Spotlight: Parks - Acadia

This week we’re shining a light on the land of the Wabanaki through an episode by our friends at the Parks podcast. The state of Maine was established on the lands of tribes including the Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy, collectively known as the Wabanaki, or “People of the Dawnland.” By the time the Rockefeller Family, who’d built their fortune on the oil industry, donated land to be used to form Acadia National Park, the Wabanaki people had already been long displaced from those lands, but that did not decrease their connection to them nor their responsibility for stewarding them. In this episode of Parks, scholars Darren Ranco (Penobscot) and Suzanne Greenlaw (Maliseet) share the history of the land’s colonization and talk about the Wabanaki’s recent efforts to access these lands in order to harvest cultural materials such as sweetgrass. We'd like to thank Parks host and co-creator Marty Mathis, co-creator Cody Nelson, and story editor Taylor Hensel (Cherokee.) Seedcast is hosted by Jessica Ramirez.We want to hear from you! What is your special place, the land YOU feel most connected to? We’d love to hear your stories and may share them on a future episode. Email [email protected] or connect with us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter as #Seedcast at @NiaTero. Learn more: Parks podcast, Instagram and Twitter First Blade of Sweetgrass, children’s book by Suzanne Greenlaw with Gabriel Frey   Seedcast is a production of Nia Tero, a global nonprofit which supports Indigenous land guardianship around the world through policy, partnership, and storytelling initiatives.Enjoy the Seedcast podcast on the Nia Tero website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast platforms. Keep up with Seedcast on Instagram and use the hashtag #Seedcast.