51猎奇入口

The classroom of choice for a cohort of students this past summer? Quadra Island.

In May, in partnership with the , SFU鈥檚 Faculty of Environment offered its first field course on the traditional territories of the Tlowitsis, We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum, K鈥櫭砿oks and Mamalilikulla Nations.

Over three weeks, participants learned from local Knowledge Holders and community experts, covering topics spanning various social, environmental, cultural, economic and governance issues that are important to the Nations, all of whom are members of the Nanwakolas Council. 

51猎奇入口students were joined by a select number of member Nation Guardians, community-based experts trained in land and water stewardship.

鈥淭he field school brought many students to a community and part of B.C. they had never been to and provided them the opportunity to collaborate on classwork with First Nations' Guardian students, whose knowledge about and experience of their territories enriched student learning immensely,鈥� explains Julie Nielsen, adjunct professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Management, field school lead and instructor and forest stewardship advisor for the Council.

鈥淏eing out on the land or on the water every day is an immersive way to learn and remember, by seeing and doing, and encourages students to actively participate and, I think, become inspired about new things and/or ways of knowing and doing.鈥� 

Scott Assu is a student in SFU鈥檚 Department of Archaeology as well as a Guardian for the We Wai Kai Nation. 

When he heard about the field school taking place in his traditional territory, he was eager to join.

鈥淚t was really cool to see everyone and show everyone around my territory,鈥� shares Assu.

He fondly recalls a day that ended with everyone gathered around a fire with field school instructor Jordan Benner, adjunct professor in REM and regional forestry advisor for the Council.

鈥淚t was cross-generational, everyone getting along and sharing information and getting excited...chit-chatting about what projects they would be interested in,鈥� he remembers. 鈥淓veryone together and collaborating in an informal environment was quite nice.鈥�

After field activities and presentations about cultural heritage and awareness, Indigenous forest stewardship, forest ecology, ethnobotany, conservation and more, participants completed a final project of mutual interest to them and one or more of the member Nations. 

For his final project, Assu worked on windthrow assessments for wilkw/ k 虛 wa鈥檟瘫 t艂u (Large Cultural Cedars, or LCCs)鈥攁 sustainable forestry practice used to evaluate the risk of the cedars uprooting or breaking in high winds.

Assu was already familiar with conducting these assessments from his first two years of work as a Guardian.

Working together with another student, he recorded successful methodologies into a practical forestry manual for training others.

Riley Ross-Nelson, who has been a Guardian for the We Wai Kai Nation for two and a half years, was also in attendance.

For him, joining the field school was an easy choice. 鈥淚 knew it would help me build skills that I could use in my career,鈥� he says.

鈥淎s a Guardian, we get to work on a variety of stewardship projects. But I wanted to learn a bit more on the academic side of things,鈥� he goes on to explain. 鈥淚 was really excited to work with students and people with different experiences.鈥�

Ross-Nelson worked together with fellow Guardian Cole Dumont and other students in the field school to complete a group project focused on inventorying all of the plant species in a nearby forest garden, putting their findings in a comprehensive report.

 鈥淚t was really cool to combine their knowledge with what I've learned, in Indigenous stewardship and Indigenous sciences, in a project,鈥� he says.

During the course, Ross-Nelson and Dumont sat down and spoke with community Elders to talk about their findings as part of the process of putting together a guidebook to help identify medicinal plants, complete with ecology information, harvesting techniques and their Indigenous and English names.

Like Assu, Ross-Nelson found the collaborative learning environment to be a highlight of the experience.

 鈥淢y favourite takeaway was just learning from everyone else and seeing the skill sets that everyone else had to offer. And then to be able to share with everyone a bit about 尝颈千史颈艂诲补虫史 culture and what we do as Guardians and how that intertwines with resource management and environmental resource stewardship.鈥�