The formal partnership between the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences was initiated by Yakama tribal members in 2002 to provide students and faculty of the University of Washington the opportunity to witness firsthand how forest land can be managed to sustain social, ecological and economic values using tribal and place-based cultural values and methods, regional and global market knowledge, and 21st Century technology.  

Since 2003, SEFS faculty have regularly taken students to the Yakama reservation for hands-on lessons about conservation and renewable resource management, with the incorporation of the values of the Yakama Nation. The University and the Yakama Nation entered into a partnership that focused on three goals: Taking UW students to visit the Yakama Nation, establishing a scholarship for Yakama Nation tribal students and creating a path to higher education for tribal high school students. 

Since the partnership began, a total of 737 undergraduate and graduate students, five graduate student teaching assistants and 20 staff and faculty from the University have participated in one or more visits to the Yakama Nation. These visits to the reservation still take place annually as part of the SEFS course, ESRM 421: Role of Culture and Place in Natural Resource Stewardship: Yakama Nation Experience. 

Every year, students are exposed to and learn about core and unique aspects associated with the visits, including: 

• Food, food cycles and ceremonies
• The forest and its importance culturally, economically and spiritually 
• The major restoration project at Zimmerman and other locations along Toppenish Creek
• Restoration projects in higher elevation meadows and grasslands
• Use of fire 
• Wildlife and fisheries recovery programs
• Environmental justice issues
• Social justice issues like the missing and murdered Indigenous women
• Tribal enterprises 
• Personal aspirations and hardships

During their time on the reservation, students and faculty meet program managers and their staff. Almost all are tribal members and many have obtained college degrees in natural resources and are actively integrating western science with traditional knowledge for the benefit of the tribe and its resources. 

A recent student who visited the Yakama Nation as part of this partnership wrote about their experience:

“I think one of my biggest takeaways from this class was a better understanding of the inseparable nature of Yakama culture and place. It is hard for me to describe that deep connection between culture, spirituality, and survival, but it is extremely powerful. I can only imagine the visceral loss of being forcibly removed from land that one is so connected to. From listening to our speakers, and from the readings, and research this quarter it is clear that pain and loss is still felt to this day.”

Yakama Nation Endowed Fund for Student Support

SEFS Emeritus Professor Tom Hinckley and his wife Arline, in 2005, established the Yakama Nation Endowed Fund for Student Support, as part of the partnership, to help in the recruitment and retention of students from the Yakama Nation who pursue environmentally related studies at the University of Washington, and to deepen the connection between the University and Yakama Nation. Over the last 15 years, there have been individual and matched University of Washington contributions to this fund. As of Jan. 2021, four Yakama tribal students have received financial support. Additionally, this fund has been used to support Yakama student recruitment as outlined in the partnership agreement.