Acknowledgements
The Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation (RCLF) on behalf of the Ramapough Munsee Lenape Nation thanks all the organizations and people who helped curate this offering.
RCLF would like to specifically recognize the inspiration and thought leadership of Dr. Lyla June Johnston without whom this offering would not be possible.
We would also like to thank The George Washington University; Global Food Institute (GFI), GFI would specifically like to recognize our team leader - Esperanza Ortega-Tapia, along with Savannah Brookins, Jordan Fischbach, Charlotte Fults, Jawayria Rehman, Charlie Basa, and Dr. Tara Scully
We would like to extend deep gratitude to Gizem Templeton, Katia Pilar-Carranza, Nada Hussein, and Ishika Gupta of Duke University for your help in reading and summarizing articles.
We are a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, culture bearers, students, professors, and allies. We acknowledge the attempted erasure of Indigenous languages, customs, and lifeways. This publication intends to educate the world on the ubiquity, beauty, sophistication, and applicability of Indigenous regenerative ecosystem design principles and practices.
We hope that this publication can 1) help to restore self-confidence for Indigenous youth in their ancestral ways, 2) improve sustainable food systems for people of all backgrounds, 3) encourage confidence in Indigenous Peoples to oversee and steward their own homelands, and 4) encourage the return of certain landbases to Indigenous communities.
The Climate-Smart Farming & Marketing program is led by Pasa Sustainable Agriculture and works through a coalition of partners including Maine Farmland Trust, Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners (MOFGA), NOFA-Vermont, NOFA-Mass representing Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust (PPLT), Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), NOFA-New York, Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation, NOFA-New Jersey, Future Harvest, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and technology partners Farmier, OpenTEAM, and OurSci.
This program is supported by a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number NR233A750004G025. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, any reference to specific brands or types of products or services does not constitute or imply an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for those products or services. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
Glossary
Agroforestry: The integration of agriculture and forestry.
Anomalous forest composition: A community of species that doesn’t fit the expected species composition for that bioregion.
Anthropogenic:Influenced or induced by Homo sapiens.
Archaeology: The western scientific study of history and prehistory through the excavation of historic sites and examinations of human and object remains.
Biodiversity: Diversity of life in all forms, including the diversity of species, ecosystems, and genetic variations within species.
Cultigens: A domesticated species of plant with no known "wild" ancestor.
Cultivars: A plant species cultivated by humans through selective breeding.
Decentralization: The act of shifting control or power from a singular, central group to multiple, smaller ones.
Ecological: The study of the relationships and interactions between organisms and their environment.
Ethnobotany: The study of the relationship between a region’s people and plants.
Ethnography: A western scientific tradition of describing people and their cultures, habits, customs, and beliefs.
Ethnohistorical: The study of a people’s cultural history.
Eurocentric: Viewpoint or perspective that emphasizes Western European or European-derived cultures, often at the expense of ignoring or undervaluing non-European cultures and histories.
Fallows: Uncultivated land.
Faunal assemblages: Groups or collections of animal species found within a specific area or geological layer, which are used to interpret ecological and environmental conditions of the past.
Geomorphological:A western scientific study of the Earth’s surface features in relation to geological structures. streams and rainfall that drain to a common outlet, such as a river, bay, or other body of water.
Hyperlocalized: Limited to a very small geographical area.
Intensification: Increased productivity per acre.
Mature forests: The stage of a forest directly before old-growth. They offer biological diversity, carbon sequestration, wildlife and fisheries habitat, recreation, soil productivity, water quality and aesthetic beauty.
Microclimates: A small area that has a climate different from the area surrounding it.
Milpas: A biodiverse garden planted often in tropical and/or forested contexts, common throughout Mesoamerica.
Palynology:The study of fossilized pollen and spores capable of reconstructing the forest composition of a given area on a millennial scale.
Paleoecology: A branch of ecology concerned with the relationships between humans, plants and/or animals in environments of the past.
Polyculture: The simultaneous cultivation of multiple compatible plant and/or animal species in an area as opposed to monoculture, or the intensive cultivation of a singular plant species in an area at a time.
Regenerative agriculture: A farming approach that emphasizes soil health restoration, increased biodiversity, and creating sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.
Seed sovereignty: A farmer's ability to have autonomy over saving, using, or exchanging their own seeds.
Subsistence: Producing food to meet the needs of food producers and their families.
Swidden: Cycling nutrients, nourishing soils, and stimulating plant growth through low intensity, rotational prescribed fire.
Terracing: A farming technique involving platforms or steps on a slope, for the purpose of creating more flat surfaces to retain a higher percentage of rainfall.
Watershed: Area of land united by streams and rainfall that drain to a common outlet, such as a river, bay, or other body of water.