How a Land Acknowledgment Can Correct Stereotypes of American History
Here鈥檚 how to properly recognize Indigenous people and the land we鈥檝e stewarded for millennia.
Conservation
Guide to Land Acknowledgment
Wherever you are in the United States, you鈥檙e on Native land. Here鈥檚 how to acknowledge that.
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Maybe you鈥檝e heard one before: at the start of an event, the speaker names the Indigenous groups that once or currently steward the land they鈥檙e standing on. This is a land acknowledgment. The growing practice, which spread to the United States from Canada, recognizes Indigenous people as the land鈥檚 ancestral caretakers and pays respect to modern native nations. Read aloud or shared in writing, a land acknowledgment also expresses a commitment to connecting with their descendants today.
Land acknowledgment is an exercise based in protocol for inter-tribal meetings. 鈥淲henever we go to someone鈥檚 land, we recognize ourselves as visitors on their territory, exchange cultural practices, and welcome one another,鈥 says Allan Vicaire from the Mi鈥檊maq community of Listuguj and project coordinator with Concordia University鈥檚 Indigenous office. 鈥淟and acknowledgment continues with that tradition.鈥 Whether you鈥檙e leading a bird walk or looking to understand your home鈥檚 Indigenous history, this expert advice will help you find the words to craft your own.
Birders have a norm around: 鈥淲hat can I cross off my list at this place?鈥 Land acknowledgment leads to deeper engagement with cultural and social dynamics of land we鈥檙e visiting. At a meeting, before we delve into work, we recognize historical wrongs that need to be righted. We are actively looking to support tribes鈥 priorities. Making the statement can be uncomfortable. It requires constant learning and adjusting. There is no perfect way to say it. But are we better off saying it or keeping quiet about it? That鈥檚 where I tend to come down. 鈥擳rina Bayard, director of bird conservation, 探花精选 Washington
Anatomy of a Land Acknowledgment
There is no formula. Writing your land acknowledgment requires research, thought, and time with uncomfortable truths. Done well, it is not performative but rather expresses an authentic, personal relationship with the land and its Native people. Indigenous experts offer some guidelines.
Language
Use Indigenous language for group and place names. Confirm pronunciation and practice it before you read your statement aloud.
Location
Identify the land you鈥檙e occupying or engaging with. Then name the group(s) with ancestral ties. Don鈥檛 acknowledge 鈥淚ndigenous people鈥 generally. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to be specific,鈥 says Felicia Garcia, creator of and who is Samala Chumash. Share cultural knowledge, too. Concordia University, for example, acknowledges Montreal as a Kanien鈥檏eh谩:ka (Mohawk) diplomatic and trade hub.
Intention
Articulate why you or your organization wants to acknowledge the land and what you hope to achieve. 鈥淗ow does it relate to you personally and the work you鈥檙e doing?鈥 Garcia asks. Finding the right words can take work and discussions. Continually refine your aims. Reading your statement should not be rote. 鈥淚t has to be very authentic,鈥 Vicaire says. 鈥淪peak from the heart.鈥
History
Explain the history. Don鈥檛 avoid harsh realities. Colonizers often stole land and killed or displaced Indigenous people. Say so plainly. Naturalists can also acknowledge traditional stewardship. 鈥淚ndigenous people have been doing conservation work for time immemorial but are often left out of the conversation,鈥 Garcia says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to credit them.鈥
Present-Day
Describe where ancestral tribes live now. 鈥淧eople often think Native people are figures of the past,鈥 Garcia says. But despite dispossession and colonization, they persist. 鈥淭hey have ties to that land and practice that culture.鈥
Action
Land acknowledgment is not a performance of inclusivity. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a commitment to future work to dismantle the harmful legacies of colonialism,鈥 Garcia says. 鈥淥therwise it鈥檚 kind of pointless.鈥 Look up the named nations鈥 priorities and examine how you can support them, for example by donating money, skills, or time. Then act on your intention.
探花精选 Magazine鈥檚 Land Acknowledgment
探花精选 magazine is produced by staff working primarily on Lenapehoking, the homelands of the Lenape people. Lenapehoking includes New York City, New Jersey, and parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
We acknowledge the Lenape as the original inhabitants and stewards of this place; honor their continuing relationship with Lenapehoking; and express our gratitude for their past, present, and future role as caretakers of these lands. As creators of an environmental and conservation magazine, our work intends to learn from, and be in dialogue with, millennia of Lenape and other Indigenous traditions and stewardship.
European colonists pushed many Lenape West out of Lenapehoking in the end of the 1700s. In the 1860s the United States Indian removal policy relocated other self-governing Lenape people against their will to designated Indian Territory in Oklahoma under the 1830 Indian Removal Act. Today federal- and state-recognized Lenape groups live in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Delaware, and New Jersey. Other Lenape people are not recognized by federal or state governments.
As a small step in the direction of correcting the legacy of historical and present wrongs鈥攐f ongoing colonial land occupation, and of the colonial lens of American journalism and conservation writing鈥探花精选 magazine commits to featuring Indigenous perspectives in our journalism about their homelands and sharing Indigenous conservation practice and knowledge with our readers.
We invite collaboration with Indigenous contributors. To share stories with us, contact audubonmagazine@audubon.org.
Between 1776 and 1887, the United States seized some 1.5 billion acres from North America鈥檚 Indigenous nations by war, treaty, and executive order. The following maps, created with data compiled by University of Georgia historian Claudio Saunt, show how rapidly European colonists dispossessed Indigenous Americans of their homelands and lifeways. Play back the full dataset or
By 1783 colonists had already seized Native land throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic as well as portions of the Gulf Coast, southern California, and North Dakota.
By 1830 the United States had seized 411 million acres from Indigenous nations, mostly east of the Mississippi River. After decades of warfare to impel Native nations to surrender land via treaty, the 1830 Indian Removal Act allowed the government and military to forcibly relocate Native people living east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory out West. This opened some 25 million acres of Native homelands in the Southeast, belonging to Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Seminole, and other nations, to white settlers and cotton farmers. Many thousands of Native Americans died on the journey along what became known as the Trail of Tears.
By 1870 the United States had seized 1.16 billion acres from Indigenous nations as the doctrine of Manifest Destiny pushed colonists farther West. This was a dark period of ethnic cleansing as white settlers forcibly removed, massacred, or enslaved Native Americans they encountered. Decades later, after the "wilderness" had been cleared of its Native inhabitants and stewards, many western lands were protected as national parks or other conservation areas.
By 1887 the United States had seized 1.41 billion acres from Indigenous nations. In this year the federal government passed the Dawes Act, which broke up lands belonging to tribal nations and divvied them up among individual tribe members. Over the next several decades, the U.S. government used this policy to strip more than 90 million acres from Native Americans and sell that land to non-Native U.S. citizens.
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In science-based management plans, we talk about plants and soils. Those patterns incorporate traditional knowledge. Many Indigenous cultures had a low-intensity way of working the land, which created a mosaic of habitats. A diversity of habitats supports a diversity of birds. In my plans, I am starting to include a paragraph about how the land was influenced by Native nations and how that influences what you鈥檙e seeing today. It gives me another way to talk about the importance of nature and the legacy of our land. 鈥擜imee Tomcho, conservation biologist, 探花精选 North Carolina
Native Land is a tool that uses your zip code to drill down into native territories, languages, and treaties鈥攅ach a keyword to unlocking more information. Go to .
Cultural institutions point you to knowledge and experts. Indigenous scholars at universities and museums can answer questions or confirm language and pronunciation.
Tribal governments can be excellent resources. However, ensure you鈥檙e not seeking approval, Vicaire says. Be respectful if tribes don鈥檛 help. 鈥淭hey have their own challenges.鈥
Examples online can provide models to follow and inspiration. Glean language tips and, along the way, absorb a variety of Indigenous experiences.
In Alaska, Indigenous nations steward a greater portion of land than they do in much of the United States. They know about wildlife and ecology from living here for so long. We learn so much from them that鈥檚 not reported in Western science. I have committed to doing a land acknowledgment no matter what meeting I鈥檓 in and whether anyone else does it. When you lead, others start to join in. Alaska Natives have told me how welcome it made them feel. It sets a foundation for trust. It鈥檚 not everything, but it鈥檚 a step in the right direction. 鈥擱ebecca Sentner, senior communications manager, 探花精选 Alaska
Journalism About Indigenous Communities
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The Sayisi Dene and their Cree, Dene, and Inuit neighbors are surveying the remote avian habitats of the Seal River Watershed to help support their case for permanent protection.
Rulers of the Upper Realm, Thunderbirds Are Powerful Native Spirits
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Working to Restore Bird Habitat, I Carry On Traditions That Were Meant to Be Erased
Indigenous Peoples鈥 Day is a chance to celebrate the diversity and resilience of our country鈥檚 original inhabitants, whose long-overlooked ecological knowledge can help guide conservation today.
In Canada鈥檚 Boreal Forest, a New National Park Faces the Wrongs of the Past鈥攁nd Guards Our Climate Future
Thaidene N毛n茅, declared this summer, is a milestone for an Indigenous-led conservation movement that can help keep carbon in the ground and protect crucial habitat as the planet warms.
Reimagining the Canada Goose
Illustrating this familiar bird was part of artist Luke Swinson's exploration of his Indigenous roots.
Reimagining the American White Ibis
April SGaana Jaad White uses Northwest Coast designs to reimagine this Southeastern bird.
Reimagining the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Artist John Paul Brammer finds inspiration in Oklahoma鈥檚 expansive skies and Native American regalia.
Other Land Acknowledgment Resources
Guides to Land Acknowledgment
Felicia Garcia (Chumash),
/
Native Governance Center,
California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center & Land Acknowledgement:
by Lor茅n Spears
/
Acknowledgment FAQs
: A Guest Post by Dr. Eugenia Zuroski
On Commitment to Action
芒辫颈丑迟补飞颈办辞蝉颈蝉芒苍,
The Mainlander,
Relearning History for Conservationists
by Mark Dowie
(1995) by William Cronon
(2004) by Mac Chapin
, Public Land and Resources Law Review
Books:
Conservation Refugees by Mark Dowie
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
1491 by Charles Mann
As Long as the Grass Grows by Dina Gilio-Whitaker
Land Return/Land Back
with Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy - For the Wild podcast
- The Atlantic
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