Funded Projects
Exploring Prescribed Fire Perceptions in Washington State
About this project
Prescribed fire is an important tool for mitigating catastrophic fire risk, promoting healthier forests, and supporting community and Tribal land stewardship in Washington (WA). Scaling up prescribed fire requires public support, a potential barrier that can be better understood with statewide survey data. This project will conduct the first statewide survey of WA residents’ perceptions of prescribed fire, developed in partnership with the Washington Prescribed Fire Council (WPFC).
Fish, Fire, Food, and Floodplains: Healing Place and People
Overview:
This project, inspired by the Klamath Tribal members of the Ambodat Department, focuses on addressing the interconnected challenges in the Upper Klamath Basin in south-central Oregon. Key issues include water shortages, toxic algae, endangered sucker fish, vulnerable salmon, and habitat degradation, all of which threaten the resilience of the ecosystem and the communities dependent on it. These problems are exacerbated by historical land use practices such as fire suppression and water diversion.
From Risk to Resilience: Connecting Communities to Coastal Hazards through Interactive and Immersive Design
A web search of ‘sea level rise news’ yields a range of alarming headlines. What these headlines don’t capture is the nature of on-the-ground dialogue happening in states, counties, and cities that are actively working to adapt to rising seas. These are the sea level rise stories of hope and action.
In order to increase awareness and use of this science by Washington communities and decision-makers, the Climate Impacts Group, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), Seattle Public Library and Seattle-based data visualization company Tableau have teamed up to create more engaging, immersive and interactive tools to help tell the stories of the science, risks and realities of regional sea level rise to a range of audiences.
Healing Amazonian Soils with Science and Indigenous Artisanry: Implementing Community-Based Composting System in the Urban Amazon
Overview:
Iquitos, a city with half a million people in the Peruvian Amazon, faces significant waste management challenges. With an unreliable waste collection system, waste accumulation negatively impacts ecosystems, public health, and water sources, particularly affecting vulnerable Indigenous communities living on river floodplains. 60% of this waste is organic and compostable. This project, a collaboration between a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Peruvian researchers, young activist residents from Iquitos, and the Kukama Indigenous community, aims to design and implement a city-wide composting system to address these issues.
Hunting for Healing: An Academic and Colville Nation Collaboration Seeking to Examine Traditional Food Sources in Light of Environmental Changes
Awarded Project Overview
April 2022
About the Project:
This project is a collaborative partnership between academic researchers and the Confederated Colville Nation to explore the intersections of traditional food justice, health, and climate change. The team is led by Dr. Derek Jennings (Anishinaabe Sac & Fox, Degiha Sioux Quapaw) and Dr. Michael Spencer (Kānaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian) in partnership with Confederated Colville Nation Traditional Territories Advisor, John Sirios (Colville).
In the Hands of Future Generations: Tribal Youth and UW Students Responding to Climate Grief through Restoration Action, Research, and Video Storytelling
About the Project:
Through a UW-Chief Leschi Schools (CLS) collaboration over two years, one of the central concerns that emerged among Puyallup and Nisqually community members was a recognition that their children were increasingly disconnected from traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), environmental stewardship roles, and are suffering from climate grief – a sense of dread about the future. This project, a collaboration between the University of Washington (UW) and Chief Leschi Schools (CLS), aims to reconnect Puyallup and Nisqually youth with traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and address climate grief experienced by Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.
Increasing Environmental Connection, Literacy and Engagement through an Art + Science Collaborative Education Practice
Project Update
November 2023
Over the past few months the Art + Science group have been working on logistics, program content scaffolding, and cohort parameters to maximize the experience for our students. We’ve met monthly to plan content and build community learning about the working expertise of our team members. Working together we have identified core content for the intertidal ecology portion of learning and will use this to correlate content to the most relatable DXARTS tools.
Lessons from Urban Indigenous Immigrants: Integrated Social & Ecological Dynamics of Informal Communities
Overview:
This project explores how traditional ecological knowledge can intersect with urban planning to build cultural and ecological resilience. Centered in Iquitos, Peru—an Amazon-adjacent city undergoing rapid urbanization—this initiative addresses the challenges Indigenous immigrant communities face when transitioning from nature-rich rural environments to informal urban settlements. The project focuses on two communities, Claverito and Belen, to develop strategies for sustainable urban living while preserving cultural traditions and ecological integrity.
Leveraging regional expertise to develop locally-focused applied research agendas addressing youth mental health, climate change, and environmental justice
About the Project:
National and state-level studies document youth mental distress about climate change, yet little work has translated this research into region-specific knowledge and action . This EarthLab Incubator Grant will connect this research to practice by convening professionals across the three states in order to share expertise and translate findings into actionable and regionally-focused agendas grounded in environmental justice and youth well-being.
Life, In Spite of It All: Water, Wetlands, and Reclamation in a Changing Climate
Overview:
This project centers the voices and experiences of the Haalpulaar’en community of Khareirat in southern Mauritania and their relationship with Tambass, a 4,400-acre wetlands area. Mauritania, historically hot and arid, now faces extreme weather fluctuations between droughts and violent rainstorms. Although there are few wetlands in the country, they are crucial for flood control and water storage buffers in an increasingly unpredictable climate.
