The Tribe was awarded a $937,212 grant as part of a new $5M grant program from the Paul G. Allen Foundation to fund six place-based natural climate solutions projects across the Pacific Northwest.
The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has announced a $937,212 grant to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to develop Palouse restoration strategies, including native grasslands and alternative grains, to better understand their potential as natural climate solutions.
Dr. Danielle Ignace, associate professor with the University of Minnesota Department of Forest Resources and a Coeur d’Alene Tribal member, is a co-lead on the project. She will focus on establishing baseline soil health conditions and tracking soil nutrient dynamics and carbon fluxes in Palouse prairie soils on Tribal lands.
“As a Coeur d’Alene Tribal member, it’s an honor and life-long goal to work with my Tribe to restore biodiversity, which has the important co-benefit of enhancing the many plants that historically provided medicines and sustenance to the Coeur d’Alene People,” said Dr. Ignace. “I hope to ultimately pursue ways to expand our efforts to promote ecosystem health and carbon sequestration benefits of this work as a foundation for a culturally-restorative, climate-resilient economy.”
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Natural Resources Department has been working for decades to protect and restore the upper Hangman watershed for the anticipated return of Chinook salmon and other traditional First Foods. This project builds on previous work by establishing a native Palouse prairie seed bank from remnant prairie owned by the Tribe. Additionally, the project will research how both the cultivation of a high-potential perennial grain (Kernza) and restoring degraded Palouse lands impact carbon fluxes.
Project partners include the Tribe, ecologists from the University of Idaho, and Salmon-Safe, a nationally-recognized ecolabel that works with producers across the Northwest. Along with Dr. Ignace, they’ll work together to gather critical data about the economic and environmental potential of these approaches.
“This grant empowers the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to further its commitment to protecting and restoring its lands and waters in the face of climate change. By integrating the Tribe’s millennia of relationship to this landscape with contemporary restoration techniques, we hope to not just protect the existing remnants of this critically endangered ecosystem but scale up the restoration of biodiversity on the landscape," said Laura Laumatia, Coeur d’Alene Tribe Environment Program Manager.
This research is one of six natural climate solutions (NCS) projects receiving funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to accelerate climate change mitigation efforts in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). The foundation is tapping into the PNW’s diverse strength and heritage in conservation innovation and the regional leadership, ecological stewardship, and historical knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities in the region. Projects will be conducted in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, British Columbia, and Idaho, with the majority led by Native American and First Nations partners.
Funding for these six projects totals approximately $5,000,000 over three years. In addition to Climate-Safe and Salmon-Safe: Natural Climate Solutions in the Inland Northwest work in Idaho from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe Department of Natural Resources, funding also supports natural climate solutions projects from Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Native Conservancy, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Trout Unlimited, and the University of British Columbia.
About Coeur d’Alene Tribe Department of Natural Resources:
Established in 1992, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources protects, restores, and manages its natural resources. Guided by cultural values and sustainability, the Department of Natural Resources is committed to preserving the environment within the Tribe’s traditional boundaries while supporting the social, cultural, and economic well-being of the Coeur d’Alene people.