The Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network (KSON) is committed to meaningful engagement and collaboration with Tribes and tribal communities. This Tribal Engagement Strategy invites tribal members and tribal affiliates with ancestral ties to the geography to participate in project work as working group members, ecocultural specialists, and cultural and tribal ambassadors.

The Tribal Engagement Strategy for KSON’s Upper Rogue Oak Initiative is a foundational document guiding meaningful collaboration with Tribal Nations, tribal communities, and Indigenous cultural practitioners in the oak ecosystems of southern Oregon and northern California. Developed through the Inter-Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Partnership (ITERP), Lomakatsi Restoration Project serves as the lead author and facilitator, working closely with tribal leaders and KSON partners to shape a strategy rooted in ecocultural values and collaborative decision-making.

The Tribal Engagement Strategy serves as a guide for planning and implementing successful ecological restoration initiatives, long-term partnerships, and community resilience strategies. The strategy outlines strategic goals, guiding objectives, core deliverables, success indicators, partner roles, and best practices for building and sustaining relationships with Tribes and Tribal communities who hold ancestral ties to the area. The strategy reaffirms a commitment to integrating cultural stewardship approaches into conservation implementation, ensuring that tribal participation is appropriately funded, and designing restoration efforts that produce ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic benefits for tribal communities.

The document also provides a framework for forming Initiative-based Inter-Tribal Advisory Committees (ITACs), establishing Tribal Engagement Working Groups, and coordinating listening sessions, field reviews, and co-designed restoration activities and materials. It includes background on Indigenous oak stewardship, the impacts of colonization, and pathways for collaborative co-management of ecocultural systems based on Lomakatsi’s Collaborative Framework Model. By centering Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge, the Tribal Engagement Strategy guides the advancement of ecological resilience, cultural revitalization, and long-term partnerships across the KSON landscape.

Developed in partnership with tribal leaders and KSON partners, led by Lomakatsi Restoration Project.

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