Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve is a University of Minnesota field station, where scientists, students and community members work to identify sustainable solutions to the world's most pressing environmental challenges. The station is located in East Bethel, MN, at an important point of convergence from many perspectives. We sit at the ecological overlap of grassland, deciduous and coniferous forest biomes, and at the intersection of modern urban and rural development and land use. The reserve is located 35 miles as the crow flies (~45 miles driving) due north of Bdote, the sacred origin site for the Dakota Peoples, of whom the Wahpekute band are the original residents of this landscape. This place is also important to the Ojibwe Peoples, who migrated to this area following a prophecy to search for wild rice — "the food that grows on water". This land was forcibly taken from these nations by the US Government via a trio of treaties in the 1820s and 30s as part of a systematic, intentional campaign of displacement and genocide.
Cedar Creek is home to the world’s longest-running biodiversity experiment, which has revealed that plant diversity substantially increases ecosystem productivity and stability. It is the differences and interactions between species that produces an ecosystem that is greater than the sum of its constituent parts. In parallel lines of research, social scientists have found that human diversity can enhance the learning, outcomes, and creativity of teams. When these benefits of diversity are combined with equity and inclusion, individuals and teams can thrive. For these reasons and many others, the Cedar Creek community of staff, faculty, students and alumni share a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice and are committed to living our land acknowledgement through our actions. We have begun an ongoing process of working to be good relatives to the land and the people of this land, across all aspects of our mission. This commitment looks like many different things. A few concrete examples include:
Restoring cultural harvesting and gathering opportunities
Providing space and resources for partners to lead cultural lifeways programming
Partnering with local American Indian Education programs to co-design and co-lead science field trips and paid internship opportunities
Working with language experts and knowledge keepers to create permanent signage that brings the contributions of Indigenous community members to life
Opening processes for science to be conducted in ways that aren't normally recognized within the academy
Cedar Creek DEIJ Committee
Cedar Creek has a standing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice committee that is open to all stakeholders. We actively include representation from faculty, staff, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates. Email DEIJ Fellow Eva Schwarz at [email protected] to be added to the email list and calendar invitation! Our committee meets monthly (generally on the third Monday of each month at 3 p.m.) to learn, discuss, and make progress on our site strategic plan (below).
Our DEIJ plan has three main goals:
- Increase the representational diversity of people recruited and retained at Cedar Creek.
- Build an inclusive climate that allows the Cedar Creek community to bond and interact feeling safe, supported, and accepted.
- Pursue collaborative approaches to community engagement that value the knowledge in communities from local to global.
Our DEIJ leadership committee currently includes Dr. Caitlin Barale Potter (Associate Director, Cedar Creek), Dr. Daniel Stanton (Assistant Professor in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior), Eva Schwarz (graduate student and Cedar Creek DEIJ Fellow), and Dr. Peter Kennedy (Associate Dean for Research; Professor in Plant and Microbial Biology).