National Park Service: Ethnobotany Grant at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, North Dakota

Frostburg State University is a member of the Chesapeake Watershed Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU), CESU Master Cooperative Agreement P16AC01389. The objective of this Agreement is to conduct a survey and inventory of culturally significant plant species present Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (FOUS), North Dakota. The Midwest Region Cultural Anthropology program, in collaboration with the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Fort Peck Reservation, North Dakota, will work with the Recipient to aid in identifying and understanding the best management practices for culturally significant plants identified on land encompassed within the boundaries of the Park. The study will be conducted in collaboration with the Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation, and document the plant species the Tribe identifies as culturally significant and which may be the subject of a later request by the Tribe to gather the identified species, subject to the criteria and conditions of regulations at 36 CFR 2.6. Frostburg will be tasked with completing an ethnographic study that will inventory and document such culturally significant plants. This project is a comprehensive evaluation based on ethnographic interviews of associated Tribal members from the Assiniboine Tribe, North Dakota. The study shall conform to professional and scholarly standards regarding methodology of anthropological research and writing. Stylistic and bibliographical standards shall conform to the current requirements of the journal American Anthropologist, and the current Chicago Manual of Style. The study will provide baseline information needed by the NPS to conduct environmental analysis of the significant species and any potential impact from gathering the species for traditional purposes. The public purpose is this project engages recipients, partners, communities, and/or visitors in shared environmental stewardship. In addition, the scientific community and researchers external to NPS gain new knowledge provided through research and related results dissemination of natural, cultural and historical resource information.