ESA - SEEDS: Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity and Sustainability

SEEDS » Component Programs » Chapters » Chapter Directory » United Tribes Technical College

"UTTC SEEDS Chapter" » Bismarck, North Dakota

The United Tribes Student Chapter provides opportunities for underrepresented minority undergraduates of United Tribes Technical College to experience active solution-based research in ecology while interacting with positive role models and mentors.

Plans for 2008-2009

April Little Ghost is our new Student Campus Representative. She will lead the chapter to work even more actively with other campus organizations to reduce energy consumption, expand the recycling program, and explore opportunities to deploy alternative (renewable) energy sources such as solar heating units, photovoltaic cells, and wind turbines. We will also work closely with other organizations to more closely monitor waste generation, improve energy consumption auditing and monitoring, and landscape the campus to provide a living laboratory as well as providing more natural habitat for wildlife.

Activities of 2007-2008

Lisa Colombe, Primary Chapter Advisor, resigned from her position at the college , so Mike Collins resumed responsibility for advising. The United Tribes SEEDS Student Chapter works with and supports the activities of the Faculty and staff, campus Green Committee, the Campus Climate Challenge “Green Team”. as well as, Land Grant Committee, and Facilities and Maintenance Departments to ecologically educate students/faculty/staff and assist in reducing the “Ecological Footprint𔄙 of UTTC.
The SEEDS chapter consists of student members interested in ecology from all areas of vocation education at UTTC. The chapter also includes approximately 10 UTTC staff members and local volunteers/environmental professionals.
May 2005 - May 1, 2006: Overall, the SEEDS Chapter on United Tribes Technical College Campus has been devoting their meeting and activity time toward assisting other campus environmental goals and objectives. Activities include planning and design of nature/wellness trail incorporating it into the capus master plan. External funding for the 1.8 mile trail is being sought. Meetings have been held monthly work of the cooperating organizations, groups, and departments has resulted in plantings and placement of additional educational signs on campus which inidentify and describe various existing and new native plants and trees. The nature/wellness trail pavement planning has targeted additional funding sources and SEEDS chapter moved ahead with additional tree plantings in April 2007.
June, 2007 Micki Lindeman attended the SEEDS fieldtrip to the Konza Tallgrass Prairie LTER in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
September, 2007: Chapter members attended a 3-day conference , Tribal College Forum 6, hosted by UTTC, USGS, and NativeView. Several students gave oral presentations and presented posters of their undergraduate research projects. Winona LaDuke and an organization called Tree, Water, People out of Boulder, CO, came to campus and presented a solar heating workshop which culminated with the installation of a demonstration solar heating panel on one of our student family housing units. We are working with the facilities department to get the necessary metering installed to quantify the energy savings associated with the unit. If the winter heating costs are reduced by the anticipated 15 to 20 %, the Facilities Department will seriously consider installing similar panels on all 46 housing units.
March 2008: Chapter members participated in the Annual AIHEC student conference hosted by the North Dakota Tribal Colleges. In all, there were 38 tribal colleges and an estimated 1,200 attendees. Our chapter members competed in a variety of competitions.; most notably the Science Bowl, where we won second place.
May, 2008: We had four of our members graduate with their AAS degrees in Tribal Environmental Science. One, Elisha Yellow Thunder, graduated with honors. Six of our our members were awarded summer research internships at regional USDA Agricultural Stations for the Summer.

Faculty Advisors

Jennifer Janecek-Hartman
Rebekah Olson
Mandy Guinn

"United Tribes Wellness Pathway" Special Project

The primary purpose of this project was to complete the initial phase of the United Tribes Wellness Pathway, a 1.86 mile long combined walking path, nature trail and fitness course. This is a combined project sponsored by several campus organizations including the UTTC Green Committee, the ESA SEEDS Chapter, the AISES Student Chapter, and the Tribal Environmental Science vocational club.

SEEDS Special Project funding assisted in the implementation of Traditional Plains American Indian Plant Ecology curriculum within our Tribal Environmental Science degree program. In addition, the project provided materials and supplies for outdoor lab activities in ecology, research, and range management courses. This project completed the initial phase of the United Tribes Wellness Pathway.

The first phase of native plantings was completed on UTTC Campus in April 2006. 22 Colorado Blue Spruce, 22 Black Hills Spruce, and 4 Ponderosa Pine were planted to expand the existing evergreen shelterbelt near the entrance on campus and also around the Tribal Environmental Science Building #35. Native Sweetgrass was planted outside Building #35 in garden barrels and within the UTTC Medicine Wheel near Administration Building. SEEDS students/volunteers involved: Micki Lindeman, Marla Collins, Lisa Colombe, Martina McKinney, Richard White Jr, Helen Reed, Ron Campbell, and the UTTC Maintenance Department. Anne Kyper, UTTC Instructor and horticulturist, also planted numerous flower and native plantings throughout campus entrance, buildings, and walkways.

Native rangeland plants including big/little bluestem, prairie cord grass, sideoats, blue gramma, Indiangrass, purple coneflower, western wheatgrass, needle and thread grass, leadplant, and switchgrass were planted in range demonstration boxes located behind the personnel office on the UTTC Campus. The purpose of this demonstration is not only campus beautification, but to provide outdoor educational display of plants native to the Missouri River Watershed. This range box was a project in partnership with USDA Bismarck Plant Materials Center, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The SEEDS Chapter also implemented a successful campus community garden located near the Art/Art Marketing Building. The community garden was maintained and harvested by UTTC students and staff on a volunteer basis. UTTC Nokotas on the Prairie Camp for tribal youth was held on campus in June 2006. Approximately 25 youth and 6 staff members utilized the garden for educational activities such as plant growth, maintenance, and identification. In addition, students learned the values of gardening and soil quality.

Ecological Society of America

SEEDS » Component Programs » Chapters » Chapter Directory » United Tribes Technical College

"UTTC SEEDS Chapter" » Bismarck, North Dakota