Despite being our planet’s greatest protectors, Indigenous voices and wisdom have long been silenced by violence and systemic oppression. It’s imperative that we honor and uplift Indigenous people and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in order to make meaningful and lasting environmental action.
So, what is Traditional Ecological Knowledge? Closely related to Indigenous Knowledge, TEK is the knowledge, practices and worldviews that Indigenous communities have developed over generations through close, reciprocal relationships with their homelands. Rooted in specific places and cultural and spiritual traditions, it includes deep understanding of local ecosystems, animal behavior, plant use and land stewardship practices such as sustainable harvesting.
In America, five notable biomes stretch across diverse ecosystems: aquatic, grassland, forest, desert and tundra. We reached out to our network of Indigenous-led impact partners in the United States to see how they’re using Traditional Ecological Knowledge to protect and preserve these biomes we all call home.
Aquatic
Consisting of 73 First Nations and Tribes, the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC) is an Indigenous grassroots environmental organization working to protect and preserve the Yukon River Watershed. YRITWC works directly alongside Yukon First Nations and Alaskan Tribes to support aquatic research, awareness programs and watershed health classes.
Grassland
The Piikani Lodge Health Institute (PLHI) is an Indigenous-founded nonprofit focused on promoting the health and well-being of Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet people and lands. PLHI is based in Browning, Montana, within the Blackfeet Indian Reservation on Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) Traditional Territory. At the intersection of knowledge and action, PLHI uses Indigenous planning and applied research to steward Montana’s grasslands.
Their Regenerative Agriculture & Food Sovereignty programs utilize grazing to improve the economic and ecological sustainability of the Blackfeet Nation and surrounding prairie lands. PLHI educates the community on land use, agriculture, conservation, nutrition and traditional land-use food biochemistry.
Forest
The Native Land Conservancy is a Native-run land conservation group that preserves healthy landscapes and restores land to its original state by drawing on Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The group uses its generations of firsthand experience—in the woodlands, coastlines and waterways of New England—to offer educational programs on land giveback to local Indigenous communities.
Desert
The Hózhó Center is led by three Diné women working to support the local community on around 2,000 acres of traditional Diné homeland. Its mission is to revitalize the Diné traditional economy by offering direct and indirect services to the Diné people. The center uses the philosophy of Hózhóo, to exist sustainably within the natural environment, and K’é, to exist for the benefit of the community.
Tundra
The Native Conservancy empowers Alaska Native peoples to protect and preserve endangered habitats on their ancestral homelands. The organization has geared much of its efforts toward building resilient communities and regenerative economies in order to fight climate change.
One of its most pivotal milestones happened when the Native Conservancy and their sister organization, the Eyak Preservation Council, successfully protected an area of Alaska’s coastal temperate rainforest habitats.
Cover photo by Eric Wolfinger for Native Conservancy.
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