A big thank you from Katherine Minthorn and Mike Shellenberger:
During this tumultuous time with the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unsure if we would be able to host our annual Northwest Intertribal Agriculture Council (NWIAC) meeting for 2020. We were first targeting the usual dates in the second full week of September; however, this year our Tribes were facing wildfires throughout the states of Oregon and Washington. As a result, the planning group thought we should postpone until September 28 and 29, 2020 so that people impacted by the wildfires could participate.
With all that is going on in the world today, we thank our planning committee and all the people who took time out of their day to be part of our annual NWIAC meeting.
Highlights of the NWIAC virtual conference included:
The opening welcome was by James McCuen, IAC Treasurer and IAC National Board member representing the northwest Tribes.
Robert Compton, Rangeland Specialist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs – Portland Area Office gave a presentation on how Tribal landowners can amend their leases to allow them to have cover crops planted into fallow from cereal grain production. Landowners and farmer can then lease the volunteer grain and cover crops in the spring of the year following a grain harvest. This allows the landowner to have a “crop payment” every year versus every other year.
Following this presentation, Oregon Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provided a video from producers in the Wallowa Valley of Oregon who are currently establishing cover crops into their rotation system and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs that provide funding available for establishment of cover crops.
Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Vet Services (VS) provided a presentation on equine vaccination clinics in Oregon, and a brief history of the establishment of the program and services.
Suzy Lumley of the Sockeye Suzy Fish Company presented via podcast about her experiences with IAC’s American Indian Foods (AIF) program as well as the status of the Columbia River fish runs.
Spring Alaska of Sakari Farms and Sakari Botanicals presented via podcast on her experiences with IAC and how her businesses have experienced growth.
Robin Slate, NRCS Tribal Liaison for Washington State presented two NRCS Tribal Fishery Projects relative to Western Washington tribes.
Roylene Comes at Night, NRCS State Conservationist, presented an introductory video.
Daniel Fagerlie, Washington State University (WSU) Extension Tribal Liaison, presented on botanical invasive species on regional Indian Reservations.
Linda McLean, WSU Extension on The Colville Reservation presented on 4-H projects and local food hubs.
Thank you for your participation (and patience) as we brought the NWIAC to a virtual platform. You will find the links to the raw zoom recordings below. Due to technical difficulties, the listing includes the pre-recorded presentations.
The first two links are the full day recordings:
This link is the Caucus Meeting Discussion only:
*There were not enough delegates to constitute a quorum, so a discussion was held instead.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS THAT WE HAVE LINKS for SEPARATED OUT INDIVIDUALLY:
Please Let us know if you have any questions:
Katherine Minthorn – Technical Assistance Specialist, Northwest Region – Oregon and Idaho: katherine@indianag.org
Michael Shellengberger – Technical Assistance Specialist – Northwest Region – Washington: mike@indianag.org