Thirteen Moons: Forging Connections in an Ojibwe Community Through Culture Ecology and Management

Abstract

Traditional ecological knowledge and culture represent assets in community-based conservation and development. These assets, however, are often perceived as challenges to conservation and development efforts by external community partners and, perhaps surprisingly, by community actors. The latter realization emerged from the work of a partnership between the Fond du Lac (FDL) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) and University of Minnesota Extension. This partnership sought to develop an Extension program to educate Band members about natural resources and improve management of Tribal natural resources by increasing overall understanding of Band members’ interest in these resources.