In our previous piece, we spent time with the women racing to save the Arctic. In this article, we turn to Indigenous women in Canada and female farmers in the United States leaving their mark on the land.
Canada
In Canada, Indigenous women play a vital role in conservation. The country is home to more than 50 Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), all of which are led by Indigenous peoples, elevate Indigenous rights and responsibilities, and are committed to conservation in the long term. They are created through Indigenous law, followed by Nation-to-Nation agreements with the Canadian government.
Women are often at the center of the IPCAs. In fact, two-thirds of the 23 IPCAs proposed in collaboration with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI) are led by Indigenous women. Bear River First Nation, a Mi’kmaq band in Nova Scotia, created the Seven Paddles project to revive Mi’kmaq canoe routes used for ecotourism.
The project, named for the seven sacred teachings of love, respect, humility, honesty, truth, wisdom, and courage, has evolved into a way of connecting with nature and tradition. It accomplishes these principles with activities like taking young people out to catch their first trout or hunt their first moose. Councillor Carol Ann Potter, daughter of the chief, is responsible for the project.
“[Now we’re] getting our spirit built up, reconnected to the land,” she said in a case study. “Then we can be honest with the people we bring in and make them feel that connection a little bit better.”
“We really see the best in people when they’re out doing things they love,” Potter continued. “They forget their stresses, they forget their problems, they’re getting connected again with Mother Earth. There’s no better feeling, none whatsoever.”
Indigenous women also oversee almost half of Canada’s Guardian programs. Guardians are the “moccasins and mukluks” on the ground who monitor and manage the lands, waters, and local species. They provide data and research for the Nations to understand their territories and make informed decisions about them. ILI ensures that Nations that want such a program are able to have one. Last year, the number of programs in the country increased to more than 160 from merely 30 in 2016.
One example is the Haida Nation’s Haida Gwaii Watchmen program, located in what was once known as the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of British Columbia. Long ago, Haida watchmen were posted around villages to warn of the approach of enemies, and three poles with carved watchmen atop overlooked each locality.
Now, in a program that runs seasonally from May until October and is financially supported by Parks Canada and visitors fees, people of all ages are employed at five ancient village sites in the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. The modern Haida Gwaii Watchmen continue to inform 2,500 to 3,000 annual visitors about the region’s cultural and natural importance, in addition to monitoring recreational fishing.
There is a lot of joy to be found in this vital task, as well. “While leading our group of kayakers around an old site, a husband and wife team cheerfully explained that they serve as watchmen every year,” Lin Weich said of her visit to Reader’s Digest Canada. “It’s their working holiday away from their jobs at the band council office. They get the chance to entertain their audiences with stories of ancient times while relishing the peace and quiet of island life.”
Photo Courtesy Gwaii Haanas
Meanwhile, the Kaska Dena is a First Nations group living in northern British Columbia, southeastern Yukon, and southern Northwest territories. Gillian Staveley serves as director of culture and land stewardship at Dena Kayeh Institute, which is pushing for 40,000 square kilometers (15444 square miles) of that land to be declared an IPCA.
As Staveley told Canada’s National Observer, women have always been active in their conservation world. Young women were once the only ones to take on such roles, and women still form the majority of the Kaska Guardians and land teams.
“When I look at all of the land stewardship efforts that have happened in my community, they’ve always been by women,” Staveley said. “They’re the ones trailblazing it; they always have been, and they probably always will be.”
Staveley, in particular, was inspired by her grandmother, who not only gave birth to multiple children but also worked a fishing trapline. “I look at her for my strengths,” she said.
Photo Courtesy Kaska Dena Institute
United States
Meanwhile, American women are stepping up in a different industry: agriculture. Farmers and environmentalists joined together in 1980 to launch the American Farmland Trust (AFT). The organization was intended to combat the expansion of cities into traditional farmland using the same conservation easement methods that might be used for a wilderness area or a park. Chief among the organizers was Peggy Rockefeller, wife of David Rockefeller, who raised Simmental cattle and was a Board member of The Nature Conservancy.
Over time, the organization’s mission has changed, with an increasing focus on regenerative practices and farm stewardship. For example, in 2008, AFT launched an initiative called “Women for the Land” on a regional level in the Mid-Atlantic, which expanded to the Midwest in 2012 and nationwide in 2019 in the face of blatant inequality.
Photo Courtesy American Farmland Trust
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), while more than half of U.S. farms had at least one female operator in 2019, only 14% had women as the principal operator. Not only are women underrepresented in leadership roles in the agriculture industry, but they are also underpaid.
An analysis conducted in 2020 of the 2012 U.S. Census of Agriculture found that “farming is one of the most unequal professions in the United States today,” with female-operated farms earning 40% less than male-operated ones after controlling for farm and operator characteristics. Although the number of women on farms and ranches is increasing nationwide, they still face many barriers to entry and land access challenges.
Through the Women for the Land program, AFT facilitates peer-to-peer sharing in a women-only Learning Circle model, helping them acquire expertise and knowledge about the conservation and preservation of their land and connecting them to important resources that can bolster that stewardship.
So far, it has hosted 187 events and engaged with more than 2,754 women spanning 22 states. Follow-up research indicated that 93% of women who participated in 2020 were “very likely” or “extremely likely” to take action, like registering for a USDA Conservation Program.
Photo Courtesy American Farmland Trust
Two women with whom AFT has engaged and featured in the organization’s Stories from the Field YouTube series are Carrie Martin and her daughter, Erin. Carrie’s grandfather was enslaved in North Carolina, but he escaped and served in the 135th U.S. Colored Troop before coming back and buying land.
As Carrie explained about the decision to start growing on the land after she lost a job, “We got to a point where we were providing vegetables for all the mainstream restaurants downtown. We prayed, and we did it. My goal is to make a sustainable situation for us so that our 8th, 9th, 10th generation can carry on and be sustainable.”
AFT is placing great emphasis on Black women farmers, working closely with the Black Family Land Trust and Kentucky State University Extension in North Carolina and Kentucky. The organization has a goal to bring learning circles to 60 Black women farmers and landowners and help them embrace regenerative practices across about 30,000 acres of land in the Southeast. Additionally, AFT wants to supply 15 women annually with $20,000 Southeast Regional Grants to improve their farms’ ability to withstand climate change.
Additionally, the organization advocates for federal and state policies to help women farmers to succeed. Some of its priority desires include more research about women farmers and landowners and more financial and technical resources for those women. AFT also wants the use of diverse women in agriculture networks to fight for the preservation of and access to farmland and responsive legislation to the challenges facing women of color in farming.
Most recently, the Women for the Land and California Policy teams worked together to pass — unanimously and with 70 co-authors — the first Women in Agriculture Resolution in the country. The resolution “recognizes the value of all women’s contributions to agriculture and resolves to help realize their success as leaders on the land.”
“What excites me about the California Women in Agriculture Resolution is the recognition that there is a need for equitable access, that women are allies in conservation, climate-smart agriculture, and farmland protection,” Susie Calhoun, from 3 Calhoun Sisters Ranch, said in AFT’s press release. “There are specific needs for the changing landscape of agriculture, and women are at the forefront of this change.”
Photo Courtesy 3 Calhoun Sisters Ranch
Some of the greatest names in conservation history have been women. Take Margaret Murie, the “Grandmother of the Conservation Movement,” who managed to get President Eisenhower to establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Molly Beattie, the first female U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director, defended the Endangered Species and Clean Water Acts in Congress and brought the grey wolf back to Yellowstone National Park.
Lisa P. Jackson was the first Black woman to serve as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, where she set tough clean air standards. Ynés Mexía was the first botanist to collect plant specimens in Denali National Park, and she discovered more than 500 new species over her 13-year career. The world needs more women like them; luckily, they are coming.
