Hemp Voices: Lisa Sundberg, Indigenous Habitat Institute
Lisa Sundberg serves as the CEO of the Indigenous Habitat Institute (IHI), Trinidad, CA
I am of Native Yurok descent and a member of the Trinidad Rancheria in Northern California. I am a visionary, activist, a bit of a strategist and love doing service for our community, especially during ceremony time. My biggest success was helping develop an industry sector in Indian gaming in the early 90’s. Coupled with my work serving in healthcare I’ve taken a few pages from these play books and applying them to our work in the hempcrete/hemp industry.
I first learned about hempcrete in 2015. It had so many super powers that checked off so many boxes that were plaguing housing and became my goal to advocate for it after COVID when all industries had to rethink supply chain and carbon impact. Since then catastrophic wild fires kept happening in California followed by sky rocketing housing insurance causing people to lose their homes and the mass exodus of insurance companies leaving our state. There have been energy hikes, and I’ve seen black mold our region, so it hit home on my reservation causing health concerns to our members, etc…
Now with the Palisades and Eaton wildfires I feel we are finally at a fever pitch and a pivotal moment in history that has government agencies, developers and home owners searching for real building solutions and the ways we build communities.
Hempcrete is a powerful contender as a carbon negative building material moving forward. Once you know what it can do, you can’t un-know it. Bio based materials can no longer be overlooked coupled with better practices of property design. It can literally save lives, our cherished belongings and lasts beyond 7 generations.
Why are we looking to France and Europe? France has a mature hemp industry due to the absence of hemp prohibition, providing a model for prefabrication, workforce training (including retrofit), and supply chains. And prefabrication is a standard practice to build quality homes in countries like Sweden where building seasons are short.
IHI and our advisors have been focusing on three critical initiatives since its inception in 2021, that will foster the realization of hempcrete in mass production and make it available to the mainstream construction industry under professional rules. We are also leaning into indigenous knowledge to help us in modern times. Yurok people mastered forest management over 1,000’s of years that are now being embraced by government agencies managing our Forests. Also how we used nature to build a home that faced the elements was incredibly masterful.
Out side of IHI, as an unconventional visionary I see the book ends from soil to turnkey and the need to hyperlocalize a regenerative material that can solve for housing security by regions.
What was a recent win for your organization?
Our project received approximately $600,000 in partnership with College of the Redwoods (CR) and the Global Hemp Inmovation Center out of a Oregon State through the USDA SAS grant to develop hemp economies with Pacific Northwest Tribes and for U.S.
We just received a green light to start testing our walls for earthquake, R value and most importantly a 4 hour burn. It includes starting the first accredited work force training through CR. This combined work will help us model an industry lift. We also will begin the implementation of cultural designs and will embrace cultural wisdom as we design the future.. Watch for the upcoming short film, “People of the Plank House.”
In 2024, IHI initiated its first permitted prefabricated hempcrete house being built in Eureka California, the county seat of Humboldt County. The home will be a 700 sq ft Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) meeting both County and state code. This home will be made from prefabricated hempcrete panels made from “certified materials” and will be produced at the Hoopa Tribe’s 60,000 sq ft modular in partnership with non profit Building Lives by Building Structures led by Franklin Richards.
What is something about hemp building/construction/processing you didn’t know a year ago?
We’re not all playing the same game even inside of hempcrete construction. But the collective pieces build an industry.
I have worked in two highly regulated industries and I believe certified material and professional rules are the key to scalability.
The industry leaders in my opinion are those who have been laying the tracks for this to be mainstream. I’m grateful for all of the work everyone is doing to build up codes and making people aware of it’s amazing benefits by building and sharing the work.
What challenges can you identify for the hemp building industry that we must overcome?
Alignment is one. This includes government agencies, tribal governments, universities and private industry and marketing to educate the consumers.
Grassroots efforts and grants take too long. But trail blazing has to create a path. Well that foundation is ready for next level. We need impact funding for capacity building, marketing, factories, retrofit infrastructure etc and we need it NOW! There are many facets of the industry that have to be built underneath it to scale. In my experience, what changes the game are funded projects large enough to launch a region. Then rinse, learn, and repeat into other regions and countries. 💚
Its been an exciting journey. We are looking for serious impact players who understand industry development and can take this to the next level. For those interested in createing a hempcrete building fund, contact us through my email.
Email: LisaSundbergInc@gmail.com
Phone: (951) 833-8888
