Land & Wellness
Native Stewardship
Program Officer
Bonnie Claxton
Chickasaw Nation
“The health of Indigenous Peoples is inherently tied to the well-being of the land we call home. The Center for Native Health’s Land & Wellness Program Area is proud to support community-lead, grassroots efforts that prioritize shifting Indigenous land and food sovereignty, towards a return to living in balance with the land, air, water, plants, and animals we rely on for the well-being of our communities.”
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Earth Keepers.
ᎡᎶᎯ ᏗᏂᎦᏘᏱ “Elohi Dinigatiyi” Earth Keepers are traditional Cherokee knowledge keepers supported by The Center for Native Health’s Land & Wellness Program who came together to apply Kituwah science, and the language that protects it, to conserve and preserve the mountains, forests, water, and air and all they contain. They advise the EBCI Natural Resources Department and others on how to best care for Cherokee people and lands
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Convergent Pyroscapes.
Working with scholars from the University of Georgia, The Center for Native Health’s Land & Wellness Program will be contributing Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to the existing research about fire on landscape, how TEK and Western science can work together to restore environmental health, and how to reintegrate both TEK and fire back into landscape stewardship for future generations
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Kituwah Community Garden.
We will be continuing our work at the Kituwah Community Garden, with The Center for Native Health’s Land & Wellness Program having confirmed our lease for another year, having planted three sisters, and having a plan for our resulting produce to be used in the community. Those hoping to contribute to the community garden space can sign up to volunteer using the link below. If you have traditional or heirloom seeds you might be interested in sharing with our organization, please use the contact form below to let us know
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Land Conservation (EBCI NatRes).
The Center for Native Health, Earth Keepers, and the EBCI Natural Resources Department have partnered on various projects to engage the community in land management decision-making
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Land Designation & Conservation Policy Research Fellowship.
Through a partnership with The Wilderness Society, the Center for Native Health has developed a summer fellowship to engage Cherokee youth in policy work that centers the viewpoint of Indigenous Peoples in land management within their homelands
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US Forest Service.
The Center for Native Health’s Land & Wellness Program and the US Forest Service are engaged in a years-long effort to engage Cherokee cultural specialists and knowledge keepers with biodiversity on their ancestral lands currently managed by the USDA Forest Service. To accomplish this, The Center for Native Health’s Land & Wellness Program and the US Forest Service consult with Earth Keepers, as a culturally based advisory group, on target areas including unique habitats and biodiversity hot spots and convene Tribal cultural specialist meetings and field trips reconnecting with these areas
Contact us.
Do you have questions about Land & Wellness?
We’d like to hear from you - send us a message!
Upcoming events.
Check back with this public calendar for updates and events from the Center for Native Health’s Land & Wellness Program Area.