and nove logs with a horse named Bud. Sone of the young people six young men and two women from our program participated, some were better with the saw and some were better with the horses. The intention was to determine which youth were best suited for which job.
The training allowed the young people, particularly the young men to expand their logging skills and they have carried on the horse logging. This has provided firewood for our community, and an ability to go into the woods where there have been clearcuts or poor forest management and bring out waste logs. As well, we hope to use this to work with the state DNR and other agencies to bid on logging, opportunities, for selective cutting. We think this skill set will allow our youth to carry on additional jobs as we develop a set of micro enterprises.
Curricula or lesson plans you utilized:
Tim provided the three-day training.
Key strengths and weaknesses of this curricula or lesson plans:
Hands-on. Allowed youth to find their skills.
Project Outcomes
Recommendations:
Thank you for your support.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.