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Cornell University

Karim-Aly Kassam

Sustainable Forest Communities: Integrated Land Stewardship Strategy for Native American Land Claims

Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, Akwesasne;
Photo credit: Abraham Francis

Mohawk Lands, New York;
Photo credit: Abraham Francis
The purpose of this project was to create an integrated biocultural land stewardship strategy for existing and newly settled land claims of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. In partnership with Native American governance institutions, we developed a framework for collaborative applied research in sustainable forest use that addressed ecological, economic, and sociocultural needs. We undertook a comprehensive biocultural land use study of existing lands and newly settled land claims of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in the Northern Forest and developed an innovative and culturally-relevant stewardship strategy for those lands.

 

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Land Acknowledgement

This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leadership.

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

Professor Kassam offers his respects to past, present, and emergent Elders of Indigenous Peoples.