Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is excited to welcome the community to our Earth Week Celebration from April 17th to April 20th. The week features presenters, games, prizes, and food.
2023 Earth Week opens on Monday with a feast and hands-on presentations on the role of tribal agencies and the community on Climate Adaptation Plans to help protect the land.
- 9am – Opening Ceremony
- 10am – Climate Adaptation and Assessing Vulnerabilities, 1854 Treaty Authority, UMN Climate Adaptation Partnership
- 12pm – Feast
- 12:30pm – Jimaan, Culture, and Climate Adaptation, 1854 Treaty Authority, UMN Climate Adaptation Partnership
Tuesday of Earth Week will feature programs and presentations on organizations that are working on sustainability issues, come learn more about the Lake Superior Living Laboratories Network.
- 10am – Creation of Earth Week Art Installation, Sterling Rathsack and FDLTCC students
- 1pm – Lake Superior Living Laboratories Network, Randal Hansen
- 2pm – Sustainability Kahoot Game, Environmental Club
The Research Symposium will feature presentations by four regional research experts who will share information about tribal work around water, sovereignty and policy, wolf, and moose research.
Participants will learn about regional research career pathways and student research that FDLTCC and other tribal and university colleges are contributing to the communities. Students will be presenting their research in a poster session giving participants a chance to engage with them as they share their insight on their unique experiences.
The symposium will create more opportunities for students to network with researchers and learn about new ideas and motivations for current research in our region.
Research Symposium Schedule
- 8:30am – Opening
- 9am – Ngah Isitchigay Nibi Onje “ I will do it for the water”, Sharon Day
- 10am – Treaty Relations and Environmental Obligations, Joseph Bauerkemper
- 11am -1854 Treaty Authority Wolf Pup Survival Research, Morgan Swingen
- 12:00pm – Feast
- 1:00pm – A Focus on Grand Portage Ecosystem Health Research, Merging Climate and Environmental Justice with Applied Science in Indian Country, Seth Moore
- 2:00pm – Student Research Presentations
- 3:00pm – Ishkode Presentation
Presenter Information
- Joseph Bauerkemper serves on the faculty in the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth. His scholarship, outreach, and teaching emphasize Indigenous governance, federal and state policy, and Native literatures. Joseph teaches in UMD’s B.A. programs in American Indian Studies and Tribal Administration & Governance, and in UMD’s Master of Tribal Administration & Governance program and Master of Tribal Resource & Environmental Stewardship program. He also facilitates governance training programs for tribal, state, and federal staff.
- Morgan Swingen has been the wildlife biologist at the 1854 Treaty Authority since 2018. There she leads projects monitoring adult and juvenile ma’iinganag (wolves) in the 1854 Ceded Territory. The 1854 Treaty Authority is an inter-tribal natural resources agency in Duluth, governed by the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
- Sharon M. Day has walked over 20 rivers and lakes to take care of the water. She is an enrolled member of the of the Bois Forte band and Executive Director of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force in Minnesota. She will share with us the importance of her work and protection of the water.
- Seth Moore, PhD., has worked for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa since 2005, he presently manages the Grand Portage Department of Biology and Environment. Dr. Moore has worked on Great Lakes fisheries, wildlife, and environmental issues for over 29 years.
Earth Week will wrap up with our ziigwan celebration. Everyone is welcome to take part of the maple sap boil, and taste maple cotton candy! Welcome spring with learning how to do seed starting and play baaga’dowewin (traditional stick lacrosse) in the FDLTCC gym
- 10am – Iskigamizigan: Sugar bush demonstration, Phil Savage, Thirteen Moons Coordinator
- 11am -Seed Starting, Erika Resendiz Alonso, FSI Education Coordinator
- 1pm- Baaga’dowewin (traditional stick lacrosse) game, Ron Willis
Check out Fond du Lac Resource Management during an open house on Friday, April 21, from 9am to 12pm.
*The open house will take place at 28 University Road, Cloquet, MN.
Getting to Campus:
Take the Highway 33/Cloquet exit from Interstate 35, go north approximately one mile to Washington Avenue and turn right. Go to the first stop sign at 14th Street. Turn right onto 14th Street and follow for about one mile. The campus is on the right hand side of 14th Street. Parking is available in any of the lots that surround the main building. On-campus parking is free.
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College created the Environmental Institute concept on campus to actively promote the educational and cultural growth of the community in studies covering natural resources and the environment. Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College uses the Environmental Institute in environmental resource areas to follow all points of the College’s mission and coordinate ongoing education, research, outreach, and other activities. This emphasis allows Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College to fulfill its status as a United States Land Grant Institution by “being a people’s college and solving problems which benefit people.”
The Environmental Institute is determined to be a catalyst for positive change in our community. Visit the Environmental Institute’s YouTube channel and Facebook page for current happenings.
For more information on the Earth Week, contact Courtney Kowalczak at courtneyk@fdltcc.edu.