<< Back 11/27/02 Student studies traditional, modern Cherokee ecology SMN Nikki Cooley, a Northern Arizona University School of Forestry graduate student, is becoming a familiar face on the Qualla Boundary. Cooley, a Navajo, began her work in Cherokee as an undergraduate in the summer of 2001. Working with Thom Alcoze, assistant professor of Native American Ecological Restoration at NAU, she has grown last summer’s senior project into a master’s thesis: “Incorporating Cherokee Traditional Knowledge and Resource Management Practices into Contemporary Ecological Restoration Applications.” Cooley began by interviewing Cherokee elders known for their knowledge of Cherokee traditions and practices. She has worked with eight elders to date and has more interviews scheduled. Cooley plans to incorporate Cherokee High School forestry students in her graduate work as assistants. “This is a great way for the kids to get hands on experience and a great way to get them in the university pipeline,” Alcoze said. When Alcoze talked to Cherokee forestry students last December he told them, “Someone should be working on your land. It should be Cherokee. We would like to develop the program in such a way as to encourage Cherokee students’ participation in the Native American Forestry program at NAU. Students could work in the winter out there [Flagstaff, Ariz.] and come back and do research in Cherokee for their senior project.” Cooley’s project has had the support of the Cherokee Tribal Council. Marie Junaluska, council representative from Painttown and a member of the Ani Yun wiyah (Principle People) committee, is an ardent supporter of the program. Junaluska said the forestry program at Cherokee High School started about three years ago as the result of a trip to Warm Springs, Ore. “We saw a similar tribal program out there, and when we came back we started the forestry program here,” Junaluska said. “I could see a lot of that knowledge escaping our culture. These are hands-on opportunities for our kids to learn about natural resources and traditional knowledge.” Cooley said she hopes that she and her assistants get to assist in a prescribed burn but acknowledged that depended on a lot of weather variables. She said she will also be working to develop a computer model that she hopes will demonstrate the effects of putting the practices described by the elders, in place in the environment. The Native American Ecological Restoration program is under the umbrella of NAU’s Ecological Restoration Institute. There are about 25 undergraduates and 10 graduate students that are working on independent research projects through the ERI. “The program is designed to get more Indian kids interested in college. But it is bigger than that. I believe we have to teach people how to live in our land,” Alcoze said.