Natalie Solares remembers it clearly: La Danza del Maíz—the dance of the corn. It was the first dance she learned as a freshman in the fall of 2008 upon joining UC Berkeley’s Danza In Xochitl In Cuicatl, a group that highlights Indigenous Mexica culture through dance, music, and history.
“The dance tells the story of how corn grows,” says Solares, who is of Zapotec heritage and whose grandparents were subsistence farmers in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley and Guatemala. “You plant the seed, then ask for it to grow. It is pollinated by the wind and then harvested. The dance was amazing for me,” she remembers. “I felt so connected with what the dance represents, my major, and the land and resources that I want to protect.”
Solares feels that same connection in her work for the Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC). This Tribal-led nonprofit organization, founded in 1987, pursues and promotes the conservation, development, and use of agricultural resources of Native American Indian and Native Alaskan tribes. “I’ve loved supporting tribes and learning about their land and their foods, not just for economic development but for food sovereignty,” she says. “It’s important work.”
The “Natural” in Natural Resources
Solares grew up in Perris, part of California’s Inland Empire, and recalls how her high school love of anarcho-punk changed her early worldview. “The music is all about social change, peace, and environmentalism,” she says. “That radicalized me—I became really interested in caring for the land.”
Solares was drawn to UC Berkeley by the punk music scene along Gilman Avenue as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the College of Natural Resources’ Conservation and Resource Studies program. “The name resonated with me. I wanted to conserve resources and help the planet,” she says.
She became fascinated with how natural interventions in lieu of chemicals could improve soil and plant health as well as productivity. Working with Professor Claire Kremen, she studied how the addition of hedgerows to farms might increase native bee populations and aid pollination. The project sparked a passion for native bees that endures today. “I have my own native bee house and love watching them,” she says.
Collaboration and Communication
Two themes are woven throughout Solares’ career path since graduation: collaborating with government agencies and nonprofits, and figuring out how to best communicate relevant science to farmers and landowners in English and Spanish.
Her capstone project under Kremen—a study of the strawberry pest Lygus hesperus across four Central Coast farms—led to her first job at Driscoll’s, the world’s largest berry company. There, she worked with the USDA extension office in Salinas and gave presentations about soil amendments for the control of Verticillium wilt in strawberries to groups of up to 400 farmers.
After earning an MS in Plant Pathology at UC Riverside in 2019, Solares worked on both soil and water conservation efforts for the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County, providing technical assistance on pest, nutrient, and irrigation management, specifically regarding legacy nitrates.
She joined the IAC in 2021 as a specialist with the organization’s Technical Assistance Network supporting the more than 100 federally recognized tribes in California, plus those in Nevada. “I was attracted by the opportunity to work with the original stewards of this land,” she says.
Solares has helped tribes and tribal producer networks across California and Indian country and has connected them with programs and grants from various corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies—specifically USDA. For example, she helped a cattle farmer from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada win a $5,000 grant from Tillamook County Creamery Association for underrepresented groups in agriculture.
She also helps elevate tribes’ voices on cultural burning. Given California’s fire restrictions, “we do a lot of educating agencies and the public on how cultural burning is both intentional and important,” she says.
Solares is most proud of her work with the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians, helping them forge several strategic partnerships that have tremendously benefited their 600-acre Golden Eagle Farm in Ramona, California. Farmers’ wages are underwritten through the California Department of Food and Agriculture, for example, and the farm has also earned USDA Organic Certification as well as certification through IAC’s American Indian Foods program. “The farm has just bloomed,” Solares says. “It is my happiest success story.”
“It’s a privilege to work for a tribal-led nonprofit organization and to be a part of the Technical Assistance Network team that brings their passion and heart to the work every day to serve our tribes and producers,” she adds. Since 2023, Solares has been the interregional manager overseeing the team of technical assistance specialists serving Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California. “There’s tremendous diversity,” she says. In Alaska, land stewardship for subsistence hunting and gathering is a top priority. In Washington and Oregon, there’s growing attention on programs that protect and support aquatic first foods, such as native oysters or native seaweed.
But the overarching theme across her vast territory remains collaboration. “Some of our greatest challenges lie in teaching agencies how to work effectively with tribes and build relationships,” she says.
“What I find most rewarding is having the opportunity to learn from our Tribal Nations and producers,” she says, “and to identify resources to support them, elevate their voices, and contribute to their resilience and sovereignty through Indian agriculture.”
