Under a cloudy, late October sky, the First Light non-native community convened for Walking Together, a day focused on connecting, celebrating, sharing challenges, and supporting one another.
Reflections on the day from community members
"I loved being with everyone in person. For many Confluence folks, this was the first in person meeting. What a treat! Zoom is a great tool to gather every month to share ideas but Walking Together provided the tone and space to laugh, sing and eat ...together. When First Light community members direct parking, welcome each other, offer and receive gifts, wash dishes, and break down tables together we are doing the collective work of community building. From Recentering, Relearning and Returning to events like Walking Together...this is collective work where many hands/minds/capacities make the work more grounded, effective, and joyful..."
"As someone coming outside the main Confluence group, it was incredibly motivating to see so many people across such a wide spectrum of organizations committed to the work of land return. There was a real sense of momentum in the room. As a member of Resource Generation, I’m leaving with a renewed commitment to organizing with young progressive donors to fund ongoing land return and rematriation projects."
"Last week thanks to the sincere and talented staff of First Light, we all, the compartmentalized occupants of Zoom squares for the past 11 months, arrived one by one to meet in Maine’s green piazza, the Common Ground fairgrounds. The roads to the grounds were nearly unrecognizable – where were the endless lines of fairgoers? The grounds themselves were equally confusing- mowed, deserted... Where were the tents? Where were the llamas? Once there standing in a circle, we were all changed. Our Zoom heads had legs and arms. Legs to walk together towards a common goal and arms to hug and be hugged by. It has been a hell of a year and hugs were in order..."
A recap of the day
We began the day by gathering outside to raise our voices in song and to light a fire that would burn throughout the day. In the morning, we learned about work that’s taken place over the last year – hearing from Commission and First Light staff about the Tributary land returns, and the first round of grantmaking by Wolankeyutomone kisi apaciyewik. We shared a delicious lunch catered by Smokey’s BBQ, and after lunch many of us learned how to make a community quilt. We gathered back together to listen to a panel discussion, where speakers from Bomazeen Land Trust, Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (and The Nature Conservancy, there in spirit!) shared their collaborations on land care, and the lessons they are learning about building relationships, growing trust, and shifting power. Afterwards, we broke into small discussion groups, each focused on different elements of our work – from internal work to prepare to return land, to navigating generational change in conservation. We closed our day again in song, and in sharing gifts with each other.
The greatest gift of the day was the chance to be in person together, to greet old friends and meet new ones, to welcome alumni of the most recent learning journey, Confluence, into the growing community of people that make up the heart of First Light. Throughout the day, so many people lent a hand, from making coffee to stacking chairs, and so many people asked each other questions and shared their experience and learnings with each other. There was a real sense of collectivity, of being more than just individuals or representatives of organizations – this work, and the community we call First Light, is all of us.
What happens next?
In 2026, you can expect to see more convenings on a regional scale, where the non-native community can come together to keep sharing support for ongoing organizational and culture shifts. We’ll use insights and questions arising from breakout groups to seed our monthly community conversations. Finally, keep an eye out for our 2026 First Light Summit, where engaged organizations and Wabanaki partners will come together to celebrate and continue imagining the work of return.