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First Light Learning Journey

with Bonnie and Becca

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What is First Light?

From the First Light website:

First Light is a collaboration in Maine between hundreds of leaders, 65 organizations and Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Mi’kmaq Communities to re-learn history, recenter Indigenous voice and to return land, resources and power. We commit to working collectively with the understanding that we are stronger together: many organizations might be able to achieve what one organization could not.

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5 “R’s Guiding principles

Respect: developing relationship takes time and listening
Responsibility: learning “core” of stories first, must be committed to change
Relationality: account for relations
Reciprocity: (according to Lokotah Sanborn) is the most important, always try to give something back from wherever you take
Reverence: learning a little at a time, honoring the knowledge you gain

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What was our 4 days like?

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Who was there with us?

The Nature Conservancy (3)

Somali Bantu Maine (3)

Harvard Forest (1)

University of Maine (1)

State of Vermont (1)

University of Vermont (1)

Land in Common (1)

Heart of the Rockies (1)

Maine Farmland Trust (1)

Kaniksu Land Trust (1)

Baxter State Park (1)

Maine Audubon (2)

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (1)

Vermont Land Trust (2)

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Ultimate goals of First Light Intensive

Relearn�Relearning the stories we take for granted, relearning historical narratives

Recenter

Re-prioritizing indigenous needs & land

Centering Wabanaki people is not the same as asking Wabanaki people to sit on our boards. It is building capacity to help them create their own boards, power, voice, priorities & capacity.

Return

“Progress moves at the speed of trust”

Restoring access, land, power, knowledge, and decision making to indigenous people.

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Why Are These Goals important?

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Tribal land loss from 1776- 1930

Land stolen via forced removal, massacres, broken treaties, bad-faith bargaining, congressional decrees, and the creation of national parks over tribal lands.

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Land “conserved” 1869-2020

Myth of “untouched wilderness” proliferates.

Disregard/ignorance of indigenous ecological stewardship, protection and knowledge, combined with over-extraction, leads to ecological instability and mass extinction. Even in large swaths of “conserved” land.

Some of our most famous national parks were created by the federal government while indigenous people still lived there, and military removal followed, like Yosemite and Yellowstone. Indigenous people were seen to be an eyesore, dangerous, and inconsequential to the natural beauty in which they lived. Western idea of conservation embraces the concept of untouched wilderness, which has proven to be incredibly destructive. This is most obvious in places like California, which now burns almost year-round as a direct result of colonial mismanagement and prohibition of controlled burns. But every region of the US has its own version of this mismanagement, both historical and contemporary.

Something we discussed quite a bit was the ethics of permanent property easements as a tool of colonialism. It is complicated because we are the good guys compared to heavy industry, and easements are one of the few tools we have to protect land from development. But conservation is the other side of the colonialism coin. And isn’t it a bit audacious of us to think we know what this land will need in 100 or 1000 years, especially when it has been so deeply changed in just 50? Especially when you consider:

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A Brief History of Maine

Paleoindian Period (13,000 To 11,000 Years Ago)

Maine is a subarctic tundra, and the Paleoindians made part of their living by hunting caribou, and perhaps the last of the mammoth and mastodon, and moving over vast areas of land on foot. The St. Lawrence valley and Champlain lake basins were a cold, subarctic sea full of walrus, seals, whales and fish.

Archaic Period (10,000 To 3,000 Years Ago)

Travel on the ocean, main rivers and major lakes in heavy dugout canoes characterized the Archaic period.

Ceramic Period (2800 To 500 Years Ago)

Characterized by the the invention of ceramics, bow & arrows, birchbark canoes, small-scale agriculture. This is the lifestyle European settlers encountered upon first contact with indigenous people in Maine and New England.

Contact Period (After 1500 Ad)

Source: State of Maine Historic Preservation Commission

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Post-Contact in Maine

Pandemic of 1617 “The Great Dying”

1633 smallpox epidemic

1675-1760, a series of declarations gave "His Majesty's Subjects" license to kill Penobscots for reward. In 1755 the reward was about $12,000 in today's dollars for the scalp of a man, and half that for a woman's scalp. The amount was slightly less for a child. Settlers who killed Indigenous people were sometimes rewarded with land, in addition to money. (David Sharpe, Associated Press)

1724 Norridgewok Massacre: colonial militia attacks sleeping Abenaki settlement, massacring 80 Abenaki men, women and children. Remaining Abenaki people flee to St. Francis, Quebec where they remain to this day. The absence of an Abenaki settlement and permanent presence in the united states allows for a group of white americans to claim Abenaki identity in the late 1900s (wikipedia Norridgewok Massacre) (State recognition and the Dangers of Race Shifting: the Case Against Vermont)

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1862 The colonial government declared the Wabanaki Confederacy forcibly disbanded, but tribes continue to exist and meet. (wikipedia Wabanaki Confederacy)

Late 1800s-1950s Children removed from families to boarding schools. Maine’s removal of native children from their families continued at some of the highest rates in the nation into the 1990s, despite ICWA (Wabanaki REACH)

1931 Baxter state park established, preventing Wabanaki people from practicing their culture and traditions on this land which is extremely sacred to them. Permanent conservation status leaves no legal options for modern park staff and leadership to make any changes to allow for cultural use.

1977 Maine has 2nd highest rate of Indian foster care placement among states. Native kids were being placed with non-native families into the 1990s

1993 Wabanaki Confederacy gathering revived

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July 8, 2021 Federal appellate court takes ownership of the Penobscot River away from the Penobscot Nation, granting ownership of the river to the state of Maine per a lawsuit seen through by Janet Mills. (Pine and Roses)

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Today

Up to today: 90% of Maine privately owned and 23% owned by Land Trusts, 1% accessible to Wabanaki people. (Colonialism is an ongoing project that we participate in unknowingly.)

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What Now?

Wabanaki Commission on Land and Stewardship. Mission: to improve the health and wellness of Wabanaki people through sustained effort to expand our access, management, and ownership of lands to practice our land-based cultures across Wabanaki homeland.
First Light supports their efforts and bridges the gap between Wabanaki and conservation allies.
Many conservation organizations are rethinking western ideas of conservation and reexamining their role in colonialism.
The young generation of Wabanaki people are bringing a new optimism and energy to their tribes.

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2023 Solidarity Deposit achieved

$1 million goal with help from our partners, Western Foothills Land Trust and Loon Echo Land Trust.

We should be a part of this and other projects!

The Latest Success