What We Do
Mission
Heritage Lands Collective is an Indigenous-led nonprofit that supports the relational connection and cultural continuity of heritage communities on ancestral homelands by facilitating community-led intergenerational government-to-government consultation, co-management, research, heritage preservation projects, outdoor learning experiences, ecological restoration, technical assistance, capacity building, community empowerment, and public education and outreach.
Vision
Heritage Lands Collective envisions a world where Tribal, Indigenous, and other heritage communities (e.g., Black, Latinx) are connected to their ancestral homelands to the fullest extent possible politically, economically, socially, culturally, and spiritually.
We hope that by continuing to help facilitate Indigenous consultation and engagement, Indigenous leadership and co-management will become the norm among federal, state, city, conservation, and private land-management agencies.
Values
Relational
We begin work with a heritage community only if we have the personnel, resources, and knowledge to build a genuine, responsive, and locally informed relationship with that community.
Our work is founded on heritage community priorities and our ability to respond to them fully. If we can’t, we don’t; we refer them to other organizations that may have the capacity.
We’d rather lose opportunities than have tokenized, neglectful “relationships” with our partners and the lands that are sacred to them.
We’re not interested in becoming a worldwide organization that ignores Indigenous knowledge and local expertise.
Indigenous-Led
Our focus, values, and priorities as an organization are led by our partner communities.
Our work is guided by our Elders and their Knowledge and values.
Place-Based
Consultation, research, education, outreach, and stewardship efforts must all be place-based.
Rather than keeping the public out for the sake of “conservation,” we invite everyone to learn from the original keepers of the land.
Community-Focused
Indigenous community goals and priorities are our goals and priorities.
Any outcomes or products we create through our work must benefit partner communities. This can take on many forms including acting as expert witnesses when needed, developing curricula for community schools, presenting research findings to the community, pursuing community-identified project recommendations, giving public lectures, and providing other technical support or capacity building.
We seek to apply our technical experience to managing communities’ heritage lands in the ways they want them managed.
Community-Empowering
Our goal is to empower community members and youth to have the capacity to conduct their own research, pursue their own funding, design their own curricula, etc.
We prioritize the opportunity for community youth to find employment and leadership roles within and outside of HLC. We recruit and train community members to join us in all our activities, including becoming staff members, board members, research associates, etc.
We also facilitate engagement between community youth and our non-Tribal partners to facilitate career opportunities for youth within these agencies (e.g., BLM, USFS, NPS, etc.).
Intergenerational
In all our work we attempt to bring together Elders and youth, and everyone in between.
We work with communities to develop outdoor experiential learning opportunities where youth engage in direct learning activities with Elders from their own communities (e.g., youth-elder camps).
Competence-Driven
HLC researchers, leadership, staff, board members, and collaborators must have experience and demonstrate competence in working with heritage communities.
Researchers are versed in environmental science and policy, cultural resource management, and heritage law, as well as social impact assessment as a research tool.
We choose to only work with non-Tribal partners that demonstrate experience and competence in working with heritage communities.
Science as a Tool
HLC believes that western science can be a tool that may be used to support Indigenous ways of knowing and being.
We do not follow western scientific standards; we utilize whatever methodology our partner communities dictate and are to their satisfaction. They and their values are the standard!
Anthropologically, communities must tell their own story in their own voice. Community words and knowledge should be what drive the research and shape the outcomes. While HLC serves as project researchers and facilitators, we believe our voice comes a distant second to that of community cultural experts.
Collaborative and Inclusive
HLC possesses collaborative skills and implements place-based methodologies that can be applied to a range of communities worldwide. We look forward to supporting communities our researchers have worked with in the past, as well as learning from new communities in protecting and managing their heritage and cultural landscapes.
We partner with all agencies that are working to center heritage community voices. These include but are not limited to federal, state, city, conservation, civil, and private agencies and organizations.
We partner with scientists and researchers globally from across western universities, Tribal colleges and universities, government agencies, and private labs.
Scope of Work
Communities we work with:
Federally recognized, state-recognized, and unrecognized Tribal communities throughout the U.S. and its territories.
Indigenous communities of Alaska, Boricuas/Tainos, Guam, and all U.S. territories.
Black, Latinx, and other communities of color.
We are working to expand our work globally to partner with our relatives in the Pacifika, South America, Africa, the Levant, Southeast Asia, and beyond. Please see our ‘Relational’ values above.
Geographic focus:
We are based in Cortez, Colorado.
Our primary focus thus far has been the Four Corners region (i.e., Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico).
We have worked with communities across most of the contiguous United States.
We are working to expand our focus globally.
Strategic Goals & Services
The Heritage Lands Collective fulfills its mission through a carefully designed, community-led, and iterative strategic plan. Our strategy utilizes the skill sets of our partner communities/governments, our staff, and our funders collectively.
Relationships & Reciprocity
➢ In prioritizing Tribal/Indigenous leadership, hiring, and decision-making at HLC we plant the seeds for life-long relationship-building with Tribal Nations. When our people are themselves Tribal youth, leaders, and Elders from partner communities, this reduces the costly trust-building work Tribes have to engage in with the high turnover rates in other agencies.
➢ In all of our projects, we try to be the primary contact with the communities, even though government-to-government consultation requires that the first contact be between governments. In doing so, we turn sporadic engagement into decades of relational kinship with the same individuals and familiar faces.
➢ We also prioritize working with agency/organizational partners that have dedicated their lives/careers to working with Indigenous communities. This increases the chances of community familiarity with the person and cultural competence on that individual’s/organization’s part.
➢ We ensure that we follow all community protocols when engaging with Tribal Nations and offer culturally appropriate gifts/compensation for project participation.
➢ We are often invited and make every effort to attend community celebrations and ceremonies; this is the greatest gift we receive from the communities we work with.
Research
Ethnographic Studies
➢ We utilize applied anthropological techniques guided by community research methodologies and standards.
➢ Our ethnographic projects occur on federal, state, county, city, private, community, and Tribal lands.
➢ We conduct thorough place-based interviews with community Elders, representatives, knowledge holders, culture/language practitioners, and community members.
➢ We gather as much knowledge as we can about the place: community history, cultural importance, plant/animal kin, place names, etc.
➢ These interviews are recorded so that we could most faithfully represent the voices of the participants.
➢ The recordings are transcribed, coded, and summarized into comprehensive reports.
➢ The reports are reviewed, edited, and approved for dissemination by community officials.
➢ The reports serve to support the return, management, protection, restoration, and community access to these culturally important landscapes.
Ecological Studies
➢ We utilize applied ecological science techniques guided by Indigenous Knowledge and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
➢ We document plant and animal kin communities to support ecological restoration projects that are community-led.
➢ We document traditional plant and animal uses by communities, which helps preserve this knowledge for future generations.
Technical Assistance
Consultation
➢ We help facilitate consultation between Tribes and federal agencies as directed under U.S. federal law. Consultation requires respect for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and tribal responsibilities when federal policy impacts Indian tribes.
➢ We assist Tribes and communities in social impact assessments (SIAs) as part of the environmental impact assessment for proposed development projects. SIAs look at the potential social and cultural impacts development projects may have on the human environment.
Capacity Building
For Communities & Youth
➢ We assist Tribal communities in continuing to build their own capacity for communit-led research, education, funding, etc.
➢ We train community members and youth to be active members of the HLC research team.
➢ We provide Indigenous students and community members with internship and employment opportunities.
➢ We prioritize the selection and hiring of Elders and community members for leadership positions.
➢ We work to ensure that these experiences help individuals successfully establish careers, experience personal enrichment, and enrich their communities.
Heritage Preservation & Co-management
➢ We focus on working with communities to protect and manage (or provide necessary guidance to those who have managing authority over) culturally important resources, places, and landscapes. This includes drawing upon local, national, and international heritage laws.
➢ We provide community-led and edited guidance documents to land managers and agencies.
➢ We push for and prioritize projects that are aimed towards community co-management of heritage lands.
Ecological Restoration
➢ Many of our projects utilize Tribal/community knowledge of native plant and animal species to implement ecological restoration efforts on and off Tribal lands.
Community Outreach & Empowerment
➢ We utilize the knowledge that Elders share with us to develop school curricula for community schools and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs).
➢ We welcome community youth to our internship program where they learn research methodologies that they can implement to serve the needs of their own communities.
Public Outreach & Education
➢ We work with heritage communities and government agencies to replace outdated and misinformed signage, place names, etc. to bring greater consciousness and respect for Indigenous history and cultural heritage on ancestral lands.
➢ The knowledge shared by Tribal Elders is utilized to develop all place names, signage, and other in-situ educational materials for the public that visit heritage lands.
➢ Public outreach and advocacy can also include presentations, booths, radio interviews, podcasts, etc. to inform the general public and land managers with whom we do not directly partner.