Today, we honor Indigenous People`s Day, celebrating the rich cultures, histories, and invaluable contributions of Indigenous communities across the United States. We also recognize Indigenous peoples as the original caretakers of this land, whose knowledge has guided sustainable land stewardship practices for generations.

At Mt. Adams Institute, we partner with organizations that work to right the wrongs of the past and strengthen the connection between people and the natural world.

This year, we’re proud to highlight the work of Val Pulido, an MAI VetsWork intern, currently serving as a Land Survey Technician with the US Forest Service on the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan. Val’s efforts as a Land Survey Tech are a part of a crucial land surveying project that will bring Land Surveyors together from several forests across the nation to support the return of 11,760 acres of land within the Chippewa National Forest to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

The restoration of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation is a vital step in restoring the Leech Lake Band’s ancestral lands and correcting decades of wrongful sales and secretarial transfers which occurred without landowners consent, eroding and fragmenting reservation lands and leaving less than five percent of treaty-guaranteed land in trust.

The ongoing effort to restore the Leech Lake Band Ojibwe Reservation is a powerful example of righting the injustices of the past and what collaborations between the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Indigenous communities can achieve.

To learn more about the Leech Lake Band Ojibwe Reservation Restoration Act, google the following:

🌎 Righting a Wrong: Restoring Lands to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
🌎 USFS Celebrates Homeland Restoration
🌎 Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Restoration Act

#IndigenousPeoplesDay #LandStewardship #MtAdamsInstitute #LandBack #BLM #USFS #LeechLakeBandofOjibwe

Across the nation MAI interns spent #NationalPublicLandsDay (NPLD) giving back to their communities.

One such intern, Nate Jensen, an MAI Land Steward intern and Environmental Educator with WREN in the West Eugene Wetlands spent his day weeding the Fern Ridge pedestrian path in the West Eugene Wetlands alongside the WREN team, the BLM Springfield Interagency District Office and community volunteers.

Together they removed three truckloads of invasive weeds and other overgrown vegetation.

“This effort will allow some of the lower-growing native flowers a better chance to survive and get the nutrients they need come spring” shared WREN staff on their facebook.

"We’re so grateful for your volunteer efforts as we aim to conserve the wetland/wet prairie habitats that we are lucky to have and learn in right in our back yard!”

To see photos from the NPLD event and learn more about WREN’s education and conservation efforts follow them on facebook!

#mtadamsinstitute #AmeriCorps #npld #wren #westeugenewetlands #conservation