Indigenous Land Steward Fellowship

HTPI Mentors and Collaborators D. Toya and H. Dukepoo at Big Bear Farms, Jemez Pueblo, NM. Photo by RedFox HillHTPI Fellows R. Bantea and R. Kallestewa mixing mud to build an horno, Tsu'yya Farm, NM. Photo by RedFox HillHTPI Fellows J. Curry and R. Bantea with C. Lomawunu and M. Mahkewa thinning corn at the Lomatska Family Field, Hopi Tutskwa, AZ. Photo by RedFox HillHTPI Fellows and Mentors learning how to set up one-rock dams for Rainwater Harvesting in Dryland Fields, Hopi Tutskwa, AZ. Photo by RedFox Hill.

The Hopi Tutskwa Indigenous Land Steward Fellowship is an opportunity for land-based practitioners to share their vision of land stewardship, to identify and invest in their continued land-based work, and to provide opportunities for fellows to strengthen their personal healing and wellbeing. The Hopi Tutskwa Land Steward Fellowship supports Indigenous Land Stewards from throughout the Indigenous Southwest. This Fellowship is designed to support, uplift, and recognize visionary leaders who are actively engaged in generative land-based solutions within their communities. Applicants come from all life experiences and professional backgrounds, working or aspiring to work towards Indigenous land-based stewardship practices that bring healing to our communities and revitalize Indigenous culture, tradition, language, and ways of life. Our Program upholds Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture's values, including recognizing the interconnectedness of all living beings, continuing intergenerational practices to strengthen community while working together to reinforce Nami'nangwa and Sumi'nangwa, Hopi cultural values that promote cooperation, reciprocity, respect, resilience and kinship.

The Overarching Goal of our program is to increase the capacity of land-based Indigenous leadership in developing community driven solutions that center place-based learning to nurture the ecosystems of the Southwest and foster deeper relationships with sacred homelands. The following objectives were developed to meet this goal: 

●  Community building: Engage Indigenous Fellows, Tribal members, Farmers, Culture Bearers, Indigenous Knowledge practitioners, Tribal Programs, and key community groups in core planning.

●  Capacity Building: Strengthen local food and agricultural systems, rekindle traditional Indigenous Kinship relations, build shared capacity and increase resilience in Indigenous communities.

●  Skill building and education: Organize land-based hands-on learning opportunities focused on sharing traditional land stewardship practices while reconnecting with the land, soil, and water, and integrating traditional and cultural ecological stewardship practices into existing processes.

●  Acknowledgement of cultural and traditional values: Explore land/foodscapes within Indigenous territories including topography, Indigenous names of sacred sites, farming areas, vegetation, traditional practices, Indigenous ecological knowledge, songs, narratives, and cultural ceremonies.

●  Community Media: Develop digital storytelling vignettes and community media to recognize and uplift traditional and culturally significant places.

Our first fellowship cohort includes Indigenous land stewards from the Hopi, Zuni Pueblo, Acoma Pueblo, Dińe, and Akimel O'odham/Piipash Nations. We believe that it is necessary to support emerging land stewards as a way to build a more just and equitable future. We support fellows with a financial award, this represents a commitment recognizing that Indigenous land stewards uphold cultural ecosystem services that ensure the health of our land and waters often without recognition or compensation for their labor. We curate land-based hands-on learning opportunities for fellows to connect to each other in facilitated discussions and hands-on land based field experiences that promote health and wellness. Our sessions guide land stewards in engaging with community driven solutions that center place-based learning to help land stewards nurture the ecosystems of the Southwest and foster deeper relationships with their sacred homelands. This work is significant because it represents an Indigenized practice of restoring traditional Indigenous kinship networks which have been impacted by settler colonization. An important aspect of building kinship is rooted in reconnecting with Indigenous relatives in an immersive way within our collective tribal communities and ancestral homelands. 

HTPI Staff and Mentors H. Dukepoo and M. Mahkewa harvesting Cholla Cactus Buds, Salt River, AZ. Photo by RedFox Hill.HTPI Fellow J. Curry preserving Cholla Cactus buds for long term storage, Salt River, AZ. Photo by RedFox Hill. HTPI Fellows and Mentors learning how to remove thorns from Cholla Cactus buds for short/long-term food use, Salt River, AZ. Photo by RedFox Hill.

HTPI Fellows, Mentors, and Collaborators on a Monsoon Plant walk with Hopi Field Botanist Max Taylor, Window Rock, AZ. Photo courtesy of Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture Institute.