The Forest Stewards Apprenticeship (FSA) project is a collaboration between the Forest Stewards Guild and the Sovereign Nation of the Panawahpskek (i.e., Penobscot Nation (PN)) to strengthen workforce pathways for Indigenous youth in forest and fire stewardship. By addressing gaps in staffing, training, and technical expertise to meet PN’s forest and fire management goals, the FSA project will train and employ three apprenticeship cohorts of Indigenous early career professionals with the skills needed to pursue careers in natural and cultural resource stewardship. Designed in collaboration with PN, the project centers Tribal priorities in applied forest research,
traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and economic development to advance Triballed stewardship in the Northern Forest Region.

Over the course of the 6-month apprenticeship, apprentices and leaders will gain professional training in skills such as chainsaw use and safety, prescribed fire, forestry, and mapping. They will also contribute to stewardship activities guided by TEK including brown ash monitoring and seed collection, restoration of culturally significant sites and species, and intertribal exchange on cooperative prescribed burns. The FSA project builds a workforce pipeline for the next generation of Indigenous forest stewards by honoring cultural knowledge exchange, applied forest research, and direct investment into Indigenous youth for a brighter future. Lessons learned from this project on workforce development with PN and Tribal Nations broadly will be shared across the community.