#maliseet — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #maliseet, aggregated by home.social.
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When it comes to standing up to #Trump, I laud #Maine Governor #JanetMills. But when it comes to #Wabanaki #Sovereignty, building wind terminals on undeveloped islands (#SearsIsland / #Wahsumkik ), destroying untouched forests to supply #WesternMass with electricity, or building highways through farmland (#MDOT), we definitely DO NOT always see eye-to-eye!
Governor opposed to latest change to #SettlementAct backed by #WabanakiNations
by Emma Davis
Wed, April 9, 2025"Discussion of legislation to afford the Wabanaki Nations more authority over their land revealed that Gov. Janet Mills does not support the change, presenting a steep path for a plan that otherwise has bipartisan support.
"After not testifying during the public hearing last week, the governor’s counsel, Jerry Reid, told the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that Mills’ concerns stem from the inability to predict the future needs of state government, an issue also raised in written testimony from the #MaineDepartmentOfTransportation, which was made available after the hearing.
"When pressed by committee members, Reid said he doesn’t have a specific example of an infrastructure project that would warrant seizing tribal land but that, 'We need to write the law mindful of the potential for problems.'
"While Reid and Wabanaki leaders noted that progress has and continues to be made to improve the relationship between the state and Wabanaki Nations, Reid added, 'the fact that we have such a good relationship right now might not always be true.'
"The U.S. government can seize private property for public use, a principle known as eminent domain, however that authority is restricted by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which requires just compensation for land taken, as well as some federal laws.
"The 1834 federal Indian Nonintercourse Act prohibited land transactions with tribes unless authorized by Congress. However, the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act specified that that federal law was not applicable to the #HoultonBand of #Maliseet Indians, the #PassamaquoddyTribe and the #PenobscotNation.
"This is the act that has overall resulted in the Tribes being treated more akin to #municipalities than #SovereignNations. So far, sweeping changes to the act have failed due to opposition from Mills, but the governor, lawmakers and Wabanaki leaders have successfully made some targeted adjustments, including expanding tribal authority to prosecute crimes last year.
"The legislation being considered this session, #LD958, would amend the Settlement Act to prohibit the state from exercising eminent domain on trust and reservation land, which is protected under federal law, though fee land — or private property for which the owner owns the title — would still be subject to the state taking.
"The bill would also amend the 2023 #MikmaqNationRestorationAct to make this change for the Mi’kmaq Nation, which wasn’t included in the Settlement Act.
"On Tuesday, the Taxation Committee unanimously voted in favor of a bill to ensure equal tax treatment among all of the Wabanaki Nations, which Mills supports. #LD982 would provide the #MikmaqNation the same rights to sales tax revenue on its land that the other three tribes of the Wabanaki Nations were granted in 2022 through an amendment to the Settlement Act.
State hasn’t exercised this authority in decades, but argues it’s necessary"The state hasn’t exercised eminent domain over #TribalLands since the #SettlementAct. However, testimony from Wabanaki leaders and state government officials underscore that it is a possibility."
Source:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/governor-opposed-latest-change-settlement-185134791.html#MaineSettlementAct #EminentDomain #LandTheft #FirstNations #WabanakiConfederancy
#MaineFirstNations #Maine #MainePol
#NativeAmericanNews #TribalSovereignty #SaveSmilingHillFarm #SaveTheForests #MainePol #IndigenousPeoplesDay -
Returning land to tribes is a step towards justice and #sustainability, say #Wabanaki, #EnvironmentalActivists
by Emily Weyrauch, December 1, 2020
"Last month, the Elliotsville Foundation gave back 735 acres to the #PenobscotNation, a parcel of land that connects two Penobscot-held land plots. While this return of land is a significant milestone in terms of the work of conservation groups in Maine, it also reflects a larger shift in thinking about land ownership, from property and caretaking toward #IndigenousStewardship.
"Before European settlers arrived, the land in Maine was stewarded by the Wabanaki people—a confederacy of five nations including Penobscot, #Passamaquoddy, #Maliseet, #Mikmaq and #Abenaki.
"Early treaties between Indigenous tribes and settlers were signed, but not upheld. Early Maine court cases set the precedent for #LandTheft. The state legally prohibited treaty obligations from being published in its constitution. Ever since the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, the state government has significantly limited tribes’ sovereignty and access to ancestral lands. Now, the Maine legislature is preparing to take up a bill that would make 22 law changes to the 1980 act to promote Wabanaki sovereignty and correct the impacts of the 40-year-old piece of legislation that placed Wabanaki people in a separate category from other federally-recognized tribes.
"Currently, a vast majority—90 percent—of land in Maine is privately owned, unlike in states like Nevada, Utah and Idaho, where the vast majority of land is owned by the U.S. government. Less than one percent of Maine land is owned by #Wabanaki people.
"To many Indigenous people, the legacy of white-led conservation groups in Maine and nationwide represents a failure of true environmental stewardship.
"'Across the country, land conservation groups and land trusts participated in depopulating, cutting off Indigenous access to certain lands and resources,' said Dr. Darren Ranco, associate professor of Anthropology and coordinator of Native American Research at the University of Maine.
"Dr. Ranco said that the history of environmental protection in the U.S. starts in the 19th century and focuses on two movements: conservation and preservation.
" 'On the one hand, you have people saying, ‘You want to use the public lands wisely’ — and that often led to extreme forms of exploitation through oil and gas contracts. The other side of it was, ‘Let’s just keep it wild and preserve it as-is, as a wild space,' " said Dr. Ranco, who is a member of the Penobscot Nation. 'Ironically, both of those approaches in the 19th century sought to displace Indigenous people.'
" 'A lot of the [conservation] practices in the past actually marginalized native people, and didn’t allow for their voice to be heard, and discouraged their voices,' said Suzanne Greenlaw, a #Maliseet forestry scientist and PhD student at the University of Maine.
" 'The native approach is very much in the center—we do harvest, but we harvest in a sustainable way that actually forms a relationship with the resource,” said Greenlaw, who conducts research on the sustainable harvesting of sweetgrass by Indigenous people.
"In fact, the way that Indigenous people understand land is markedly different from western ideas of ownership.
" 'The idea of private property puts us in this framing where the land, the water, and the air, and the animals, and everything else—all our relations—are meant to serve us, they are things below us, things to dominate and control and take ownership over,' said Lokotah Sanborn, a Penobscot activist.
" 'For us, it would be absurd to say ‘I own my grandmother,’ or ‘I own my cousin,’ or ‘I own my brother.’ You don’t talk about things like that. And so when we’re talking about land ownership, it’s that same idea —these are our relations, these are things that hold a lot of significance to us,' said Sanborn.
"While the planet’s Indigenous people make up less than five percent of the global population, they manage 25 percent of its land and support 80 percent of global biodiversity, research shows.
" 'We’ve been led down this path toward climate catastrophe and the extinction of millions of species, all to drive #ExtractiveIndustries,' said Sanborn. 'If we wish to reverse these things, we need to give land back into the hands of Indigenous peoples and to respect our ability to protect those lands,' said Sanborn.
"This growing recognition of Wabanaki #stewardship is part of the mission of First Light, a group that serves to connect Wabanaki people with conservation organizations who seek to expand Wabanaki access to land. Currently, 50 organizations are participating, including #MaineAudubon and #TheNatureConservancy.
"Lucas St. Clair, president of the Elliotsville Foundation, participated in First Light’s year-long educational program before fulfilling a request by #JohnBanks, Natural Resources Director for the Penobscot Nation, to return the 735-acre property to the Penobscot Nation. This comes four years after the foundation gave 87,500 acres of land to the federal government for the establishment of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. St. Clair said the foundation currently holds 35,000 acres of land.
" 'In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot of land,' said St. Clair, about the foundation’s recent transfer of 735 acres. 'It was more about justice, relationship-building and awareness.'
" 'You see this move toward Indigenous knowledge and practices of management and conservation that have existed for hundreds of years, and this possibility with land conservation groups and Wabanaki people having a more central role in understanding and managing the lands is coming to the fore,' said Dr. Ranco.
"And while organizations undergo the learning and transformational processes that precede giving back land, and as the legislature and courts are taking up questions of Wabanaki sovereignty and stewardship, people are working on the ground everyday to re-imagine relationships with land.
"Alivia Moore, a Penobscot community organizer with the #EasternWoodlands #Rematriation collective, said that a crucial part of the work of expanding Indigenous access to land in Maine is recognizing and restoring the history of matriarchal Indigenous societies.
" 'To restore land to Indigenous #matriarchies is to make sure that everybody has what they need on and from the earth. There’s enough for everyone,' said Moore
"With #EasternWoodlandsRematriation, Indigenous people are growing their connections to #RegenerativeFoodSystems. Whereas cultural use agreements are more formal ways Indigenous people can access resources from the private land of people and organizations, Moore said other relationships can form and strengthen even informally.
"Years ago, a white farmer offered land to Indigenous women to use for farming to restore their connection to the land. That has been an ongoing relationship that became one of mutual exchange of information and resources, shared learning and shared meals, said Moore.
"The movement to give land back to Indigenous stewardship is not confined to a single organization, legal battle, or project. For Indigenous people—and a growing number of environmental organizations—it is a step toward justice and a sustainable future.
"'Land back is not just about righting past wrongs. The point of land back is that it’s the future, if we wish to adequately address and avoid further global devastation from climate change,' said Sanborn."
#LandBack #WabanakiConfederacy #Wabanakik #WabanakiAlliance #MaineFirstNations #Maine #TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge #IndigenousPeoplesDay
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#AshTree Protection Collaboration Across #Wabanakik
"Ash trees, in particular brown ash (used interchangeably with black ash, Fraxinus nigra), are a cultural keystone species for Wabanaki communities and a crucial part of wetland ecosystems in the Northeast. The spread of the invasive forest pest EAB has caused 99% brown ash tree mortality in other areas of Turtle Island, and will have a considerable effect on ecosystems and traditions as it spreads through the Dawnland.
"Partners of the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik’s (APCAW) have been working for 20 years to prepare for the onset of EAB in Northeastern forests. We are committed to identifying research-informed strategies to protect the future of ash in the Dawnland that align with Wabanaki priorities. The purpose of this website is to share practical knowledge with those who seek to take actions to maintain ash on the landscape. If you’d like to receive event announcements in your inbox, sign up for our newsletter here. Read on to find information about the cultural importance of ash, seed collection efforts, and emerald ash borer (EAB) management.
Why are we called the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik?
"Our name emerged from collaborative conversations about the goals of our shared work. We decided to use the word #Wabanakik to refer to the place where we are located in an effort to center Wabanaki language and ways of knowing. Wabanakik is a term with slightly different meanings in each eastern #Algonquin language, but can be understood in English to mean either 'in the location of the land which is referred to as the #Dawnland' or 'in the location of the People of the Dawn.' Wabanakik stretches from Newfoundland in the north, to mid-Maine in the south, and parts of Quebec in the west.
"APCAW members acknowledge that we are located in the homeland of the #WabanakiConfederacy, which includes the #Abenaki, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Tribal Nations. Wabanakik has a ongoing legacy of #colonialism, of #StolenLand, broken treaties, forced removal and genocide of Wabanaki peoples which have fragmented Wabanaki relationships to land. The People of the Dawn maintain a sacred relationship with brown ash trees since time immemorial. APCAW’s work is to center, protect, and restore this ongoing relationship between Wabanaki peoples and ash ecosystems.
Who are we?
"The Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik (APCAW) is a group of Indigenous and non-indigenous researchers, Tribal members, and forest caretakers working together to bring more awareness of the cultural and ecological significance of ash trees and efforts to conserve them. APCAW continues the initiative set forth by the EAB and Brown Ash Taskforce, which began in the early 2000s to facilitate the collaborative capacity of Wabanaki basketmakers, Tribal Nations, state and federal foresters, and others to prevent, detect, and respond to the EAB. APCAW gives platform to the work of a broad range of partners, including:
• University of Maine School of Forest Resources
• Tribal Nations
#MikmaqNation, Presque Isle
#HoultonBand of #Maliseet Indians, Houlton
#PassamaquoddyTribe at #IndianTownship
Passamaquoddy Tribe at #PleasantPoint #Sipayik
#PenobscotNation, Indian Island• Wabanaki basketmakers and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance
• State and Federal Forestry Agencies
USDA APHIS
State of Maine Department of Agriculture & Forestry
State, Private, and Tribal Forest Service• Conservation organizations and seed saving organizations
The #WildSeedProject
#MaineLandTrustNetworkLearn more (includes links to resources):
https://umaine.edu/apcaw/#Maine #MFS #EAB #EmeraldAshBorer #AshTree #AshTrees #APCAW #InvasiveSpecies #Wabanaki #ProtectTheForests #MaineNews #Maine #SaveTheTrees #WabanakiCulture #WabanakiBasketry #WabanakiTradition #Forestry #ProtectTheSacred #SolarPunkSunday
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As insect invaders approach, researchers use a combination of indigenous knowledge and Western forestry science to save a valuable tradition
By Willy Blackmore Nov 25, 2019,
"Suzanne Greenlaw doesn’t like chainsaws. She moves quickly through the chest-high ostrich ferns, frilly leaves heavy with rain, as the orange saw sputters and then chokes. 'She gets all freaked out,' says Gabriel Frey, laughing as he yanks the starting cord again with one heavily muscled arm, the saw whirring to life. Putting the bar to a trunk of shaggy, gray-tinged bark, he begins to cut, the grinding sound of the saw echoing through the damp, green-lit stand.
"The felled tree is one of three that Frey and Greenlaw carefully picked out of the woods on the cool, damp July day in far northern #Maine. Plenty of logs are hauled out of the forest there, in #AroostookCounty, which is home to a chunk of the #NorthMaineWoods, a 3.5 million-acre expanse of commercial timberland. But Frey and Greenlaw, and the stand of gray-barked trees, are part of a tradition that’s far older than any timber camp or lumber mill. The trees are #FraxinusNigra, commonly known as #BlackAsh or #BrownAsh, which have forever been at the hearts of the lives of Maine’s indigenous tribes.
"Greenlaw, a #Maliseet forestry scientist working on her PhD at the University of Maine, is at the forefront of the effort to protect the state’s brown ash. The trees are at risk of being wiped out by the emerald ash borer, an #InvasiveSpecies that has been killing ash trees in North America for the better part of 20 years. With the help of Frey, a renowned #Passamaquoddy basket maker, as well as the broader #Wabanaki basket-making community, the married couple is fighting to preserve the rich tradition the tree supports."
#IndigenousTraditions #IndigenousWisdom #EmeraldAshBorer #SaveTheTrees #ClimateChange #InvasiveSpecies #MaineWoods #IndigenousPeoplesDay #EAB #EmeraldAshBorerAwarenessWeek
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How to observe #IndigenousPeoplesDay in #Maine
Dan Neumann October 6, 2023
"Tribal members and supporters will rally outside the Maine State House in Augusta on Indigenous People’s Day for #Wabanaki self-determination and transparency around Maine’s #treaty obligations toward tribal nations.
"The rally, organized by the #WabanakiAlliance, a coalition that includes representatives from hundreds of organizations and businesses that support #Wabanaki inherent sovereignty, will start at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 outside the capitol and conclude at 11:30 a.m.
"Participants will be able to make signs and learn more about the 'Yes on 6' campaign ahead of the rally.
"#Question6 on the November ballot asks whether voters support requiring 'that all of the provisions of the Maine Constitution be included in the official printed copies' distributed by the state.
"The tribes are supporting the ballot measure because, since 1876, printed copies of Maine’s Constitution have omitted three sections of the original document, including one pertaining to Maine’s treaty obligations toward the tribes.
"Monday’s Indigenous People’s Day marks a crossroads for the tribes and their allies, after legislation recognizing Wabanaki sovereignty was vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills last summer.
"The law would have amended the jurisdictional arrangement between the tribes and the state that Indigenous leaders have long criticized for leaving the #WabanakiNations with less authority over natural resources, gaming, taxation, criminal justice and economic development on their lands than 570 other federally recognized tribes.
"Celebration at Redbank in South Portland
"Also on Monday, the #SouthPortlandMaine #HumanRights Commission will be hosting an Indigenous People’s Day celebration from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Redbank Community Center, located at 95 MacArthur Circle West in South Portland.
"The celebration will feature speaker Corey Hinton, a citizen of the #Passamaquoddy Tribe at #Sipayik and a lead lawyer on tribal issues in Maine.
"The Cape Elizabeth Rotary will also be serving pancakes and maple syrup sourced from #PassamaquoddyMaple, a company that is '100% tribally owned, with a mission to provide a high-end, small batch, product that will not only sustain our tribal land, but also create jobs for our people.'
"South Portland’s Indigenous People’s Day event is free, family friendly, and open to the public.
"Other events
"The #AbbeMuseum in #BarHarbor is holding a week long series of events through Oct. 9 called “#Indigenous2023 – Celebrating Our Sovereignty“, including #storytelling, a #concert and free museum admission.
"University of Maine, #Farmington [#UMF] is holding events from Oct. 16-19 including a food tasting, storytelling, a film showing and a panel discussion on how to be an ally."
Source:
https://mainebeacon.com/wabanaki-to-rally-on-indigenous-peoples-day-for-self-determination/#IndigenousAlly #GovernmentTransparency #RespectTheTreaties #PenobscotNation #PassamaquoddyNation #Maliseet