BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 25, 2024
I have witnessed the return of thousands of acres to tribal control and even more acres opened up to Wabanaki cultural practices and harvesting of critical cultural resources. One completed land return project of note is the return of Pine Island/Kuwesuwi Monihq to the Passamaquoddy Tribe in 2021. One current project, led by the Penobscot Nation and the Trust for Public Land, looks to return about 30,000 acres to the Penobscot Nation along the east branch of the Penobscot River/Wáhsehtəkʷ in the Penobscot language, in the heart of my tribe’s ancestral hunting and fishing territories. What is best for the earth is that we — Wabanaki and non-Wabanaki — need to work together to take care of our home for future generations. ~ Dr. Darren Ranco, Penobscot Nation citizen, coordinator of Native American Research at UMaine, and a member of the Wabanaki Commission on Land and Stewardship