Thanks to PooKitty for sending this article in -- National Geographic has a fascinating piece about the growing number of Native American tribes trying to restore the environment, and be stewards of the very land which was once taken from them.
Reporter Charles Bowden looks first-hand at conservation programs being established in an unlikely place - reservations and Native American lands from the Pacific Northwest to the Florida Everglades.
Santa Clara Pueblo's ecosytem was nearly destroyed by fire about ten years ago, and yet today it's a blooming biosphere, filled with plants and animals that haven't been seen in the area in a very long time. The pueblo's recreation director, Stanley Tafoya, told Bowden, "What we are trying to do is restore our resources. The older people want their grandkids to enjoy the canyon we once knew."
Two hundred miles north of San Francisco, in the Sinkyone redwood forest, the land was once claimed by timber companies. Now, a tribal consortium is working together to restore some 4,000 acres of wilderness. Bowden says, "The Sinkyone are a people who "fix the world" every year through a series of ceremonies. One of their stories is that the creator made the world and patted everything down, and then "bad men were not satisfied and tore it down, tore up the ocean banks, tore up the trees, tore down the mountains. Since that time [they] have had to sing and dance every year to make it right again."
Perhaps that's an idea we can all embrace.
Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook.
Reporter Charles Bowden looks first-hand at conservation programs being established in an unlikely place - reservations and Native American lands from the Pacific Northwest to the Florida Everglades.
Santa Clara Pueblo's ecosytem was nearly destroyed by fire about ten years ago, and yet today it's a blooming biosphere, filled with plants and animals that haven't been seen in the area in a very long time. The pueblo's recreation director, Stanley Tafoya, told Bowden, "What we are trying to do is restore our resources. The older people want their grandkids to enjoy the canyon we once knew."
Two hundred miles north of San Francisco, in the Sinkyone redwood forest, the land was once claimed by timber companies. Now, a tribal consortium is working together to restore some 4,000 acres of wilderness. Bowden says, "The Sinkyone are a people who "fix the world" every year through a series of ceremonies. One of their stories is that the creator made the world and patted everything down, and then "bad men were not satisfied and tore it down, tore up the ocean banks, tore up the trees, tore down the mountains. Since that time [they] have had to sing and dance every year to make it right again."
Perhaps that's an idea we can all embrace.
Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook.
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