BOUND TOGETHER
As Relatives and Stewards of Mother Earth
In the last two decades, wildfires have ravaged Tribal lands and its protective boundaries. This is largely a consequence of settlers forcibly removing Tribes from their lands and banning cultural ceremonies and traditional management practices.
In recent years, as the fires were suppressed and recovery plans started to take shape, one key restoration item was missing - replacing and updating the fence line that separates Tribal Land from public and private lands.
With this goal in mind, a historic multi-tribal collaboration between Jemez Pueblo, Santo Domingo Pueblo and Cochiti Pueblo emerged to protect and preserve resources on ancestral land.
We are ALL Bound Together – As Relatives and Stewards of Mother Earth. Help us restore our land and protect our lifeways.
Why Do These Boundaries Matter?
The fence line protects Tribal lands and cultural resources from non-tribal people and feral animals that damage critical ecosystems and archaeological sites.
It’s one of the last mechanisms left to protect what has been forcefully taken from Tribes.
Preservation and protection of resources, traditions, culture, language, education, and memories.
The wildlife friendly fence is built with smooth wire strands on top and bottom at a specific height, allowing for wildlife to cross over and under the fence safely.
It represents a large contribution for future generations and wildlife habitat.
How Will Your Donations Help?
Creating job opportunities for Indigenous crews, many of which include youth that are gaining valuable labor skills and connection to culture through community building.
Covering costs of materials to restore the fence line, transportation and meals for the crews.
Ensuring the crew have personnel to monitor, map, and protect the area throughout construction, as 5 miles of fence on a mountain with rough terrain and slopes have yet to be completed.
“In recent years, this landscape has experienced multiple transformations either by natural or human related causes. In response to these transformations, a combination of vigorous labor and prayers in a language in which this land has heard is helping to maintain the landscape. While under the management of Indigenous peoples, who have originally stewarded the land, preservation and protection of resources include generations of traditions, culture, language, education, and memories.”
- Treston Chee, ILP Content Creator.
More from our Indigenous Lands Program
On August 10, 1680, the Pueblo nations of New Mexico rose up against the Spanish colonizers. For over eighty years, the Pueblo people suffered violence, cruelty, and hunger; exploitation of labor and resources; harassment and persecution for practicing long-held religious traditions that are interwoven in daily life; and psychological and physical stress. Pueblo leaders realized negotiations with the Spaniards was useless.