2013
2nd Annual Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples Lecture: In 2012, the University of Oregon hosted a student-focused symposium on indigenous peoples and climate change, which sparked great interest among students, faculty and community members. On April 10, 2013, the University hosted the second annual Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples keynote lecture in the Many Nations Longhouse at 6:30 pm. This lecture was part of the University of Oregon Climate Change Research Symposium, which also took place on April 10, 2013 from 8:30 am – 5:00 pm. All events were free and open to the public. Keynote Presenters in 2012 were: Dr. Frank Kanawha Lake, Research Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station and Kyle Powys Whyte, Michigan State University.
Dr. Frank Kanawha Lake, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
Frank Lake works for the USDA Forest Service-Pacific Southwest Research Station, Fire and Fuels Program, on tribal and community forestry and related natural resource issues. His research focuses on restoration ecology and traditional ecological knowledge related to tribal management and fire ecology of forest, grassland and riparian environments of the southern Pacific Northwest and northern California, with an emphasis on the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion. His research interests include ethnobotany and fire management related to how fire affects culturally significant habitats or species.
Frank has worked as a fisheries habitat biologist in Southwest Oregon and in Northwestern California. He served as a fisheries biologist on DOI-BIA Burn Area Emergency Repair team in 1999 and as a USFS resource advisor working with tribes on wildfires in 2006 and 2008 in Northwestern California. He serves as a faculty member for the National Advanced Fire and Resource Institute (NAFRI) for the Rx 510 Advanced Fire Effects, and S-482 Advanced Fire Management Applications courses. Other activities have included being an ethno-ecologist and socio-cultural consultant for cultural and natural history, community forestry and forest certification projects. Frank received a Ph.D. from Oregon State University, Environmental Sciences Program in 2007 and a B.S. from University of California-Davis (1995) in Integrated Ecology and Culture with a minor in Native American Studies.
Dr. Kyle Powys Whyte, Michigan State University
Kyle Whyte is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University and affiliated faculty for Peace and Justice Studies, Environmental Science and Policy, the Center for Regional Food Systems, Animal Studies and American Indian Studies. He is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Dr. Whyte writes on environmental justice, the philosophy of technology and American Indian philosophy. His most recent research addresses moral and political issues concerning climate change impacts on Indigenous peoples. His articles have appeared in journals such as Synthese, Human Ecology, Journal of Global Ethics, American Journal of Bioethics, Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Ethics, Philosophy & Technology, Ethics, Policy & Environment, Environmental Justice, and Continental Philosophy Review. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Spencer Foundation. He is a member of the American Philosophical Association Committee on Public Philosophy, Michigan Environmental Justice Work Group, and co-Chair for the annual Growing Our Food System conference in Lansing, Michigan.
Kyle is currently the principal investigator of Manajiwin: Respecting Tribes and First Nations in Environmental Management. The project addresses natural resource and environmental issues like climate change that have impacts across broad geographic areas and require cross-boundary management approaches. The goal is to develop a set of well-tested principles and/or frameworks for the robust, authentic inclusion of tribes, first nations and intertribal organizations in multi-party, regional resource management issues. The findings aim to strengthen tribal and first nation roles in these regional issues by demonstrating the cooperative principles that lead to desirable outcomes and characteristics or behaviors that sometimes lead to poor outcomes. The project evaluates cooperation involving tribes and first nations in the Great Lakes region.
