DOINews: BLM Utah Paiute Youth Camp Video Highlights Outstanding Service First Partnership

Through a Service First partnership, the Bureau of Land Management Utah and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, the Southern Utah University Intergovernmental Internship Cooperative, the Paiute Nation, along with the Dixie National Forest and local partners, last summer piloted Camp Kwiyamuntsi, a natural resource camp for Paiute youth. Instructors and campers representing several bands of Paiute joined agency instructors for four days of outdoor learning in the Dixie National Forest, which is the Paiute's traditional homeland. Paiute elders and agency instructors teamed up to teach students about the environment, their unique cultural heritage and careers in natural resource fields.

CLICK HERE to watch the BLM Utah's new video - Camp Kwiyamuntsi: Building Stewardship through Cultural Traditions - that highlights the successful Service First partnership to educate students about their natural and cultural traditions and inspire those youth to become the next generation of conservation leaders.

In January 2014, the Southern Utah University Intergovernmental Internship Cooperative or SUU IIC received the Secretary's Partners in Conservation Award from the Department of Interior for the outstanding conservation results achieved through collaboration and partnering. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said at the awards ceremony, “These partnerships represent the gold standard for how Interior is doing business across the nation to power our future, strengthen tribal nations, conserve and enhance America's great outdoors and engage the next generation.”

The SUU IIC received the Secretary's Partners in Conservation Award from the Department of Interior for the outstanding conservation results achieved through collaboration and partnering.

The goal of the SUU IIC, administered by Southern Utah University's Harry Reid Outdoor Engagement Center, is to help meet agencies' operational needs through dynamic internships that train university students, educators and youth for careers in land and resource management. The Cooperative has recruited more than 500 participants to date.

Read the full article about the SUU IIC's award and successful partnerships on the BLM's My Public Lands Tumblr blog: http://tmblr.co/Z9wNeu14NR5xx.

By: Chad Douglas, web master and social media lead, BLM Utah
March 21, 2014