Native plants are our connection to the land. Through technical training, an understanding of regional climate impacts, and local and traditional knowledge exchange, participants learn valuable skills that can help build a career path around plant propagation, restoration, and nursery operations. The first year of the Native Plant Propagation Pathway consisted of seven training sessions focusing on different propagation techniques coupled with presentations and discussion on regional climate impacts set within a cultural context. Twenty-five trainees from across Southern California who are either from, or work for, an indigenous community came together to obtain hands-on learning. 

This pathway:

• Invests directly in Indigenous communities through capacity-building propagation projects, in which participants will learn about propagating native plants, seed gathering and preservation, running a plant nursery, and how to support native plant use for land restoration.

• Weaves together technical training with climate science and traditional knowledge to create a pathway that supports native decision-making for actions that advance Tribal led stewardship for restoration, reconnecting to the land, and efforts that advance transformational adaptation pathways that build ecological and community resilience now and into the future.

• Provides a pathway for economic development and advances community-led conservation leadership for historically excluded communities, through a multigenerational approach to training for careers in natural, cultural, and agricultural resource management.

This collaborative intertribal approach to climate adaptation and natural resource conservation accelerates a paradigm shift for advancing Indigenous co-stewardship of the land.