TRIBAL COLLABORATION

Partnering with the Yurok Tribe

The Yurok traditional homelands are at the mouth of the Klamath River, and their economic livelihood and cultural identity have been intertwined with riverine and nearshore fisheries (e.g., Chinook and Coho salmon, steelhead, lamprey, eulachon, sturgeon) for many generations. As part of the Community Experiences and Knowledge Co-production efforts of this project, ethnographic interviews and surveys are being conducted by Yurok Tribal members and employees. These interviews and surveys have been adapted to collect similar information to the other groups in the Community Experiences survey in a way that is culturally-appropriate and does not lose the richness of Indigenous knowledge.

Collaborators worked to create a Sovereign Data Sharing Agreement and data security plan that protects sensitive Tribal knowledge. This process was extremely important in building trust and helped identify places where rigid views of intellectual ownership that exist in western science were counterproductive. Some aspects of the agreement involved:

• Identifying what information was covered under the agreement: All data, information, discussions, analysis, memoranda, presentations, work product, and documents which are provided, discovered, developed, or prepared by, for, or during the Project by any party.

• Defining what we mean by “Data” and “Information:” A. Quantitative facts that are collected for reference or analysis, statistical sets, technical specifications, computer software, and mathematical works; and, B. Qualitative information that cannot be counted, measured, or easily expressed using numbers, but lists, describes, or approximates qualities or characteristics, whether objective or subjective /static or relational, in a narrative format.

• Outlining the process by which Tribal leaders will review and classify research products. The Cultural Resources Department works with Tribal researchers to classify information into three categories: Public, Protected, and Confidential.

2024 update

In 2024, four Yurok high school students particpated as summer field interns with the Ecology team. Interviews and surveys are ongoing and are expected to be completed by February 2025. A working group will be convened with Tribal participants in spring 2025. Tribal and OSU researchers are working together to oversee the production of research products of value to Tribal members. K-12 educational materials are under development.

Learning lessons in cross-cultural collaboration

As Ron Reed (Karuk Tribe) reminds us, “Collaboration is required to do anything good in this world.” However, cross-discipline and cross-culture collaborations often come with challenges as people attempt new things. We admit to stumbling a bit as we have navigated new spaces with the Tribes in the Klamath Basin. Some of the most important lessons that we’ve learned from working with the Tribes include:

• Reciprocity is essential. The collaboration needs to have clear benefits to the health and wellness of all partners.
• Tribal partners can drive research ideas and questions so the relationships should be established well before the project ideas are materialized.
• Administrators and administrative rules can be some of the largest hurdles to dynamic and innovative collaborations.
• Schedules and approaches have to be adapted, which involves a lot of communication, patience, and humility.
• Trust and friendship matter. A lot.
• Emphasis on youth, both for their involvement and their stake in the future.

Read more about some of our lessons learned in our 2024 paper on Knowledge Co-Production, co-authored with Brook Thompson (Yurok Tribe) here.

Yurok Tribal partners

Barry McCovey
Senior Fisheries Biologist
Yurok Tribe
Project sub-teams: Socio-cultural
Email: bmccovey@yuroktribe.nsn.us