Collaborative research in the Klamath River Basin to support Tribal food security and access to cultural foods

Native Americans make up less than 2% of the U.S. population but suffer from some of the highest rates of food insecurity, poverty, diet-related diseases, and other socioeconomic challenges. Community led efforts to support Tribal wellbeing through ecocultural revitalization of Indigenous landscapes, youth programs, strengthening family bonds, and practicing hunting, gathering, or fishing, have challenged conventional approaches to the mitigation of environmental and social challenges. In this seminar, I detail my collaborative research and outreach work with Tribes in the Klamath River Basin over the past six-years, highlighting novel assessment of Native American food security in the context of cultural tribal resources and native food systems and agroecosystem resilience in Tribal gathering areas vulnerable to climate change and a century of fire exclusion. I share my experience leading community outreach and project management tasks and conclude with potential contributions to the POLARIS team and project.

Speaker Dr. Megan Mucioki is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. Megan’s research engages Indigenous and rural communities in food- and seed-focused research that informs the in-situ conservation of traditional food plants and explores relationships between traditional foods and household seed and food security. Her research aims to support more equitable food and seed policies and systems for communities. Megan holds a Ph.D. in Plant Science from McGill University, where she studied informal seed systems and seed security in rural Kenya, as well as a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria in British Columbia.