A Relational Approach to Environmental Assessments

In 2023, a rare earth mine was proposed in the Sheep Creek area in the Bitterroot National Forest - the heart of aboriginal Sqelixʷ territory. For decades, extractive projects like mining have been implemented with little concern to the sociocultural impacts of associated Indigenous communities.

M&N Wildlife, LLC partnered with the Séliš-Ql̓ispé Culture Committee, the Indigenous Research Center, and multiple non-governmental organizations to change this. We led the charge to develop an environmental assessment of the watershed that considered water quality, fish communities, aquatic macroinvertebrate communities, rare carnivore occupancy, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and cultural significance. This assessment followed rigorous quantitative and statistically sound protocols associated with western-based science as well as the relational approach integral to Indigenous research methods and methodologies.

This work embodies an important paradigm shift felt by western scholars everywhere as non-tribal agencies and organizations increasingly work to establish and strengthen relationships with tribal partners. All work associated with this project was subject to IRB and RRB review and approval.