The Montezuma Land Conservancy recently received grant money that will allow it to expand a project that supports tribal access to culturally significant plants.
It’s called the Traditional Harvest Project, and in addition supporting such access through partnerships with private landowners, it “addresses habitat loss and degradation” on and off the reservation and supports “intergenerational knowledge-sharing,” according to a news release.
The boundaries of the reservation are “finite,” and “overharvesting of culturally significant plants has become a serious problem for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe,” said MLC’s deputy director, Molly Mazel, in an email.
“Drought and a changing climate have only exacerbated habitat loss for these plant communities,” said Mazel.
Importantly, this project “expands tribal member access to their ancestral homelands” and contributes “to tribally informed restoration projects” on and off the reservation, said Mazel.
The almost $300,000 that Great Outdoors Colorado’s Planning and Capacity program awarded the Montezuma Land Conservancy will help it hire a full-time cross-cultural programs coordinator to expand the program to the greater Southwest region.
The money will also “support ongoing relationship building” between the land conservancy and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, a relationship that really began back in 2021 when the Traditional Harvest Project started.
That year, the project began under the tribe’s Environmental Department.
“It began as a partnership between the Tribe and Trees, Water & People with the goal of restoring native plant habitat on the reservation,” said Mazel.
“MLC got involved in 2021 to help expand the project by incorporating harvesting access on private lands” with its network of landowners, she said.
In the past four years, 25 landowners have participated in the project to give Indigenous people access to plants “on ancestral homelands off the reservation,” according to the news release.
The project has also helped facilitate harvest opportunities for “tribal ceremonies and traditions,” and “launched pilot habitat restoration projects on private lands,” the news release said.
“Being an active partner in the Traditional Harvest Project … has given us the privilege to invest in local, place-based efforts that protect critical natural resources and facilitate authentic relationships between communities,” said James Calabaza, director of Trees, Water & People’s Indigenous Lands program.
What’s more, “interest in this work has not only grown among landowners in our region, but also among conservation organizations throughout the state,” said an email from MLC.
If you’re interested in the cross-cultural programs coordinator position, which is a shared one between the land conservancy and Trees, Water & People, the application is live on the Montezuma Land Conservancy’s website. The deadline to apply is April 15.
