Ethnobotany Projects

Restoring Indigenous Socio-Environmental Systems (RISES) Project

As part of the Restoring Indigenous Socio-Environmental Systems (RISES) project, funded by the National Science Foundation and led by the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, SPARC Environmental Justice students conducted archival research at the University of Utah’s Special Collections Library. Since much of Shoshone culture is preserved through oral histories rather than written records, the students focused on examining materials from an ethnobotanical perspective. Their work provided access to historical documentation of Native ecosystems, plant uses, and traditional environmental knowledge that may not be readily available elsewhere, helping to support the Shoshone Nation's efforts in restoring and revitalizing their cultural and ecological practices.

The research conducted by the students will inform ongoing restoration efforts in the Bear River Basin and beyond. To link their academic work to hands-on ecological restoration, the students had the opportunity to apply their learning by participating in a field trip to the Bear River Massacre site in Preston, Idaho. There, they joined over 400 volunteers to plant 500 trees in partnership with TreeUtah. The Shoshone Nation plans to continue planting trees at the site and add a visitor center in the future. This experience allowed students to directly contribute to land restoration while also honoring the history and legacy of the Bear River Massacre in collaboration with the Shoshone people.