Early last summer, more than six hours from the nearest city, surrounded by the high desert of northwestern Nevada, leaders from the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe and ҹɫÊÓƵ gathered to officially designate a new partnership.
With the signing of a new memorandum of understanding (MOU), the two institutions formalized a collaboration more than a decade in the making.
“This agreement is a model — not just for what we can do with Summit Lake, but how we can work with other tribes across the state,” said Daphne Hooper, director of Indigenous Relations and a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe. “As a land-grant institution, we have a responsibility to engage with Nevada’s tribal communities in a way that’s reciprocal, respectful and lasting.”
A shared vision for the Great Basin
From sage grouse to freshwater mussels, the ecosystem at Summit Lake is home to species not found elsewhere and this new agreement commits both the University and the Tribe as stewards of the landscape.
Leaders from the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe and the University gathered to officially designate a new partnership.James Simmons, natural resources director for the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, described the signing ceremony as deeply emotional. “It solidifies this feeling of collaborations across institutions to help protect perhaps one of the greatest places on the planet,” he said.
A decade of research, a future of partnership
The University’s relationship with the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe began over 12 years ago, when researchers were first invited to help answer ecological questions about the area and its surrounding watershed — an area rich in biodiversity and cultural significance. The parties had a shared goal: to better understand and protect one of the last self-sustaining populations of Lahontan cutthroat trout in Nevada.
University faculty, including Sudeep Chandra, limnologist and professor of biology, have since worked alongside the tribe’s Natural Resources Department to study everything from ancient lake sediments to climate change projections. Chandra and Simmons, alongside other faculty members and tribal leaders, have charted the delicate life cycles of fish and mussels, monitored the impacts of snowpack shifts and installed the Great Basin’s first ecological observatory network to measure real-time environmental change.
“This place is incredibly remote, but it holds knowledge that’s vital to the future of conservation,” Chandra said. “This partnership allows us to bring new tools, new insights, and just as importantly, to learn from the tribe’s deep relationship with this land.”
A new understanding: principles of the agreement
The MOU, formally titled the “Memorandum of Agreement Between the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education on Behalf of the ҹɫÊÓƵ and the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe,” outlines commitments to:
- Formal consultation and regular meetings between the University and tribal leadership.
- The creation of a Tribal/University Advisory Board to guide priorities and projects.
- Establish joint research protocols that reflect tribal sovereignty and cultural stewardship.
- Continue support for cultural diversity initiatives and efforts to increase Native representation on the University campus.
- Create more educational and internship opportunities for tribal members.
- Create shared natural resource management related to Lahontan cutthroat trout and the Summit Lake watershed.
The agreement also recognizes the unique constraints tribal governments face, such as limited housing and employment stability, and calls for creative, non-grant-based strategies to strengthen long-term sustainability.
Honoring sovereignty, building trust
The day of the signing, Hooper emphasized that the partnership opens the door to far more than environmental research. Areas of collaboration may include youth programming, healthcare, social services, fieldwork and cultural education.
“The possibilities are unlimited,” Hooper said. “Formalizing this allows us to think beyond a single project and plan for the long-term.”
Jeff Thompson, executive vice president and provost, called the agreement a major step forward for both parties.
“This is the first agreement of its kind between a Nevada tribe and the University,” he said. “It marks a new chapter in how we work together — through collaboration, co-production of knowledge and long-term investment in each other. As a society, we need to build bridges like this. This is how we move forward together with humility, with learning and with a shared commitment to the future.”
