Indigenous values like humility allow groups to achieve more innovation. Indigenous knowledge can revolutionize collective thinking, unleashing creativity for global solutions.
We’re really trying to learn how to weave Western science and traditional knowledge together that have outcomes in ways that are helpful for environmental management
In college, Serra Hoagland’s ecology courses made no mention of Indigenous peoples’ long connection to the land, and how that knowledge impacts environmental stewardship.
“I struggled a little bit with that,” says the Laguna Pueblo wildlife biologist.
Later, as a grad student, she asked why Native American experts weren’t leading a national study of tribal forests and forest management mandated by Congress to be done every 10 years. Told it was out of concern of potential bias, Hoagland set out to finish her forestry PhD; and in 2023, became the very first Native to co-chair the Indian Forest Management Assessment Team.
Dr. Serra Hoagland is a trailblazer. Her own research looks at the impact of tribal forest management practices on the Mexican Spotted Owl. Wildland fire is the top threat to the endangered owl, and Dr. Hoagland’s work has seen no negative impacts to owls from tribal practices of thinning of trees or using light burning to reduce forest undergrowth.
Even though today California state leaders and others are looking to “cultural fire” as one way to prevent destructive wildfires, conservation forefathers once derided tribal knowledge.
In 1920, the so-called father of American conservation wrote a disparaging essay. “It is absurd to think the Indians fired the forest with any idea of conservation in mind,” Aldo Leopold wrote.
After a century of fire suppression, today U.S. forests have become extremely dense and prone to wildfires.
“We’re going back to tribes now and asking tribes how to bring back those practices,” says Dr. Hoagland.
In 2023, she co-edited a first-of-its-kind, 400-page textbook on models of tribal wildlife stewardship. All proceeds go to the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society.
“We’re really trying to learn how to weave Western science and traditional knowledge together that have outcomes in ways that are helpful for environmental management.”
Dr. Hoagland has encouraged and mentored dozens of Native students in forestry and wildlife. Named AISES’ Most Promising Scientist in 2020, the AISES circle has supported her journey. She credits an AISES college advisor for promoting grad school. Attending her first AISES national conference led to a forestry internship and eventual career.
“Seeing a whole room of Natives in STEM is so empowering,” Dr. Hoagland says. “(AISES has) really continued to serve as a family for me.”
The first born of six Diné sons, Sky rose from small-town science fairs to a full scholarship at Drexel University, a biomedical research fellowship at Mayo Clinic, and now a PhD path in molecular pharmacology.
Seeking to become one of the first U.S. Indigenous veterinarians focused on wildlife, Tilley is part of a movement reshaping wildlife conservation.
AISES National Conference
Portland, Oregon
October 15-16, 2026
