Salish Kootenai College and the USGS: Workshops for Tomorrow's Tribal Scientists

From a U.S. Geological Survey fact sheet by Roy Sando and Monique Fordham, prepared in cooperation with Salish Kootenai College, 2017.

Salish Kootenai College (SKC), on the Flathead Reservation in the far northwest of Montana, is the largest of the state's seven Tribal colleges. Formally established in 1977, it is the only Tribal college in the country offering four-year Bachelor of Science degrees in hydrology, forestry and wildlife biology. It also offers a certificate in geospatial studies, with classes in remote sensing and advanced geographic information systems (GIS).

How the partnership began

In 2011 Monique Fordham, the USGS National Tribal Liaison in the Office of Tribal Relations, began talking with SKC faculty about how the USGS could help with the college's new hydrology program. With funding from the Office of Tribal Relations, scientists from the USGS Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center started working with the college, and in 2012 Roy Sando developed and taught two geospatial workshops.

Since then, with further funding, Roy Sando, Aroscott Whiteman and Charlie Besteder have developed and taught six more workshops over five academic years — four geospatial workshops, now part of SKC's geospatial certificate, and two in hydrology.

What students learn

Every workshop tackles real environmental questions that matter on and around the Flathead Reservation. Topics have included:

• classifying land cover from remote sensing;
• tracking how stream channels migrate;
• estimating actual evapotranspiration — in May 2013, students used Landsat 5 satellite images to estimate it for farmland near Flathead Lake, data that can reveal stressed vegetation;
• modelling plumes of groundwater contamination — in December 2014, students built a three-dimensional model of contaminated groundwater near Milltown, Montana, practice for guiding future water development and cleanup;
• building custom GIS tools.

Classes are kept to about 15 students so each gets one-on-one time with the instructors, and USGS hydrologist Aroscott Whiteman brought first-hand experience of collecting and analysing hydrologic data to one of the workshops.

What both sides gain

The workshops have enriched learning for SKC students and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal community. SKC forestry professor Robert Kenning described the partnership as one of the most fruitful he had been part of, giving students and the community more hands-on learning built on local, Tribally relevant examples. USGS scientists, in turn, have learned about the college, the community and the environmental issues that matter on the reservation.

By helping train SKC students, the USGS is investing in the next generation of Tribal scientists, who may go on to careers with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, other Native nations, or federal, state or private employers.

The Water Science Center sees the partnership as a proven concept it hopes to continue. "We hope to keep this great effort going," said project lead Roy Sando. "The benefits to SKC, the Tribal Community, and the USGS are clearly evident in such a short amount of time. We've learned so much about SKC and the amazing potential the students have to affect positive change in their communities."

Sources

• Roy Sando and Monique Fordham, Salish Kootenai College and U.S. Geological Survey Partnership — Enhancing Student Opportunities and Professional Development, U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2017–3065. https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20173065 — details of two workshops recovered from the PDF's captions.
• Words on this page from people and organisations outside the federal government are paraphrased; rewritten in hubnx's own words.