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Indigenous nations reclaim and rejuvenate their land amid climate crisis

A Native American man in a shirt, tie, glasses, and one visible earring sits for a photo. The photo has a black and white filter over it.
Photo courtesy of Jason Brough
Jason Brough is a Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation Tribal Member and a PhD candidate at the University of Maine

Amid the climate crisis, some Indigenous nations are reclaiming and rejuvenating their land.

The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation recently reclaimed a piece of land in Idaho that was the site of a brutal massacre of their people.

They are now in the midst of an ambitious project to restore the land and environment.

Across the country, other tribes are also working to get their land back.
Many of these projects are not just about reclaiming land and culture, but also about climate resilience.

Jason Brough is a Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation Tribal Member
who has helped his tribe with its land-back project.

Brough, who is also a PhD candidate at the University of Maine, spoke to Our Living Lands Producer, Daniel Spaulding, about what the rest of the world can learn from Indigenous knowledge.

"The key point to understand is that Indigenous peoples are not the cause of our current climate crisis," Brough said. "We're trying our best to do our part for this, but we can't do it alone."

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise StateCRED Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado, and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Daniel Spaulding