ICT

Indigenous nations and other Native groups in the United States are seeking to repair lands altered by colonization.

A project is currently underway to restore the land of the Wampanoag. The People of the First Light hope to once again practice ceremonies and gather near the animals and plants they consider relatives.

Diana Ruiz is director of the Native Land Conservancy which leads efforts to restore and preserve Indigenous land for the Wampanoag Nation.

“We were pulling out some invasive plants and watering some native plants that members of the Wampanoag community have put into the ground a few months ago. And I say it’s part of a much larger project because it’s really just the first phase of restoring this land that was gifted to the Native Land Conservancy in January of this year.”

Credit: Fin Jones, of Falmouth, Mass., a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, top center, and Jessica Tran, right, of St. Paul, Minn., work to remove invasive plant species at the Wampanoag Common Lands project, in Kingston, Mass., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. The project by the Native Land Conservancy is among efforts by tribes and other Native groups nationwide to reclaim and repair lands altered by western civilization. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

These efforts are also critical in the face of climate change, which has done significant harm to Native communities around the country.

Part of the plan is to transform 20 acres into a highly productive food forest of native trees and shrubs beneficial to both people and wildlife.

And recent trail camera footage is also encouraging. Wildlife is already deepening its relationship with the land, now that the non-Native footprint has dramatically diminished in this pocket of Indigenous territory.

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