Tanikwah Lang picked her way through wilting wildflowers, holding a mist net high above the tallgrass to avoid getting it tangled. It was June 2023 and her first day in the field conducting research at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, on the lands of Anishinaabe, Miami, and other Indigenous peoples, just outside Chicago.

Bison milled about the prairie, the result of a reintroduction effort that started a decade ago, but Lang was in search of a smaller species. She was netting and tagging yellow-bellied Eastern meadowlarks to determine how the grassland songbirds respond to different prairie-restoration efforts, such as prescribed burning.

Working alongside a PhD student, she gently untangled the birds from the nets before fitting them with what Lang describes as “little GPS backpacks” that would collect data on the birds’ movement and behavior in areas where bison grazed. Lang, who is a member of the Klamath Tribes, had no sooner finished her junior year of college than she drove from Oregon to Illinois to take part in the Native American Research Assistantship (NARA) program.

The initiative, a collaboration between the Forest Service and The Wildlife Society (TWS), has been part of a greater push in recent years to create pipelines for Native youth to enter conservation fields. The NARA program was initially envisioned as a way to attract applicants from Indigenous communities and to fill field-technician roles within the agency. Other efforts have focused more on the conservation corps model, placing participants in crew-based and individual-placement work in trail construction, habitat restoration, and invasive species removal.

Lang had experience working with her own tribe to restore aquatic resources, and jumped at the opportunity to conduct research around an animal as revered as bison. “In the application, I got to specify which projects I was most interested in,” she said. “And, obviously, anytime you hear bison, you think, ‘Oh, that’s awesome.’”

She was paired with Susannah Lerman, a Forest Service research ecologist who has mentored multiple researchers as part of NARA. Established in 2014, the program enables undergraduate and graduate students to gain experience in natural resource- and conservationrelated fields by assisting in research projects alongside Forest Service scientists.

Since its inception, the program has trained 33 students, two of whom participated twice. Participants have engaged in projects ranging from evaluating the impacts of climate change on Hawaiian stream ecology to detecting the pregnancy status of wolverines and Canada lynx.

“It’s a good space for Native students to get their first exposure to the Forest Service because they’re partnered on a project that a tribe has identified, or they’re working with a species that may be culturally significant,” said Serra Hoagland (Laguna Pueblo), a wildlife biologist with Forest Service who has mentored several NARA participants.

Lang’s trajectory since the prairie study led her to Rome, Italy, when she was invited to the 2023 UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum. She is currently at the University of Wisconsin pursuing a graduate degree in agroecology, a sustainable farming practice that combines ecological and social principles to manage food systems, with a focus on Indigenous food sovereignty. Her mentor, Lerman, encouraged her to apply for both opportunities, she said.

"Without this internship, I would definitely not be where I am today, obtaining my master’s degree and doing really important work that is near and dear to my heart.”

-Tanikwah Lang, a former participant of the NARA program

“Without this internship, I would definitely not be where I am today, obtaining my master’s degree and doing really important work that is near and dear to my heart,” Lang said.

According to an informal review of the academic and professional pursuits to date of former participants, 14 of NARA’s 33 alumni are pursuing work or study in wildlife or conservation-related fields. At least 11 of those in a related field currently work for a tribe, federal agency, nonprofit, or private company. Several are pursuing graduate degrees, three of which are focused on wildlife biology or ecology.

Wildlife biologist Nekai Eversole, who took part in NARA in 2017, was recently tapped to lead the climate change program for the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife. Following his internship in 2023, Ryan Matilton began working with the Yurok Tribe to manage habitat for threatened and endangered species, such as the California condor.

Offering paid, technical internships in a highly competitive field sets NARA apart from other opportunities aimed at Indigenous youth, a number of which are focused more on skills training under the conservation corps model.

These initiatives are less costly and aren’t as tied to shifting federal funding. For one, Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps, a program from the organization Conservation Legacy, has supported more than 2,500 participants since its inception in 2008.

Rather than engaging youth through research assistantships, the program focuses on providing hands-on training through service projects.

In recent years, its focus on long-term career development has expanded with the addition of training and certification schemes. More than 160 participants have taken part in the organization’s individual-placement program since its start in 2020, participating in internships with partnering tribes and agencies.

Its success, according to Ancestral Lands’ Executive Director Chas Robles, comes down to working within communities. “Other programs that have recruited Native young folks have had a lot of success, but there were barriers to participation, primarily the distance that folks had to travel,” said Robles. The program now has five offices on or near Tribal lands across New Mexico and Arizona.

Just as important to creating opportunities for Native people in conservation-related professions is integrating more Indigenous knowledge into climate change adaptation and land-management practices.

“The NARA program showcases the mutual benefit in sharing natural resource management and conservation knowledge between federal agencies, such as the Forest Service and Native American communities,” said Patrice Klein, a fish and wildlife health veterinarian in the Forest Service who oversees the NARA Program.

"NARA has evolved into this opportunity to increase awareness of traditional ecological knowledge in wildlife and forest management.”

-Cameron Kovach, chief program officer at The Wildlife Society

“It’s evolved into this opportunity to increase awareness of traditional ecological knowledge in wildlife and forest management,” said Cameron Kovach, chief program officer at The Wildlife Society.

Donate to the Wood for Life program, a collaboration between the NFF, Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps, and the Forest Service, at nationalforests.org/wood-for-life. The initiative provides sustainable sources of firewood to local communities and bolsters forest-restoration efforts.

About the Author

Mark Armao (Diné/Navajo) is a writer and fact-checker who hails from the high desert in northern Arizona and resides in California. His work frequently explores environmental issues on Native lands.

Cover photo of wildflowers in bloom on Illinois’ Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. Photo by U.S. Forest Service

Want to receive to physical copy of Light & Seed™ in your mailbox? Become an annual donor of $25 or more to start receiving your copy twice a year.