Why land return to Indigenous Nations? Discussions on Wáhsehtəkʷ (the Penobscot River east branch project) and beyond.

Land return, rematriation (rebuilding traditional Indigenous stewardship and caretaking practices to ancestral places), and conservation work led by Indigenous peoples intersect with several of the key issues impacting the well-being and cultures of our Indigenous nations. This includes, but is not limited to, issues of environmental and climate justice, food sovereignty, health, and economic justice. Indigenous leadership, knowledge, and decision-making in conservation work also represent conservation best practices — resulting in the most effective ways to conserve lands productively for climate resilience and biodiversity.

Join Anthropologist and Chair of Native American Programs at the University of Maine, Dr. Darren Ranco; Natural Resources Director with the Penobscot Nation, Charles Loring, Jr.; and the Trust for Public Land’s State Director, Betsy Cook, to learn more about the Wáhsehtəkʷ project and land return efforts in Wabanaki territory.