Inhabitants
For millennia, Native communities have successfully stewarded, shaped, and cared for the land, but centuries of colonization have disrupted their ability to maintain traditional land management practices. These five films follow Native American Tribes across deserts, coastlines, forests, and prairies as they restore traditional land management practices. The stories document the sustaining traditions of Hopi dryland farming in Arizona, the restoration of buffalo on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana, sustainable forestry on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin, the revival of Native food forests in Hawaii, and the return of prescribed fire to the landscape by the Karuk Tribe of California. These time-tested practices from North America’s original inhabitants provide essential solutions during our global climate crisis.
Watch the Films
These films share the stories of five Native American communities who are restoring their traditional land management practices.
Hopi farmer, Michael Kotutwa Johnson, has embarked on a life-long journey to gain recognition for traditional farming techniques by bringing together modern science and Indigenous ways of knowing.
As California battles massive wildfires that are increasing in size, scale, and severity, several tribes are working to revive traditional Native American land management practices.
The Blackfeet Nation of Northern Montana is reintroducing the buffalo back to their landscape after 125 years of their absence.
As unsustainable logging continues to ravage landscapes around the world, the Menominee Tribe of Northern Wisconsin is leading the way in regenerative forest management.
Hawaiian farmers are revitalizing traditional Hawaiian agroforests that are more resilient to the changing climate and provide food security for the island.
