Last updated: March 2, 2022
Article
Indian Creek Community Forest: Creating a Space for Connection
By Laura Watt
Nearly 12,000 years ago indigenous people lived along the Pend Oreille River in what is now Washington and Idaho. French-Canadian fur traders were the first non-indigenous people to arrive in the area followed by settlers who mined gold and other materials in the 1850s.
The Kalispel Tribe saw how settlement in the area as well as the development of a railroad and Albeni Falls Dam altered their homeland forever. The dam prevented native fish from migrating, eliminating trout populations and severing the tribe’s connection to its most important fishery.
However, in 1992 the Kalispel Tribe established the Kalispel Natural Resources Department with a mission to “safeguard natural and cultural resources for the health and well-being of Kalispel people.” The tribe implemented the first of several federal wildlife mitigation projects to protect and restore wetland habitats permanently flooded by the dam and has since secured management rights on nearly 3,100 acres of wildlife habitat.
Mitigation efforts increased in 2012, when the Kalispel Tribe entered a Memorandum of Agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation. The agreement provides the tribe with nearly $40 million over a 10-year period to meet the federal agencies’ obligations under the Northwest Power Act and Endangered Species Act. The funding covers a variety of projects that benefit native fish, improve wildlife habitat and provide opportunities to acquire land.
One such project is the 350-acre Indian Creek Community Forest the tribe acquired located south of the Kalispel Reservation about 60 miles north of Spokane, Washington.
An initial management plan was created in 2016 in which the Kalispel Natural Resources Department took over day-to-day management of the forest. Two of the first projects at the community forest were to establish a native plant nursery and test modern forestry techniques. Additional early projects included the development of the first part of an interpretive trail with native trees and shrubs completed in 2016 and the construction of a fish pond for tribal use which opened in 2017.
In 2017, the Kalispel Natural Resources Department reached out to the National Park Service - Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program to help create an action plan for education and recreation at the Indian Creek Community Forest. Together they designed a plan to engage the broader community and formed an advisory committee to implement the plan and care for the forest in the long term.
“They said, we have this property and we want to offer it out to the broader community. How can people use this piece of land?” said Stephanie Stroud, a project specialist with the National Park Service who collaborated on the project. “It’s a real gem for folks in this area. The tribe thought it could be a gathering place, an asset as an outdoor classroom, a place for the tribe to share their heritage. They weren’t sure how to get started.”
Participants from the local community were invited to monthly meetings to share their skills and expertise, gather ideas and help make decisions for the Indian Creek Community Forest. They were tasked with protecting the forest while finding ways to make it a more special and relevant place for the entire community.
“We decided to have community workshops and do a couple of surveys, so we could gauge what the community’s priorities were,” Stroud said. “After the community engagement process we saw potential connections to Forest Service projects. There was a lot of interest in creating interpretive trails. We took all those ideas and came up with short-term, mid-term and long-term possibilities.”
Mike Lithgow, the information and outreach coordinator for the Kalispel Tribe Natural Resources Department, had previously worked with the National Park Service on the development of the Pend Oreille River Trail.
“They [the National Park Service – Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program] provide the horsepower for a small community on limited budgets,” Lithgow said. “The tribe has a vision, they have a dream. But they need that support - somebody to give some framework, with technical planning skills to bring to the table. They know how to get people to collaborate. The Park Service people have the skills and the personalities to really get people off their positions and focus on their shared interests. It’s a really powerful program.”
In the summer of 2018, more than 70 community members attended an open house at Indian Creek Community Forest to review the draft action plan that was developed with input from the workshops and surveys. Participants were provided the opportunity to review the plan and participate in a number of activities including tree climbing, an interpretive hike, a planetarium show, a raffle, and solar and star gazing.
Ideas generated for the community forest at the open house included: integrating Native American culture into programming and site design; creating accessible walking and hiking trails with interpretation; hosting volunteer and job-skill building opportunities; providing hands-on educational opportunities for all age groups on topics such as forest management and fire prevention; hosting regular community events; and identifying ways to connect with young people.
For Alex Stone, a project specialist with the National Park Service who worked on the action plan, it was the people committed to the project who impressed her the most.
“Mike Lithgow knew our program. We had confidence in his capacity. He really pulled together the community and the resources. That sense of community was the first thing that impressed me,” Stone said.
Once the workshops, surveys and open house were completed, Stone facilitated a group of landscape architecture students from the University of Washington to help develop a final plan. The next phase of the project will be the implementation of the Indian Creek Community Forest Action Plan that was completed earlier this year.
“This is an easy project to love,” Lithgow said. “It’s a way the tribe can show its hospitality and be inclusive, and share their heritage.”
Though their homeland has undergone significant changes in the past two centuries, the Kalispel Tribe is hopeful for the present and future of the land their ancestors called home. Through the Indian Creek Community Forest, the tribe hopes to share their culture, provide educational and recreational opportunities, lead visitors to a better appreciation of the natural world and strengthen the social connections within the community.