RONAN, MT — Students in Jedd Tougas’ science classes at Ronan High School are learning how indigenous knowledge and science can work together through traditional food practices and sustainable farming.
Tougas introduced traditional ecological knowledge into the classroom after earning his master's degree in Integrated Indigenous Curriculum from Salish Kootenai College.
"I was looking at how I could introduce traditional knowledge and place-based education into my classroom. After doing the research, I was able to meet students at the door and increase attendance," Tougas said.
Ronan High students learn traditional indigenous farming practices:
He intentionally drew from how the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have practiced sustainable irrigation and land stewardship, and how the 1904 Allotment Act threatened those traditions — a struggle that continues today.
Science students like Aden Smith are learning how to implement these indigenous and sustainable agricultural practices as they design their own farms.
"It's a perspective you are not going to get anywhere else and I really appreciate that," Smith said.
"These traditional practices have made it beneficial not only for us, but for the other animals and species that inhabit that area, and that's what the sustainable idea in our farms boils down to," Smith said.
One traditional method Smith studied is slash and burn farming. In this practice, land is cleared and burned, which restores nutrients to the soil before farmers move on, allowing the land to recover.
"When I go past these farms that are barren soil and I think a little bit harder about it and I definitely attribute that to this class," Smith said.
Tougas teaches the connection between land and community from their own backyard, which resonates with the students, very well.
"We've been talking about pest management and how it affects the local environment, and how those effects have cascading impacts on all these other systems. We are not isolated from those systems, we are a part of them. And we've looked at how the land influences us, and how those relationships are fostered by native communities, including the tribes here," Tougas said.
"The idea that it's important to keep plants in the soil — when settlers came, they didn't understand that. I thought it was really cool how Native people understood the land and took care of it so well. I wish we carried those practices on today and didn't have to fight to keep them," Smith said.
"I hope my students feel represented and that they can one day be a part of these initiatives and bring what they've learned here to other places, too," Tougas said.
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