Local students build sustainable forestry video game with tribal partners

A team of honors students at MSOE collaborated with Menominee Tribal Enterprises and the Oneida Nation to create a video game called The Giving Forest that models sustainable forestry practices. Presented at the 2024 Arbor Day Peace Tree Planting Ceremony at the Children’s Museum of Green Bay, the project teaches players to tend a forest responsibly while responding to sick trees, severe weather and natural disasters. A video of the students presenting their work is available through the Children’s Museum of Green Bay virtual programs on YouTube.

Students worked directly with forest managers at the sawmill to learn real world practices to translate into gameplay. Menominee Tribal Enterprises is described as an internationally recognized sustainable wood supplier with FSC certification and long term forest management, and this partnership grounded the game in practices used by working forests. Project leaders intend to share the finished game with Indigenous communities, professional foresters and school children at an international level, creating an educational bridge between tribal stewardship and broader forestry education.

For Menominee County residents the collaboration carries practical and cultural significance. Teaching young people how to manage forest health can support watershed protection, air quality and climate resilience in our region, while reinforcing Indigenous perspectives on land care that have sustained forests for generations. The game also offers a way to expand access to forestry education in classrooms that may lack field trip budgets or specialized staff, and to support workforce pipelines into local forestry and sawmill jobs.

The project highlights policy and equity issues that matter locally. Investments in digital educational tools and partnerships with tribal governments can help ensure that community knowledge is respected and disseminated on equal footing. County leaders and school districts may consider integrating such materials into curricula, and supporting broadband and device access so all students can benefit.

The Giving Forest is an example of how technology, traditional stewardship and vocational practice can come together to promote both environmental health and community resilience. Residents who want to see the presentation can view the students at the Arbor Day Peace Tree Planting Ceremony on the Children’s Museum of Green Bay virtual programs YouTube channel.