LCD WORKSHOPS

The Landscape Conservation Design (LCD) Workshops convene Indigenous Knowledge Holders and western technical experts that support ongoing working groups to build a shared understanding of ecological conditions and conservation priorities across the Crown of the Continent. Through a series of thematic sessions participants examine key landscape features, identify current and emerging threats, define what healthy systems look like, and explore strategies to address challenges.

By interweaving Indigenous and western knowledge, the workshops directly inform the development of a Landscape Conservation Design that supports long-term, landscape-scale conservation planning and offers a repeatable framework for similar landscapes elsewhere.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

Vegetation Workshop:

Whitebark Pine, Forest, Shrubland, and Grassland

Register Here

WHEN

October 20-22nd

October 22nd will be a half day

WHERE

LODGING

Red Lion Inn - Polson, MT

We have placed a room block for 20 rooms at the Red Lion Inn under the name “Tribal Forestry”. Government rates are $113/night.

There are many other hotels in the area if you prefer to stay at another location.

DRAFT AGENDA OUTLINE

Subject to change - check back for a detailed agenda soon.

Day 1 – Invitation for an Invocation - Reflecting on our relationships with each other and our connection with the landscapes 

  • Using the 6 R's to get to know each other and our landscape relatives (Respect, Relationship, Relevance, Reciprocity, Responsibility, Representation) 

  • Breakout Exercise 1 – Signs of Health – Discuss varying ways of knowing a place or system is healthy. 

  • Discuss LCD Phase II modelling of opportunistic areas for conservation action to update and improve. 

Day 2 – Caring for our lands and relatives – Discuss and outline an approach to coordinate actions that support the conservation or our collective values on the landscape. 

  • Breakout Exercise 2 – Discuss threats to our grasslands, shrublands, forested vegetation, and whitebark pink? 

  • Breakout Exercise 3 – Discuss cultural, ecological, and social conservation strategies needed to reduce threats? 

  • Breakout Exercise 4 – Discuss specific managements actions that advance the conservation strategies and where on the landscape they could occur? 

Day 3 (half day) - Coordinating the Crown of the Continent Landscape Conservation Design Vegetation Working Group next steps – working groups meet in small groups to coordinate continued shared stewardship. 

  • Refine, organize, and supplement Breakout Exercises with additional information 

  • Establish working group leaders/chairs and schedule your next working group meeting 

  • Outline goals, objectives, and potential products the working groups want to achieve (e.g. begin developing an action plan for the strategic and management actions, identify where signs of health information from exercise 1 can be applied to monitoring the action plan, identify key actors and partners to lead strategies or specific management actions, etc.) 

OUTCOMES

  1. Build on our learning of Indigenous worldviews and value systems in the development of the LCD and beyond.    

  2. Increase our understanding of Indigenous Knowledge Holders’ guidance regarding the ways we engage in our relationships with tribes moving forward.    

  3. Continue to strive towards a solid model of partnership while implementing the LCD.  

  4. Have greater understanding of the 6Rs, (Respect, Relationship, Relevance, Reciprocity, Responsibility, Representation) as a foundation for the emerging landscape plan; and how these values and actions can be integrated into efforts of conservation.   

  5. Through our contributions in the LCD working groups and their communities, participants continue the journey of developing relationships with each other and the landscapes we are connected to.         

  6. Develop a working draft of an LCD plan for grasslands, shrublands, and forests that includes collaborative actions and monitoring activities that reflect the 6Rs—to be later refined and implemented by the CMP Vegetation Working Group. 

LCD Vision Statement

“Together, we care for an interconnected landscape where people, waters, plants, animals, and all our relations thrive. Within this landscape, the full potential of all beings is supported today, in honor of the past, and for future generations. We approach this relational work with respect, reciprocity, and in consideration of relevance, responsibility, and for full representation of all our relatives.” 

Workshop FAQs

Coffee, tea, water and morning snacks will be available, but we recommend you have breakfast beforehand. Feel free to bring your own snacks.

Lunch will be provided each day; please indicate any dietary restrictions on the registration survey.

There will be a dinner social at Mackenzie River Pizza (next door to the hotel). That meal is pay-your-own-way. Dinner on the other evenings is on your own.

What food will be available?

1

Although you are welcome to only attend 1 or 2 days of the workshop, we strongly recommend attending all three days. Our agenda is set up to build upon the previous days work, and each day will include important relationship building sessions as part of our goal to create a more relational approach to conservation.

Can I attend 1 or 2 day(s) of the workshop?

2

There is no virtual or hybrid option for this workshop. If demand is high, we may offer those formats for future sessions. However, building relationships with fellow land stewards is one of our centering outcomes for these workshops. In order to build meaningful connections, we are emphasizing the need to be in person for these events.

Is there a virtual option for attendance?

3

How can I be involved even if I can’t attend the workshop?

4

For each species or ecosystem covered in the Landscape Conservation Design workshop series, we will form a Working Group. If you would like to be involved in future projects related to any of these species or ecosystems, please contact our coordinator Madelyn Eagle at madelyn.eagle@flbs.umt.edu to be added to the contact list.

PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS

Riparian, Aquatic and Wetland Workshop

The RAW Workshop was held as a three-part virtual series on December 1, 8, and 15, and drew on insights shared through in-person sessions with the Culture Committees of the Salish and Ksanka, alongside input from western science experts. Together, these perspectives helped build a shared understanding of the current and historic conditions of riparian, aquatic, and wetland systems across the Crown of the Continent. Through dialogue and knowledge integration, the workshop informed long-term, landscape-scale conservation strategies and directly supported the development of our Landscape Conservation Design, helping guide future working groups, research priorities, and on-the-ground action.

Virtual Session Recordings