Strengthening Educational and CULTURAL PARTNERSHIPS

BUILDING ON A LONG history of collaboration, Cal Poly Humboldt and the area's Tribal communities are forging new partnerships by expanding work and educational opportunities for Native people, strengthening the management of cultural resources, and improving resilience for the North Coast.

Humboldt’s Northern California service area includes the unceded territories of 13 Tribal Nations, each with its own governing body and structures. To help better engage with Tribal communities, former Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson, Jr. appointed Adrienne Colegrove-Raymond as special assistant to the president for Tribal & Community Engagement in Spring 2022.

In this position, Colegrove-Raymond, a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, helps develop collaborative partnerships in the community while leading key initiatives. She is also the President's Office’s primary liaison for select campus committees, external partnerships, and collaborations.

Colegrove-Raymond is an alumna (‘04, MBA) with deep ties to local Native Tribes, Cal Poly Humboldt, and the North Coast. For more than 15 years, she has supported the success of underrepresented students of all backgrounds through a variety of important roles on campus.

Part of the importance of this new position, Colegrove-Raymond explains, is councils, Tribal chairs, and University administrators change over time. “We’re trying to add stability with this position to navigate when these changes happen and provide continuity long into the future,” she says.

She says the University has opened its doors to Tribal leadership, receiving requests and proposals rather than trying to impose ideas or solutions. Outreach includes administrators attending cultural events, visiting Tribal lands, and other activities to build trusting relationships.

Jackson created a joint Native American advisory council with Cal Poly Humboldt, College of the Redwoods (CR), and North Coast Tribes in recognition of Tribal sovereignty. The group meets annually, and Jackson and CR President Keith Flamer also separately attended the Northern California Chairs Association. These meetings and the conversations they generate helped Jackson and Flamer understand what Tribes need when it comes to serving their students and communities.

Colegrove-Raymond has helped Tribes develop official agreements called Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the University. “The goal is for the University and Tribes to become partners in strengthening educational opportunities that benefit everyone involved,” she says. “Some Tribes have felt for the first time comfortable entering into an MOU with the University. They appreciate that the partnership is ongoing and the importance of updating them by including addendums to increase the value of the MOUs.”

The Yurok Tribe was the first to approach the University, wanting to focus on workforce development to make sure Native students and Tribal members were well-positioned with new industries coming to the area, including wind energy and aquaculture.

Additionally, the Hoopa Valley Tribe signed an MOU specifying a focus on infrastructure in the Hoopa Valley, particularly related to renewable energy and energy resilience. They also want to increase the rates of their students who transfer from CR to Humboldt and expand Native youth summer camps and youth outreach.

Trinidad Rancheria’s MOU focuses on preserving culturally important species and marine restoration. The Rancheria wants to strengthen its Marina and Trinidad properties and has asked for co-management of some spaces with the University, relying on faculty expertise.

Colegrove-Raymond’s work also entails tracking enrollment of Native students and their progress through the University, particularly in STEM fields. Following a dip in Native enrollment during the pandemic, the University is looking to increase Native enrollment, not just in California but in states beyond.

The new First Start funding will increase outreach to Native foster youth to help build cohorts that are ready to enter college. The University is also looking at building more athletic summer camps to attract Native youth. New sports like wrestling and rodeo may attract more students as well, Colegrove-Raymond says.

Blue Lake Rancheria, the U.S. Department of Education's TRIO Talent Search, and Cal Poly Humboldt's Indian Tribal & Educational Personnel Program (ITEPP) developed new dual-enrollment classes for high school students to gain college credit. Tribes provided funding to develop classes for local and nonlocal Native students on subjects like Native American studies, fisheries, environment, and community.

ITEPP and Native American Studies also partnered with the UC Davis Medical School on a post-baccalaureate program. Every year, Humboldt students who are on a pre-med track will get support to prepare for the MCAT and, if successful, will be able to transfer into the UC Davis medical program.

The University’s successful Place-Based Learning Communities, which helps first-year students connect to their faculty, peers, and the community, has received support from Tribes. "They have shared information from Tribal members and lands for learning and has introduced students to indigenous ideology," Colegrove-Raymond says. “They’re offering a lot to our campus at large.”

Tribes also offer job placements for graduates and current students, and Tribes are often on the cutting edge of science, industry, and local issues, including dam removal, fisheries, aquaculture, renewable energy, energy resilience, and climate change.

Many faculty projects rely on good working relationships with Tribes and Tribal lands. The project to remove four dams on the Klamath River and the ongoing restoration of the watershed is one example of an area where Humboldt and Tribal scientists are working closely together.

As one of history’s largest dam removals, the project will have historic impacts on a variety of issues, including wildlife, water quality, cultural resources, economics, and much more. Researchers are working hard on projects up and down the river to understand what happens as the dams are removed.

For example, Wildlife graduate student Ryan Matilton, in a collaboration between Humboldt, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department, and the U.S. Forest Service, is studying the activities of bat species at a number of points along the river.

The University’s Schatz Energy Research Center has worked on energy issues with local Tribes for more than 20 years.

The Schatz Center collaborated with Blue Lake Rancheria to build its innovative microgrid, which provides energy during county-wide outages, crucial to community safety and resilience. It’s also now helping to develop a microgrid project in the Hoopa Valley to provide energy resilience along the Trinity and Klamath rivers, a project that would benefit the Hoopa, Karuk, and Yurok Tribal communities in the area.

In July 2023, through a historic acquisition, the Wiyot Tribe gained back Tribal stewardship of a 46-acre coastal property in the ecologically and culturally significant Wiyot place of Mouralherwaqh or “wolf’s house.”

Under Wiyot Tribe leadership and stewardship, the site will be prioritized for ecocultural restoration. The property is located near what is currently known as King Salmon at the base of Humboldt Hill and represents the first forestland to be returned to the Tribe. The acquisition project was conceived and led by the Wiyot Tribe with supporting partnerships from Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt Baykeeper, and Friends of the Dunes.

Improving relationships and being a good neighbor is a priority for the University, Colegrove-Raymond says. “It’s ongoing work—we’re never finished.”