KNPS kicks off public program season

After a busy summer in the Native Plant Arboretum, members of the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society will hold the first of their 2026-2027 season public programs on Saturday, Sept. 19.

Phillip Cernera will make a presentation featuring The Tar Creek Apprenticeship Program, a hands-on experience designed to reconnect tribal youth to natural resources and the cultural practices derived from them. 

A fisheries biologist by training, Cernera has been an environmental advocate for native tribes for more than 45 years. As the managing director of the Lake Management Department for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, he worked to reaffirm the Tribe's ownership of the lake, brought a natural resource damage lawsuit against mining companies in the Silver Valley and litigated Tribal water rights. 

After leaving his work with the CDA Tribe, Cernera moved to Costa Rica while working as a private contractor for the seven Tribes affected by the tri-state mining district of Tar Creek, an Oklahoma mining superfund site. More recently he has returned to north Idaho where he is developing and teaching a one-month curriculum (TCAP) for Tribal youth 17-21 years of age to help them engage with the natural environment and the cultural services that healthy natural resources provide. The program offers Tribal youth a path leading to work in the field of natural resources restoration.

Cernera's informative presentation will begin at 10 a.m. in the Sandpoint Community Hall, 204 S. First, on Saturday, September 19th.  Socializing with coffee, tea and treats starts at 9:30. KNPS Programs are free, open to the public and are co-sponsored by Sandpoint Parks and Recreation with support from the East Bonner Library District.