Jay Fisher, Extension District Director and North Central Research Extension Center Director
jay.fisher@ndsu.edu, (701) 857-7679

The Building Relationships on Reservations program was a first-time effort to bring Extension educators from North Dakota and South Dakota together to learn how to be more effective in our programming. During the program, held Oct. 19-21, 2010, in Fort Yates, we learned about many dynamics on American Indian reservations that affect our ability to conduct successful educational programs, such as land and sovereignty, how to communicate using talking circles, developing effective partnerships and networks, the inner workings of tribal councils and youth issues. Tours of Sitting Bull College (1994 land-grant), tribal council chambers, the local Extension office and the local Extension gardening program helped put some issues into context. Native foods were served throughout the conference. The goal to improve participants’ understanding of complex issues on American Indian reservations was begun, and questions about where we would do this again next year indicates this endeavor had value.

Spirit Lake Reservation

Mark Miller, Extension Agent, Agriculture and Natural Resources/Rolette County
mark.d.miller@ndsu.edu, (701) 477-5671

Karen Armstrong, Extension Agent, Family and Consumer Sciences and Family Nutrition Program/Rolette County
karen.armstrong@ndsu.edu, (701) 477-5671

One of the limiting factors for agriculture on the Turtle Mountain Reservation is land base. The Small Acreage Farming program is designed for tribal producers to explore opportunities with specialty crops, organic gardens, farmers markets and livestock production. The program covers sustainability and profitability.

Noxious weeds are a major issue on the reservation. To assist producers who will be required to address noxious weeds on land released from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Rolette County Extension office will conduct informational meetings dealing mainly with leafy spurge control, pesticide safety and biological control.

A youth entrepreneurship day camp has been held at Belcourt for the past five years. During the five-day camp, youth ages 9 to 12 learn basic entrepreneurial concepts and experience developing an idea into a business, operating their business, maintaining a basic business account and being an active citizen involved in community decision making during Mini-Society town council meetings.

In 2011, the camp will be hosted at the Turtle Mountain Community College on June 20-24. The camp has been well-received, with 15 to 20 youth attending each year. The camp is a part of the North Dakota Youth Entrepreneurship Education Program.

Sponsors for the camp have included the Rolla Job Development Authority, Rolla Kiwanis, Pathways to Prosperity, La Dots, Turtle Mountain Community College, Turtle Mountain Boys and Girls Club, Twenty First Century-Mount Pleasant School, The Dakota Foundation, First Nations Development Institute, North Dakota Department of Commerce, NDSU Extension Service Center for Community Vitality and Independent Banks of North Dakota-Turtle Mountain State Bank.

This camp is paving the way for reservation youth to realize the importance of their education and the opportunities that await them as contributing citizens and possible businesspeople in their community.

The Turtle Mountain School Summer Youth Day Camp is geared toward education and training of youth. This day camp runs for four weeks during June at the Turtle Mountain High School. The camp is open to youth grades kindergarten through junior high and has roughly 250 attendees. Rolette County Extension agents shared nutrition lessons with camp attendees in 2009 and 2010and have been invited to be a part of the camp again in 2011.

Promoting healthy lifestyle patterns is an ongoing effort and has taken many forms of outreach. School classroom lessons have focused on food safety and the importance a physical activity and nutrition. A series of lessons has been shared with students in kindergarten and grades one, two and five. Parent newsletters are used with the “On the Move” program in grade five.

During the 2010-11 school year, 37 Bureau of Indian School classrooms each received four or five health lessons in conjunction with the Family Nutrition Program. Classroom sizes ranged from 12 to 22 students. Nutrition-related displays, and Fruit and Vegetable Trivia boards and Pick a Better Snack lessons also were shared with the schools.

Tips for maintaining a healthy weight was the theme for the Turtle Mountain Middle School Health Fair’s interactive display. More than 100 students viewed food portion sizes, ranked an assortment of foods from high to low in calorie and sodium content, and estimated the amount of fruits and vegetables they could eat in place of the calorie content of a candy or dessert item they may have chosen to eat

In recent years, program efforts have included being part of special event days at the college and Family Week Health Fair, co-facilitating Dining with Diabetes classes along with the IHS dietician and Turtle Mountain Community College staff members, and hosting a food preservation workshop at the Dunseith School in September 2010 as a response to requests from individuals in Belcourt and Dunseith.

A Rolette County Extension agent facilitated an educational program for tribal child-care providers April 28, 2011. Nutritional needs of young children, and healthy eating and activity patterns were the focus of the training. Material from the “Nutrition Buzz for Busy Bodies” curriculum was used. The training request came from the tribal staff member who oversees child-care providers on the reservation. The program was held at the Turtle Mountain Community College. A similar offering was held during July 2010 in collaboration with Turtle Mountain Community College staff member Kathy Henry and Rolla Day Care director Debbie Hudson.

The annual Turtle Mountain Wellness Conference focuses on issues related to health and well-being of individuals, families and the community. The conference begins with a walk/run event the first evening, followed by two days of special speakers and concurrent educational offerings. It is designed to help individuals becoming more knowledgeable about their health and encourage them to lead a healthful lifestyle. Separate tracks for youth and adults are built into the conference schedule. The Turtle Mountain Community College hosts the conference, and college credit and continuing education units are available. The conference is planned, supported and conducted by many area agencies and local businesses.

Agencies involved in the 2010 conference included Turtle Mountain Community College, Tribal Health Education, Tribal Diabetes Program, Tribal Community Health Resources, Hearts of Hope, Aberdeen Human Services Program, NDSU Extension Service/Rolette County, Turtle Mountain Outreach Program, Tribal Food Pantry, Healthy Marriage Initiatives, TMCC-TM Youth Leadership, QNBMHCF-IHS Hospital and Tribal Commodity Program. The conference is held each July. The 17th annual Turtle Mountain Wellness Conference will be held July 26-28, 2011.

Requests to share food safety and nutrition information with Head Start Food Service personnel are on-going for the Rolette County Extension office. Topics have included general food safety, portion sizes, how to introduce new foods, ideas to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into diets, sodium content in foods, the use of herbs and spices for seasoning foods, and dealing with food allergens. An Extension agent works with 12 to 15 food service personnel during their August staff training. These individuals are stationed at five Head Start sites in the county. Head Start serves 300 youth of Rolette County, with the majority of Head Start sites within the boundaries of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Reservation.

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