Winds of Change - College 2016 - 9

Shanny Spang Gion NORTHERN CHEYENNE AND CROW MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Environmental Science MONTANA TECH Interdisciplinary MS COURTESY OF SHANNY SPANG GION G rowing up on the Northern Cheyenne and Crow reservations, which are situated next to each other in southeast Montana, I have always been interested in how to take care of our environment. My family and elders taught me to value and respect our natural systems and cycles. And because the reservations are fairly rural communities, I was able to just explore on my own the land we live on. For my parents, it was not a question of if I'd go to college, but when and what campus. (Montana, of course! I could be close to home.) But my parents weren't the only people to encourage me to go to college - Sara Young and her two daughters, Frederica Left Hand and Heather Left Hand, helped me see the value in education. I got to know them through my participation in high school summer camps, and, though Heather has since traveled to the other side of camp, they continue to encourage and inspire me to this day. aises.org With the encouragement of my family and my friends, I pursued an undergraduate degree at Montana State University in environmental science with an option in environmental biology. Now I'm a second-year graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Master of Science program at Montana Tech. It's happening with the assistance of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Sloan Indigenous Graduate Fellowship. With a focus on hydrogeology and technical communication, I have proposed to study Rosebud Creek, located in southern Montana, for my thesis research. By using carbon and oxygen isotope analyses in the Rosebud watershed to study the groundwater-surface water interaction of water resources, I hope to both show how traditional ecological knowledge can integrate with Western science findings and introduce a practical framework for natural systems management at a local scale. Since I have finished my course work and my research area is on my reservation, I will be located on the reservation, collecting the needed field data during the summer and fall, while also returning to work for my tribe. I have been fortunate to be able to serve my tribe in the field I am interested in, as water resources administrator. I've been working for my tribe in water resources since 2006, and my role extends from research and planning to water use and quantification for water sources. I'm hopeful the research I conduct using Western science will demonstrate that we can use it within our tribe, which is grounded in and directed by traditional knowledge and value systems, as a tool to further inform and advance sound water management. Ideally, I will be able to build upon this research toward a more balanced approach to not just water, but all natural systems on our reservation. - As told to Tracy Campbell 2016-2017 SPECIAL COLLEGE ISSUE * WINDS OF CHANGE 9 http://www.aises.org

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