With a $990,350 award from the Climate Change Research Program, the Resilient Restoration project – led by the Climate Science Alliance Tribal Working Group, University of California Riverside, and San Diego State University – is promoting Tribal resilience by developing knowledge and supporting actions that enhance persistence of cultural practices with a focus on preserving the ecosystems and species that are integral to Tribal communities.
San Diego County is home many federally recognized Tribes and hosts California’s most biologically diverse ecosystem. There are many plants and animals that are culturally significant to these and other Tribes in the Southwestern region of the state. However, climate change threatens Tribal food security, health, and conservation of culturally and ecologically significant resources. The goal of the Resilient Restoration project is to advance the understanding of these impacts on culturally significant plants and inform the development of strategies to advance conservation and restoration of native plant communities on Tribal lands and surrounding areas.
To guide the direction of climate impact modeling research at University of California Riverside, the Climate Science Alliance Tribal Working Group, which consists of more than 20 Southern California Tribes, curated a list of native plant species, including multiple oak species. Acorns from these oaks were once a significant dietary staple for Tribes in Southern California and remain an important food and cultural resource. With permission and guidance from several partnering Tribes, researchers from San Diego State University gathered thousands of acorns from Tribal lands across Southern California and grew them as part of greenhouse and genetic experiments. These experiments, in tandem with the data gathered and climate impacts modeling done by University of California Riverside researchers, allow the project team to better understand responses to drought and other climate variables. Once the project is completed, the oaks will be returned and planted back in their homelands.
“We have been resilient through a long history of colonization, but we have also lost a lot of knowledge about our life ways, and our food was especially impacted,” said William Madrigal Jr., the Tribal Partnerships and Capacity program manager for the Climate Science Alliance, and a member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians Tribe. “Going back to our acorns and teaching our ways to the next generation will enable us to continue and strengthen our traditions.”
For more information on this project, visit the Resilience Restoration website.