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Restoration of Kainai Native Grassland and Traditional Plant Populations

Initiative Overview

Location:

Kainai First Nation, Southern Alberta, Canada

Duration:

2 years 2018-2020

Major Supporters:

Government of Canada EcoAction, Alberta Ecotrust Foundation.

This initiative was inspired by Building Climate Resilience & Adaptation in the Kainai First Nation – Phase I Capacity Building.

This initiative in the Kainai First Nation weaves Blackfoot and western scientific knowledge paradigms to improve overall ecosystem health and resilience of site habitat by removing invasive plants and restoring highly diverse native species (including traditional plants) to meet cultural, economic and ecological goals.

Restoration of native grassland builds climate resilience by addressing cultural and ecological vulnerabilities in the Kainai prairie ecosystem such as changing fire regimes, invasive species, and livestock overgrazing.

Activities include a series of workshops, community events, trainings on seed collection, creating a database of traditional plants, and skill-building for control of invasive species. An important component of this initiative is the involvement of elders and other knowledge holders who advise and guide the project activities and the creation of a Grasslands Restoration Stewards Program.

There is tremendous opportunity to scale-up this initiative; interested supporters please contact admin@resilienceinstitute.ca

Laura Stewart

Board Member

Laura Stewart is the Community Wildfire Resilience Coordinator with Forsite Fire, supporting communities across Canada with wildfire risk assessments, mitigation planning, and program delivery. She has more than a decade of experience advancing wildfire resilience at Indigenous, municipal, provincial/territorial, and national levels. Previously, Laura served nearly eleven years as Alberta’s Provincial FireSmart Specialist, leading community, WUI, neighbourhood, and Home Ignition Zone programs, coordinating funding, and partnering with communities and fire services across the province. She has also served as Board Chair with both the Partners in Protection Association (FireSmart Canada) and the Community Wildfire Resilience Association of Alberta.

 

Sara Walsh, PhD

Board Member

Sara Walsh, PhD, is a disaster risk reduction and climate resilience specialist with more than 15 years of experience spanning Canada, Nepal, the Middle East, and North Africa. Until November 2025, she served as Thematic Lead for Climate and Resilience with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where she supported Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to strengthen their climate and risk reduction work across the region. Sara currently works as a freelance consultant with the United Nations, governments, and humanitarian organizations on recovery, risk governance, and community-based resilience. She teaches at a Canadian university and holds a PhD in Disaster Risk Reduction. Her work emphasizes anticipatory action, equity, and bridging research with practice to shape more resilient and sustainable futures.

Alison Criscitiello

Board Member

Alison Criscitiello, PhD, is an ice core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer who explores the history of climate and sea ice in polar and high-alpine regions using ice core chemistry. Alison’s work also focuses on environmental contaminant histories in ice cores from the Canadian high Arctic and the water towers of the Canadian Rockies. In 2010, she led the first all-women’s ascent of Lingsarmo, a 22,818-foot peak in the Indian Himalaya. Alison has earned three American Alpine Club (AAC) climbing awards, the John Lauchlan and Mugs Stump alpine climbing awards, as well as the first Ph.D. in Glaciology ever conferred by MIT. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta. She is the co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada.