Keynote Speaker

Dr. Mike Dockry

Learning from the Indigenous Roots of Sustainable Forestry: Promoting Sustainability, Community Healing, and Partnerships 

Bozho Nikanek! I am a registered member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and an Assistant Professor in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Forest Resources. I am also an associate faculty member of the American Indian Studies Department and an Institute on the Environment Fellow. I support tribal sovereignty and work to foster collaborative and respectful research relationships.

My research supports interdisciplinary sustainable natural resource management research with a focus on: (1) understanding and incorporating tribal perspectives into natural resource management (2) developing frameworks and best practices for building successful tribal partnerships for natural resource management, long-term planning, and research; and (3) analyzing diversity and inclusion within natural resource management institutions and higher education.

Abstract:

Indigenous knowledge has sustained Indigenous people and their environments for thousands of years and continues today. Indigenous people often tell us that our common future depends upon incorporating their wisdom and perspectives into social, economic, and ecological decisions. However, natural resource organizations, scientists, and universities have struggled to integrate this knowledge into programming, education, and research. My talk will discuss how the Indigenous roots of sustainable forestry in the USA began with the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin and how that experience can inform contemporary sustainable forestry, ecological restoration, and community healing. I will finish the talk by discussing how developing partnerships with tribes and tribal communities can serve as the foundation to integrating Indigenous knowledge with western natural resource management science. I will present reflections from my decades-long work with Indigenous communities and provide practical partnership-building strategies for working with tribes. The goal of my talk is to highlight Indigenous innovations for ecological and social healing to meet 21st century challenges.