FAQs

  • "Agroforestry" is a term and land use management system that integrates trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits.

    The Indigenous Agroforestry Network focuses on Indigenous-led agroforestry, where the intersection between Indigenous land management and use practices and agroforestry meet. Examples of Indigenous land management practices that align with agroforestry definitions may include the tending of wild huckleberry bushes and acorn trees; cultural burning to support basket-weaving materials; protecting cedar trees for pulling bark; or stewarding culturally important understory plants and fungi for food, medicines, and basketry.

  • The Network is led by the Forest and Ecosystem Services Team at Ecotrust and partners with Hoopa Valley Tribal Forestry Department, USDA National Agroforestry Center, Intertribal Nursery Council, USFS Pacific Southwest Research Station, Research and Development Arm of the Forest Service, US Forest Service Management Service Center, Heritage University, Cal Poly Humboldt, and Washington State University Extension. Learn more about our partners.

  • The Indigenous Agroforestry Network is based in the Northwest region of the United States, but welcomes support, collaboration, and opportunities for connection beyond this region.

  • Subscribe to our mailing list and follow us on Instagram @indigenousagroforestry!

  • Forest farming, or multi-story cropping, is defined by the USDA as "the cultivation of high-value crops under the protection of a managed tree canopy." It is a practice in which existing forest stands are intentionally and intensively managed to create an appropriate environment for growing understory crops.

    • The goals of forest farming and how it can be practiced may vary based on each Tribe's unique knowledge systems and lands they stewards. Forest farming can be used to support the growth of cultural fibers, foods, and medicines including:

    • Fungi, mushrooms, and medicinal plants

    • Grasses, ferns, and shrubs for basketry

    • Shrubs and woody plants for berries nuts

    • Deciduous and evergreen hardwoods for acorns, nuts, berries, and fuel

    • Conifers for seeds, boughs, and lumber

  • Silvopasture is the intentional practice of combining trees, forage, and grazing animals on the same land in ways that benefit all three. Examples include grazing native understory vegetation in young commercial forests and woodlands, tree and livestock production in forested rangelands, and livestock and timber production in thinned, mid-rotation forests.

    Silvopasture can include native ungulates like deer, elk, moose and mountain goats, alongside domestic livestock and waterfowl. For many Tribes and Indigenous practitioners, it is deeply connected to ranching traditions: combining range management with cultural practices like prescribed burning. Grazing cattle on recently burned areas and reintroducing species like elk are just a few ways this approach supports both land and wildlife.

Attendees at the first annual Indigenous Agroforestry Network gathering tour the Blue Lake Rancheria Property. Daisy Autumn Photography