Michelle Katuna (Ashkenazi Jewish and non-Jewish European settler descent) is a graduate student in Environmental Science, Policy & Management. Michelle's research focuses on ongoing collaborations between Tribal nations, private landowners, and local environmental agencies and organizations to develop guidance for, and empirical evidence to support, Indigenous stewardship and co-stewardship on private lands. Tribal nations are important actors in developing place-based solutions to environmental challenges, yet their decision-making authority over ancestral lands is often compromised by rules governing contemporary land holdings. Non-Native actors, including private landowners and agencies, are often unaware of how to collaborate with Tribal nations on environmental projects beyond legally mandated, but often inadequate, consultation. Michelle uses interdisciplinary, community-based methods to work in collaboration with Tribal nations and non-Native actors towards Indigenous stewardship and co-stewardship futures in the Central Coast region of California.
Department and Institution:
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley
Bio/CV:
