Strengthening Sustainable Agriculture Programming with Native American Producers in the West

Strengthening Sustainable Agriculture Programming with Native American Producers in the West

Summary

The curriculum and professional development program will teach agriculture professionals the importance of the influential role(s) that the local tribal political structure plays within Indian tribes and natural resource management decisions. Further, an overview of the public policies that led to the creation and existence of Indian reservations will be featured. In particular, the curriculum will consider the impacts of the General Allotment Act of 1887 which may shed useful light on the current complexity of American Indian land ownership and thus, natural resource management decision-making. This combination of primary and secondary data analysis may serve to identify key elements of successful and unsuccessful sustainable agriculture programs on Indian reservations in the four selected states.

Objectives/Performance Targets

The educational importance of this research and resulting professional development program will serve to address the knowledge gap that currently exists and prohibits agriculture professionals from working as effectively as possible on Indian lands. Intended outcomes include: 1) Increased agriculture professionals’ knowledge and appreciation of the social, political, and economic environments on Indian reservations relevant to developing sustainable agriculture educational programs on Indian lands; 2) Strengthened and increased sustainable agriculture programming and practices with American Indian producers in the four selected states; and 3) Increased participation of tribal or American Indian agriculture producers in sustainable agriculture practices.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Several hours and days of collecting primary and secondary data took place in 2007. Each of the reservation tours (2006 and 2007) has increased reservation participation and support for the curriculum. In the first tour in 2006, we reached the Pyramid Lake, Walker River, Duck Valley, Colville, Coeur d’Alene, Umatilla, Yakima and Warm Springs reservations. In the second tour in 2007, we reached the Colville, Coeur d‘Alene, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Fort Hall reservations.

The development of the curriculum and segments of the curriculum pilot included focus group interviews conducted on participating reservations; mirror surveys of American Indian producers and agriculture professionals working on reservations and; face-to-face interviews with targeted American Indian producers, reservation elders and agriculture professionals. The biggest step in the piloting process was teaching reservation residents about the project, piloting the curriculum and building relationships with individuals you had not met before.

The 8-chapter curriculum was piloted in two sessions in Las Vegas on December 10, 2007. The first pilot session was with the Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program (FTRTEP) with a 30-minute time slot. A poster was created and printed out for each attendee because of the time limit and the amount of information to be presented. The second pilot session was in the Intertribal Agriculture Council/Indian Nations Conservation Alliance Symposium as a two-hour session. There were seven attendees for the two hour session with discussion about the chapter content. The session took all of two hours and we were prepared with two hours of teaching. A larger poster was present across from registration highlighting the curriculum for the entire IAC/INCA audience.

The curriculum is tentatively scheduled to be sent out for review in March as draft chapters are currently being edited and graphically designed. We have every intention of teaching this curriculum in the 4 states by late summer and fall. Nevada Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has already agreed, through the State Conservationist, to send staff members to the training sessions.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Since we began this program in 2005, during the developmental and pilot stages of the curriculum, we have accumulated a total of 1,067 contacts. Each reservation tour has resulted in increased participation and support for the curriculum from American Indians. In addition, the majority (98%) of contacts, during the development of the curriculum, has been comprised of American Indians, an Extension audience currently recognized as “underserved.”

Table 1b illustrates the evaluation results of a curriculum presentation at the annual meeting of the AIAEE (using AIAEE’s standard evaluation instrument), and indicate that the content presented was useful and provided new knowledge to professionals working with underserved audiences.

Table 1c illustrates the evaluation results of an abbreviated (half-hour overview) curriculum pilot session taught to a national group of Extension Educators, Instructors, NRCS personnel and other professionals working on American Indian reservations. Nearly half of the learning objectives realized statistically significant changes between pre-test and post-test scores, while for the remaining learning objectives, post-test scores were higher than pre-test scores.

Table 1d illustrates the evaluation results for a 2-hour session taught to a small national group attending the Intertribal Agriculture Council’s annual meetings. Fourteen of the 16 post-test means were higher than pre-test mean scores, reflecting increases in knowledge. One participant stated, “Very good session and balance of historical perspectives of Native American ongoing land tenure and changing dynamics of federal and tribal government politics”

Table 1b. Association of International Agriculture Extension and Education: Curriculum Pilot Evaluation Results

AIAEE Evaluation Measures* (n)Ranked Means
1. Quality of presentation? (11)4.36
2. Knowledge gained from presentation? (13)4.00
3. Usefulness of presentation? (13)3.92

Rating Code: 1 = very low; 5 = very high;
* All presenters were required to use AIAEE’s standard evaluation measures.

Table 1c. Federal Recognized Tribal Extension Program Annual Meeting: Curriculum Pilot Evaluation Results

Learning Objectives (n) Pre-Test Mean/Post-Test
Mean

1. What is meant by “People of the western range? (16) 2.44/3.88*
2. Which 4 states does the curriculum target? (10) 2.20/4.40*
3. What are the seven Federal Indian policy eras? (16) 2.06/3.63*
4. What is Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny? (20) 2.85/3.25
5. Effects of General Allotment Act on American Indian land tenure? (16) 2.81/3.25**
6. What are the types of land tenure on American Indian reservations?
(18) 3.00/3.33
7. What are the issues involved with checkerboard lands? (18) 3.17/3.67**
8. What are the issues involved with fractionated lands? (17) 2.94/3.35
9. What are American Indian agriculture irrigation projects? (17) 2.82/3.35
10. Who is served by American Indian irrigation projects? (18) 2.44/2.89
11. What is the Trust Doctrine?
(16) 2.56/3.06**
12. What are the effects of the Trust Doctrine? (17) 2.47/2.88
13. Difference between state and federally recognized tribes? (20) 3.05/3.12
14. What are the effects of American Indian Self-Determination? (18) 2.65/3.00
15. What is the importance of acknowledging different perspectives? (16) 3.00/3.67**
16. Importance of building relationships to reservations programs? (16) 3.75/4.00

Rating Code: 1 = understood very little; 5 = understood very much; 6 = don’t know
* Difference between pre-test and post-test scores statistically significant at p < .01
**Difference between pre-test and post-test scores statistically significant at p < .05

Table 1d. Intertribal Agriculture Council Annual Meeting: Curriculum Pilot Evaluation Results

Learning Objective (n*) Pre-Test Mean/Post-test
Mean
1. What is meant by “People of the western range? (2) 2.00/3.50
2. Which 4 states does the curriculum target?
(2) 2.50/4.50
3. What are the seven Federal Indian policy eras? (2) 2.00/2.00
4. What is Doctrine of Discovery and manifest Destiny? (2) 2.00/3.00
5. Effects of General Allotment Act on American Indian land tenure? (1) 3.00/3.00
6. What are the types of land tenure on American Indian reservations?
(2) 2.00/3.50
7. What are the issues involved with checkerboard lands? (2) 3.00/4.00
8. What are the issues involved with fractionated lands? (2) 2.00/3.50
9. What are American Indian agriculture irrigation projects? (2) 1.50/3.00
10. Who is served by American Indian irrigation projects? (2) 1.50/2.50
11. What is the Trust Doctrine?
(2) 3.00/3.50
12. What are the effects of the Trust Doctrine? (3) 2.33/3.33
13. Difference between state and federally recognized tribes? (2) 1.50/3.00
14. What are the effects of American Indian Self-Determination? (3) 2.00/3.67
15. What is the importance of acknowledging different perspectives? (3) 3.00/4.33
16. Importance of building relationships to reservation programs? (3) 4.00/4.33

Rating Code: 1 = understood very little; 5 = understood very much; 6 = don’t know
* While seven people participated in the pilot session, few completed both pre-tests and post-tests. Statistical analyses were limited by the small number of evaluations completed.

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