The Leelanau Conservancy is committed to elevating Anishinaabe voices in land conservation and stewardship. The Indigenous Knowledges Project is a Leelanau Conservancy initiative to conduct land assessments with elders and culture carriers, co-create communications & engagement programming, and form strong partnerships. Similar to other assessments we currently perform on properties in our care, we are learning and collecting invaluable information about the lands and waters of Leelanau and how they can be best stewarded for generations. By expanding the ways in which we identify conservation values and engage with our Anishinaabeg neighbors, the Leelanau Conservancy can be more inclusive and comprehensive caretakers of Leelanau.
Follow along as we release a series of videos in honor of Native American Heritage Month, and a 5-episode podcast series produced by Mark Wilson of New Leonard Media.
Podcast
Listen above on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/indigenous-knowledges-podcast/id1785942379
Videos
Grand Traverse Band Tribal Elder Hank Bailey shares some of his teachings and stories about the personal impact of land access restrictions. This video is a part of the Indigenous Knowledges Series, a project with the goal to elevate Aanishinaabeg voices in conservation through conversation. This video was produced by Mark Wilson of New Leonard Media. https://newleonard.com/
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Tribal Elder Hank Bailey shares about the significance of smudging.
We were honored to have a land visit with Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) member JoAnne Cook this past winter. Visits like these are expanding the ways in which we understand the land and engage with the Anishinaabeg community. Produced by New Leonard Media.
RCPP Partnership
GTB is the lead partner of the Tribal Stream and Michigan Fruitbelt Collaborative, a part of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), a partner-driven approach to conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. This is the first indigenous-led collaborative of its kind in the nation, and has brought over $20 million to the region. The Leelanau Conservancy is grateful to GTB for their leadership on this effort, and to partners Conservation Resource Alliance and Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.
“The Tribal Stream and Michigan Fruitbelt Collaborative’s primary goal is the preservation and restoration of the fragmented multi-tribal fisheries and wildlife populations in northwest Lower Michigan. These natural resources face challenges posed by the modern transportation network’s disruption and unsustainable development. The Anishinaabeg people heavily depend on stream crossings within the contemporary transportation system as vital access points, enabling them to exercise their Treaty-protected rights to hunt, fish, trap, and gather resources within the 1836 Treaty of Washington Ceded Territory. Led by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians, one objective of this project is to rectify 29 problematic stream crossing structures throughout the Ceded Territory.
Furthermore, the local waterways and wildlife corridors face additional threats from escalating development pressures. Particularly concerning are the areas proximate to water bodies jointly managed by tribal governments for both commercial and subsistence purposes. To ensure the protection of vital groundwater supplies and to maintain the viability of these pivotal wildlife corridors, a second objective will be undertaken safeguarding 3,700 acres with perpetual conservation easements which will significantly limit development and maintain rainwater infiltration.” (Excerpt from nrcs.usda.gov.)
Read the recent Ticker article on the latest round of funding: https://www.leelanauticker.com/news/204-million-for-farmland-protection-watershed-restoration/
Learn more about GTB: https://www.gtbindians.org/
