The National Forest Foundation is working with the Flathead National Forest, Salish & Kootenai College Forestry Department (SKC), and Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribal Forestry on a program to employ SKC students in cross-boundary stewardship of the Mission Mountain range.
The Mission Mountain Divide makes up the eastern boundary of the Flathead Indian Reservation. The east side of the Mission Range is managed by the U.S. Forest Service as Federally recognized Wilderness. The west side of the range is managed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes as Tribal Wilderness.
Through this program, students gain skills and professional experience in the field of conservation and natural resource management. By maintaining trails, removing invasive plant species, conducting cultural resource surveys, and engaging in vegetation management such as whitebark pine recovery, students are contributing to meaningful on-the-ground restoration actions. Over the course of the program, students are given educational opportunities to learn about native people’s historic uses of the landscape, traditions, and stories of the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreille people.