Building Habitat Heroes Among Torres Martinez Tribal Youth
The Living Desert is partnering with the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians (TMDCI) Tribe and Outward Bound Adventures (OBA) to create future conservationists among TMDCI youth. This new program is a habitat restoration and conservation workforce development and job training program titled “Torres Martinez Youth Environmental Ambassadors” (TM-YEA). Collaboratively we will directly serve 48+ tribal youth, ages 15-26, from the TMDCI Reservation over two years who will be more able to steward TMDCI land as well as that across the Coachella Valley. By collaborating with TMDCI Elders and leading local Federal, State, and non-profit conservation organizations, the TM-YEA youth will be able to draw from the best Traditional and Modern approaches to care for our beloved desert plants, animals, ecosystems, and Cahuilla culture!
The TM-YEA will be a paid youth-led work-learning program focused on habitat restoration and conservation leadership through efforts to restore endangered desert pupfish habitat and populations in the Dos Palmas Preserve, along the waterfront areas of TMDCI Tribal Lands, and preparing youth to address other environmental problems on their Tribal Lands. We will train participants to be outdoor leaders, provide access to pathways in conservation and natural resource careers, and help them become stewards of their ancestral lands. This project will importantly provide demonstration sites for TMDCI Youth to teach their Tribe and TLD park visitors about conservation, citizen science, and local cultural and eco-history.
These youth will form two Tribal Environmental Restoration Teams (TERTs) with 12 members, two TERTs in each of the two project years. Each TERT will participate in two earlier conservation projects and then at the end of the year-long project year, they will be tasked with creating and implementing a unique community science project on or near the TMDCI reservation land.
A Re-Nesting Guide
By: Emma Baldwin COEXISTING WITH NATURE AND WILDLIFE COTTONTAIL RABBITS: Cottontail rabbit nests are shallow depressions on the ground, covered with soft plant material and lined with fur from the mother…