November is Native American Heritage Month, and at the Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC), we give thanks during the holiday season for our community’s resilience, pride, and deep connection to the land. At IAC, we work tirelessly to provide Native farmers with the tools, resources, and training needed to revive their traditional methods while embracing innovative solutions for the challenges of today.
Our work with young Native food producers, like Nels Christensen, offers immersive learning experiences intended to build leadership skills for future generations. Nels (Gwich’in & Koyukon Athabaskan), a young man passionate about his tribe and regenerative agriculture, lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. While participating in IAC’s summer internship program, he developed a community garden where the tribe runs a youth education fish camp in Nenana.
“We bring in fish from Bristol Bay because we’re not able to fish in our rivers right now,” says Nels, citing political challenges between Tribal communities and the state. “We’re doing it mostly as an educational opportunity so that the youth know these cultural values of how we process and take care of our food sources and what they mean to us and how they provide for us.”
Nels’ story is just one of the stories happening in American Indian and Alaska Native farming communities nationwide. Our work supports Native food producers who are reclaiming their agricultural heritage and working every day towards a more regenerative economy. We invite you to become a part of this transformative journey.
Please consider making a donation to IAC today. We have provided a secure online donation form by clicking the link above. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Director of Philanthropy, Leah Altman, at 503-317-4861 or leah@indianag.org.
We could not do this important work without the generosity of our supporters. Please make a donation to IAC now. Together, we can empower Native farmers to reclaim their rightful place as stewards of the land and create a legacy of agriculturally self-sufficient communities.
Thank you for your consideration, and I wish you a wonderful holiday season!
Kari Jo Lawrence
Chief Executive Officer, Intertribal Agriculture Council
Traveling from old worlds and into the next, each layer and seam of the Earth tells a story of our emergence and growth. Celestial bodies shower us with knowledge and legends from beyond our skies, and they have given us their blessing in the form of stardust.
Artwork by Kaylene Big Knife
