The Penobscot Nation is celebrating the return of about 11,000 acres of its ancestral homeland around the Penobscot River.
The land return is the first phase of a larger project to give the tribe back around 30,000 acres just south of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.
When the swath of land came up for sale more than three years ago, the Trust for Public Land bought it from timber harvesters and is now working with the tribe to raise money for the buy back, Betsy Cook of the Trust for Public Land says.
The rest of the land will be returned after an additional $12 million is raised for the project.
The land holds cultural significance to the tribe and it has plans for how the land will be conserved and used, says Penobscot Nation Natural Resource Director Chuck Loring.
The Penobscot Nation has plans to restore habitats around the land's waterways, track ticks and monitor bat species, among many other conservation measures.
It will also give members of the Penobscot Nation access to natural resources for hunting, economic development and harvesting, says Loring.
There are also hopes to create an access road to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument near Millinocket through the land, says Loring. Right now there is no southerly access to the monument.
But those plans are long term and still in development, and there are many more details to be worked out, says Loring.
The partnership between the Trust and Penobscot Nation represents a growing trend of conservation groups including native people in helping conserve land, where before conservation organizations have overlooked Indigenous wisdom around stewardship of natural resources, Cook says.
"So for too long, conservation organizations and conservation funders have left tribal nations and Indigenous communities out of decision making," Cook says, "and tribal nations and Indigenous communities have been caring for our lands and waters for thousands of years.
"So, as we think about this moment and the movement that is growing, this is a recognition of the leadership of Indigenous communities in taking care of lands and waters, and this growing partnership between conservation organizations and tribal nations to return land, return that caretaking ability of land and to work together to grow that movement."
Often tribes are acting in an advisory role when the government or private conservation organizations are conserving land, says Loring. But land returns like this puts land back in tribes' hands, allowing them to conserve it the way they see fit.
"I think, you know, that it's just really important to get this land returned because there's a lot of autonomy for tribes when they own their own land," says Loring.
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