2022 WATERSHED TOUR DROUGHT & CLIMATE RESILIENCE IN THE BLACKFEET NATION - SEPTEMBER 15TH-16TH, 2022

Overview
Observe. Ask Questions. Reconnect. Repair. Deepen. Collaborate. Have Patience. Persevere.
These actions and aspirations defined the 2022 Fall Watershed Tour with MWCC and the Blackfeet Nation, just as they define the work that Blackfeet leaders are doing to protect and preserve their lands and culture amidst a changing climate.
More than 70 conservation leaders gathered September 15-16 along the Rocky Mountain Front to learn from projects and programs tied to the Blackfeet Climate Change Adaptation Plan. Along the way, we learned that climate resilience takes many forms, including connecting with land and culture, building and restoring relationships, and regaining human and ecological health. Whether through regenerative grazing, working with beavers, restoring food sovereignty, or recharging wetlands, Tour partners expressed the desire to protect and preserve land and water by fostering relationships and extending Blackfeet culture to future generations.
Our hosts encouraged us to lead with curiosity; to forge reciprocal relationships by sharing our time, skills, and knowledge; and to have patience as we experiment, observe, and try again in our own communities. As local rancher Doug Loring advised: “Don’t think about what you can’t do. Think about what you can do.”
Background
The Rocky Mountain Front lies within the historic and current lands of the Blackfeet Nation. The Blackfeet (Amskapi Piikani) people have cared for this landscape for more than 10,000 years, along with the other three tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy – the Kainai, Siksika, and Piikani Nations. Until European colonization, the Blackfoot Confederacy occupied much of the northern plains across what is now Montana, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, following the seasonal grazing and migration of buffalo (Iinii).
The Blackfeet Nation has developed unique ways of building partnerships and working with the land that are informed by long-standing traditions, current needs, Tribal Government law, and treaties with the U.S. Government. The Blackfeet people continue to use the land for cultural, spiritual, and livelihood purposes while sharing resources with more recent residents. MWCC gratefully acknowledges the example that the Blackfeet people have set, as well as their generosity in sharing their knowledge and work with us.
Presentation Summaries
Welcome and Blessing
The Tour began at All Chief’s Park in Browning with a welcome and ceremonial blessing from Darnell and Smokey Rides at the Door. Through stories, Darnell and Smokey emphasized the deep history and perseverance of the Blackfeet people, as well as the sacredness of land and water throughout the territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy. They welcomed us with an invitation to ask questions, share knowledge, and collaborate for the benefit of current and future generations.
Climate Adaptation Plan Overview and Ksik Stakii (Beaver) Partnership
Termaine Edmo, Climate Change Coordinator for the Blackfeet Environmental Office, spoke about how the Blackfeet Climate Change Adaptation Plan combines Western ways of doing things with Blackfeet ways of knowing and relationships with the natural world. The Plan has eight focus areas: Agriculture, Cultural Resources and Traditions, Fish, Forestry, Human Health, Land and Range, Water, and Wildlife. Termaine noted that partnerships within and outside the Blackfeet Nation have been key to the plan’s successes so far and will continue to be necessary for future work. She recognized the Beaver (Ksik Stakii) as a teacher for humans responding to climate change in our own homes: “The beaver comes in because something is needed here. Drought is here, and we need to store more water.”
Food Sovereignty
Christen Falcon, who works in Indigenous-Led Research and Outreach for the Piikani Lodge Health Institute (PLHI), connected human well-being with care for the land. Starting with her own journey toward physical and spiritual health, Christen defined Food Sovereignty as a way of protecting and preserving the land – including the food and medicine the land provides – by reconnecting with it. “Those plants in the Backbone of the World (what is now Glacier National Park) miss us, because we’re not harvesting them,” she said. “And we miss them.” Christen cited a soon-to-be-expanded pilot study showing that an ancestral Blackfeet diet may lead to physical and emotional healing from intergenerational trauma through the return of cultural identity.
Willow Snow Fence and Wetland Recharge
Tyrel Fenner and Andrew Berger of PLHI shared how they are using traditional knowledge to store water intentionally by building snow fences woven with willow branches. We visited the first willow snow fence behind Browning High School, where three different types of fences (two using Western methods and one using woven willows) were built last year to retain snow in a wetland area that has been drying out. Tyrel, a Hydrologist with PLHI, worked with other Blackfeet conservation leaders and high school students to build the willow snow fence as an example for research and for local landowners to adopt and adapt to their own needs.
Piikani Walking Park
Our visit to the Piikani Walking Park at Blackfeet Community College highlighted climate-related projects from growing native plants in a geothermal greenhouse to a high-intensity regenerative grazing experiment. Although some are already calling the yet-to-be completed path the “Climate Adaptation Park,” presenters along the way emphasized that their work was not necessarily all about climate change. “We’re asking: ‘What works for this land? What works for these animals?” said Latrice Tatsey, a soil scientist for PLHI who is managing the grazing experiment. The project will provide soil health data to support PLHI’s existing regenerative grazing programs, but for Latrice it’s also all about her relationships with the animals that use the land – whether they are bison or cattle or goats. Also along the walk, we learned about plans to revegetate the completed path with native edible and medicinal plants, and how Blackfeet Community College is incorporating the various projects into classroom lessons.
Land Stewardship at the Loring Ranch
Rancher Doug Loring took us on a tour of his 80-acre ranch and gardens outside Cut Bank. Doug offered us warm hospitality and an inside look at what it means to steward land, animals, and plants in a way that will provide for future generations of his family. This includes regenerative cattle grazing, growing organic alfalfa, expanding his home garden with a new greenhouse, making and using biochar, bringing in goats for weed management, making herbal remedies and tinctures from native plants, and incorporating Hugelkultur – mounded, raised beds that can break
down even sticks, logs, and animal carcasses. Always experimenting, Doug believes that learning from the land and building good relationships within his community are the most valuable part of his agricultural practices.
Tour Impacts
To wrap up the tour, we gathered to share stories and discuss ways to support one another in our drought and climate response work. Christen Falcon of PLHI emphasized the importance of continuing to work together beyond the tour. “A lot of what we do, it feels like we do on our own,” she told tour participants while explaining the need for ongoing support of Blackfeet conservation efforts. “This doesn’t just matter to us as Indigenous people. This affects you and your kids and your grandkids, too.”
In response to the question: “How has this experience impacted you personally and professionally,” tour participants expressed the following:
- Opening our minds and imaginations to answer the question: “What is possible?”
- Remembering that stories are non-linear – and often messy – and that it’s important to be more inclusive of that messiness. As one participant noted: “If someone goes off on a tangent, it’s probably because they’re sharing something important that we didn’t think to ask.”
- The importance of focusing on quality over quantity in our work
- Learning new ways of innovating and observing change in our work
- Learning from our failures as much as from our successes
- Being reminded of the need to fund creative ideas and then allow enough time for those ideas to fully evolve
- Remaining curious about what other cultures and communities are doing to respond to drought and climate change
Thanking our Sponsors
MWCC thanks the following sponsors for their generous contributions that supported this event: