Land healer, invasive species battler, food systems revitalizer & proud Interior Salish 👩🏻🌾 applying an Indigenous worldview to Ecology
@UBCForestry
🌲🫐🍓
Stop using the term “rewilding”. You are perpetuating the erasure of Indigenous peoples & our relationships to our lands since time immemorial. It’s a recipe for continued failure in ecological restoration. Land healing isn’t “reset it and forget it”.
#nativesinstem
#ecology
As an Indigenous academic, I find the university ethics processes to work with Indigenous communities upsetting and anxiety inducing. They damage my existing relationships with communities and make my navigating in culturally appropriate ways… impossible.
#nativesinstem
I am losing my patience answering incredibly ignorant inquiries about working w/ Indigenous communities & our knowledges. I used to be gracious, but for the love of Creator, I am WEARY. If you are non-Indigenous, haven’t done the work to be a prepared ally… leave us alone.
One of the more harmful experiences as an Indigenous Scholar writing about Indigenous stewardship is the peer review process where reviewers are not really your “peers” & feedback is often racist/ignorant (purposeful or not). If journals want to be more “inclusive” thru (1/3)
I am recruiting 1 MSc & 2 PhD students. MSc & PhD1 adoption of Indigenous food systems as hedgerows on agrarian farms. PhD2 soil microbial ecology thru time (old growth to industrial logging to inform ecological restoration). More info on my lab website
I am so excited to share that I begin my new position on Monday as a TT Assistant Professor in the Dept of Forest Resources Management in
@ubcforestry
jointly appointed with
@ubcLFS
! I am so grateful to all who have helped me on my journey to get here!
#nativesinstem
#Ecology
Settler researchers, when an Indigenous person provides u feedback on ways of working with our communities, do not respond with, “I’ve been working with Indigenous communities for ‘x’ years and in my experience …..” Times have changed my friends. This is not your space to lead.
I wrote about how university research ethics processes can be harmful to Indigenous scholars and our co-researchers in Indigenous communities. Kukstemc
@Nature
for lifting Indigenous voices in STEM
#ecology
#nativesinstem
@ubcforestry
@ubcLFS
“Nothing about us without us” is proving to be insufficient. It’s time for “NOTHING ABOUT US THAT ISN’T LED BY US.” Yes, all caps is necessary.
#nativesinstem
#ecology
I am
#PhDone
! The kids must call me Dr. Mom for the rest of the day! One of the most enriching journeys of my life. Thank u
@ubcLFS
for giving me a place to explore applying an Indigenous worldview to ecology and invasion biology. 🙌🏽
@AcademicChatter
@Momademia
#nativesinstem
I love this so much. This is the approach I am taking in the academy. We aren’t doing our jobs if we aren’t disrupting colonial systems. We do what communities need us to in this position of privilege. Our success should be measured according to that.
There are “misses” in the pretendian hunting movement. While you hear about the successes in the media, you don’t hear about those whose lives have been upended by being wrongly targeted. 🧵1/14
Today was the first day of my new Indigenous Ecologies course. Learning was in a circle in a yurt & we have some very exciting land-based learning ahead as we convert hedgerows into Indigenous food systems
@ubcfarm
Today we welcomed the first of our Garry Oaks :) Stay tuned!
Indigenous Nations doing the right thing on behalf of our precious fish relations while colonial governments say they will work with/co-manage with us, but ultimately their colonial governance structures are not designed to give up control.
#nativesinstem
My daughter brought one of my Nlaka’pamux root digging sticks to her First Peoples class and presented on the important role of women in caring for and harvesting plants. What a moment for multigenerational cultural reclamation. I’m so freaking proud.
#nativesinstem
#ecology
Dear allies, Having worked with or working with Indigenous communities does not make you an expert on EDI, our ways of knowing, our ways of working together, social justice, environmental justice… NEVER use that as justification for your authority on ANY topic.
#nativesinstem
My book, “Medicine Wheel for the Planet”, is available for pre-release purchase! It is a journey of connecting head (Western Science) & heart (Indigenous worldview) to bring our planet the healing she needs. More info & order links @
#ecology
Join us in congratulating
#UBCForestry
's Dr. Jennifer Grenz (
@Jennifer_Grenz
) whose new book "Medicine Wheel for the Planet" debuted on Canada's bestseller list!
Check out the list via
@CBC
:
Sometimes I wish there was a way to cite something along the lines of, “I’ve seen it with my own damn Indigenous eyes!” because leaving important observations/knowledges uncited weakens them in the context of colonial academic norms.
#nativesinstem
#Ecology
Recently I have seen the terms “local knowledge” & “Indigenous knowledge” used interchangeably. While local knowledge is important, this is like equating apples to alligators. Knowledge spanning decades (perhaps a century) is not the same as that which spans millennia.
#Ecology
This week in a faculty seminar, I demonstrated (partially) how I identify myself to Indigenous communities I work with in BC. I have my family trees in my photos on my phone, I tell them the names of my grandparents and great grandparents. I tell them where they lived…. A 🧵
discomfort with our truth by asking us to soften criticisms of colonial impacts. It makes me not want to bother publishing in journals. If the truth is too much, I’m not gonna mute it. I’ll just find another platform. My peer review is by Indigenous scholars.
#nativesinstem
(3/3)
Special issues on TEK etc, they need to ensure that our work is reviewed by our actual peers. Causing harm in these processes is not ok. There is a difference between academic critique and racist demands to justify the knowledges of our communities/expressing settler-type (2/3)
My heart goes out to everyone displaced today. Both of my traditional territories are on fire (Nlaka’pamux & Secwepemc). Relatives evacuated. Everyone is safe but special childhood/family places burned up today. Again. 💔
If you want to see a reason that Twitter isn’t a complete dumpster fire, it’s this! So happy to meet in-person & spend the evening with THE
@taramcallister4
who was at the
#entsoc2022
conference here in Vancouver! Grateful to know so many awesome
#nativesinstem
via this platform.
We have to stop describing forestry as separate from ecosystems. Forest operations are not surrounded by ecosystems, they are IN ecosystems. The responsibility of stewardship is not for the surrounding areas, it’s for the area period.
#ecology
#nativesinstem
Situation in Kamloops region is leaving nowhere 4 livestock to go. Ranches that took evacuated animals are now on alert. Space in the Fraser Valley is needed as well as is assistance with hauling. If you can help (you will be paid), DM me & I can give u contact info.
#BCWildfire
The news is out :) Indigenous Ecology Lab & our Indigenous community co-researchers are thankful for the support of
@NSERC_CRSNG
as we study the impacts of invasive species on culturally important plants to inform land healing and food systems revitalization.
#nativesinstem
Daphne Laurel is a species taking off on Vancouver Island and is capable of growing under closed canopy. They look a lot like rhododendrons. They are toxic to touch & when pulled or cut can release a gas that can cause loss of consciousness. Manage with care!
#invasivespecies
So stoked to be a new mentor in the Indigenous Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program
@ubc
Moments like this fill my bucket and are a reminder of just how far we have come in creating spaces for and supporting Indigenous students here!
#nativesinstem
#Ecology
I wish I didn’t have to learn about the plants & land stewardship of my own People mostly this way, but I am so grateful that my mentor Nancy J. Turner sat with these Elders now gone so many years ago and documented what they knew. This is what healing looks like.
#nativesinstem
Journalists need to stop calling these fires “Mother Nature”. Our Earth Mother is crying as the impacts of colonialism ravage her. Let’s just speak the truth so we can actually get to real solutions.
#ecology
#nativesinstem
#BCfires
Back in my territory at a road stop for highway repairs from the fire two years ago, while our territory burns again. It’s 27C and too hot to keep windows up, choking on smoke, bawling my eyes out, and my friends, this is all too much.
I wish I could say that working as an Indigenous academic has changed since Dr. Cash Ahenakew wrote this poem in 2016, but it doesn’t seem to have much. My workdays, captured so eloquently. Academic Indian Job Description, A Poem.
#nativesinstem
#ecology
7 years ago at the beginning of my PhD journey. People ask me still how I did it with 3 little kids. This is how. I hope this is an encouragement to parents out there. The kids can come along for the ride (and be helpful).
#nativesinstem
#ecology
#AcademicTwitter
#AcademicChatter
Colonized Me: feeling stressed because I don’t have ppt slides ready for teaching about traditionally important plants tomorrow. Indigenous Me: Um…. oral tradition & land-based learning are our pedagogies…. So I spent the afternoon in the sun, collecting plants with a smile.
Hats off to the captain of the Queen of Oak Bay tonight
@BCFerries
That was the gnarliest crossing this islander has ever experienced. Arrived to widespread power outages Nanaimo to Parksville.
#bcstorm
I will be taking some time to take care of myself as I heal from this so that I can get back to doing what matters most to me-- working with communities to reclaim and revitalize their food systems and land stewardship. 14/14
Here’s a PSA to remind you to keep antihistamines and epi pens (plural) in your first aid kit when doing field work. We ended the day with me having the start of a serious reaction from either too many mosquito bites or being bitten by something else. Grateful to be ok!
Indigenous Ecology Lab members, Nava and Alyssa, are out in the Cowichan Estuary documenting the Quw’utsun intertidal food system for Cowichan Tribes. Currently in a sea of camas. I may be jealous!
@NatureTrustofBC
#ecology
#indigenousfoodsystems
We are hiring for the new Bachelor of Indigenous Land Stewardship degree program in
@ubcforestry
. Check out the job ad for an Assistant Professor of Teaching (tenure-track) in Indigenous Land Stewardship
#nativesinstem
#Ecology
Graduation day. My PhD journey
@ubc
in
@ubcLFS
has truly connected my head and heart. I am so grateful for the space I had to pursue my work as an Indigenous academic. Love to all of today’s graduates. We embody one of life’s most important attributes, resilience.
#nativesinstem
I know who I am. As does my family. As do members of my community. If you want to read about my family history, my journey of reconnection, and a letter on behalf of a few community members, you can find that on my website here . 4/14
Proud to be raising strong Indigenous women and having worked in a male dominated field, I am grateful to those women who created a path for me and encouraged me along the way!
#InternationalWomensDay
Nor do you hear about those who live in fear of being wrongly targeted- largely reconnecting people- like me. Recently both my identity & community connections came into question by people who never bothered to pick up a phone of contact me directly to discuss their concerns.2/14
Work on one of the territories where your family lived/lives, talk about research sites, & find out there’s a lake nearby named after your family. This week is difficult to even put into words. I can’t help but feel the ancestors have called me back here.1/3
I just wrote a positionality statement for a chapter I wrote to contribute to an Indigenous authored edited volume. It is a requirement. If we can do it, so can every settler working in the Indigenous knowledge space.
#ecology
#nativesinstem
#tek
#indigenousknowledge
What’s this behind me?! Dreams coming true thanks to
@NatureTrustofBC
Fencing for the future Quw’utsun cultural & food plant nursery that will provide plants for restoration in the Cowichan Bay Estuary (and beyond). This is reconcili-ACTION my friends!
@Cowichan_Tribes
#ecology
@JenniferMolidor
Well it is a largely rejected term by Indigenous peoples here on Turtle Island. It perpetuates the notion of wilderness when we shaped lands for thousands of years. It is most often being used by settlers who misunderstand and repackage our knowledges.
I talk a lot of the denigration of Indigenous knowledges in the context of Western science. I think it’s time to talk about another form of knowledge denigration I constantly encounter in restoration
#ecology
, that of practitioner knowledges.
#staytuned
Teenager takes my phone after I checked his to make a point and see “what I might be hiding”. Scrolls thru my photos and says somewhat disappointed, “It’s just a bunch of trees.” 🌲🌲🌲
#ecology
#forestry
#nativesinstem
#trees
I live in a time when I get to attend an inaugural
#indigenousscience
conference wearing a ribbon skirt among Indigenous scientists & allies. I feel so thankful for the work our ancestors have done to get us here. We are living your dreams for us.
#nativesinstem
@ubcforestry
We are making relational webs for land healing planning in my Indigenous Ecologies class this morning! All to make sure no relation is forgotten.
#ecology
#nativeinstem
I am grateful to my family and community members from Lytton First Nation who have stood up for me, written letters, & sent words of love, appreciation, and encouragement. I have been reminded through this process that a few people do not make up a community. 12/14
Instead, they went to members of the media and the highest office of my university. They also seem to have started a whisper campaign about my legitimacy across the university campus. 3/14
An absolutely stunning day in the Cowichan Estuary. An exciting planning session as we enact food systems reconciliation. Dykes are being removed and a Quw’utsun food system will reside here once more. Building climate resiliency through food systems.
#nativesinstem
#ecology
What is happening with trans mountain expansion during a salmon run makes me physically shake. To hear the elders begging them to stop on other recordings had me weeping. How many times has DFO stopped projects in riparian zones out of caution, but this?! How?! How?!
As this has unfolded, Indigenous friends are sharing their stories of being wrongly targeted by this dangerous, frenzied movement. Other reconnecting folx have shared with me their fears of this exact thing happening to them. 10/14
My working dog of 11 years passed away this week. This is among my greatest heartbreaks. Frasier loved truck rides, boat rides, helicopter rides, & treeing bears. He could sniff out knotweed anywhere. An unlikely bush dog, being a standard poodle, he was the very best.
#dogs
So that not only those responsible, but also those within faculty and staff that participated by remaining silent, by not coming to me directly, can understand how they have participated in lateral violence. 6/14
Non-Indigenous scientists need to stop inviting Indigenous scientists into debates about the history of our relationships with our lands & waters & our historical uses of them. This isn’t academic discourse, it’s the perpetuation of colonialism. It’s racist.
#nativesinstem
Congrats to PhD student Vanessa Jones of our Indigenous Ecology Lab on her 1st place win in the
@ubcforestry
heat of
#3MT
Her presentation was titled, “Changing colonial stories of soils: how the soil microbiome can inspire ecological and food systems reconciliation.” 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
I hope folx can learn from this. To think twice before participating. To not lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with real human beings. To be brave enough to face those humans and ask difficult questions. 8/14
@deepgreenphilly
Wilderness does the opposite of that. Our worldview is being in the ecosystem. Wild is associated with settler perceptions of who we were and a misunderstanding of what they saw of our lands and waters. Not sophisticated food, medicinal, and tech systems, but untamed, wild lands.
Hello followers! I have a big thing happening! I’m currently running in our federal election for MP for North Island-Powell River for the Liberal Party. Follow along
@JenGrenz_NIPR
This will remain my
#nativesinstem
#WomenInSTEM
#ecology
space! Wish me luck! 🙌🏽
The ways of our ancestors were always relational. To sit and talk with one another, even about things that are difficult to talk about. To keep the business of our communities private. What has happened to me has been the opposite. 7/14
Increasingly I receive requests to connect settler researchers w/Indigenous communities dealing w/ the climate crisis (mostly wildfire) to “research” impacts to them. Please stop. If communities haven’t asked u to do this, u have no business in this space.
#nativesinstem
#ecology
So incredibly proud of the 1st graduates from
#IndigenousEcologyLab
Vanessa Jones (MSc Plant Science & now a PhD student in the lab) & Brenda Walkem (MSc Integrated Studies in Land & Food Systems and Nlaka’pamux like me🙌🏽). Congrats ladies! What a joy to be part of your journeys!
Through everything happening to me right now, the messages of encouragement & support coming from Elders & knowledge keepers, those from my Nation & others, are a lifeline. I wish there was a way for me to properly express what it means. Sitting here in tears reading emails.
Wandering the halls of
@ubcforestry
in my mocs. Just doing my part to decolonize this place! Highly recommend office mocs. Follow me for more
#nativesinstem
pro tips!
We have reached a phase in Tri-agency research funding where Indigenous-led, community-based research is getting a FAIL on EDI evaluation. If this isn’t colonial BS, I don’t know what is. Way to go
@SSHRC_CRSH
#nativesinstem
@JustinTrudeau
@FP_Champagne
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Conservation and modern environmentalism find themselves too often at odds with sovereignty rights. We are teaching students an environmentalism without human relationship to land. The protectionist movement is wrong. We can teach nuance folks. We have a responsibility to do so.
White environmentalists in the 70s made "Spear an Indian, save a fish" signs.
They spat, hurled slurs & encouraged arrests for our sustainable fishing practices/rights.
Colonialism disguised as environmentalism isn't new & we shouldn't forget this in climate change agendas.