Growing Together
Nearly 2,500 Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir seedlings have a new home in the greenhouse at Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS), owned and operated by the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico. The SFIS Community Based Education (CBE) department has integrated the seedlings in efforts to create hands-on learning opportunities with Native students.
Participating students will develop research projects focused on seedling survival — studying, monitoring, and caring for them — and help plant them on Tribal ancestral lands following completion of the program.
At TWP, we see collaboration with SFIS as mutually beneficial to both students and local conservation efforts. The CBE program offers students practical experience in research design and data collection while building connections with local conservation efforts and organizations.
For seedlings, an additional growing season allows them to grow heartier before they are planted. Often, following wildfires, seedlings are planted after one season of growth, but these landscapes offer brutal conditions for seedling survival. Student research builds understanding of conditions that help seedlings thrive, ultimately informing best practices for restoration efforts throughout the region.
Within the program, students will experiment with various methods for promoting seedling survival, from growing seedlings in various composts and amendments (such as biochar) to climatizing seedlings before planting. With support of SFIS staff, students will design and monitor results of these experiments, ultimately informing TWP’s and partners’ strategies for promoting seedling survival.
The course will also include demonstrations and teachings from local experts, expanding students’ learning, and many students will be able to develop their research as part of a senior capstone project, required to graduate. Following completion of their studies, students will have the opportunity to visit nearby restoration sites and be involved in monitoring planted seedlings, opening a view of the process from start to finish.
Just as we hope the seedlings of today will become the strong, healthy forests of tomorrow, we know the students of today will become the land managers and stewards responsible for them. For the Pueblos of New Mexico, that connection began centuries ago — we are working together to ensure it endures for the centuries to come.
