All of the organizations in the First Light network are in different places with their work to restore Wabanaki presence and access to land. Each group's challenges, resources, and capacities differ. Yet board engagement is a critical piece of moving from aspirational to actionable for all and is often where guidance and support is sought.
Becca Hoskins from Mahoosuc Land Trust (MLT) and Mary Brennan from Frenchman Bay Conservancy (FBC) were willing to share how they have been engaging their organizations’ board members toward deepening MLT and FBC’s respective work and commitment to Wabanaki support and sovereignty.
Here's what they each had to say about working with their boards to further this work...
Becca Hoskins, staff member at Mahoosuc Land Trust:
What does success in this board engagement look like to you?
“To me, success means getting the board to the point where they are ready to greenlight a land-return project, or MLT's active participation in a land-return project in our service area.”
What have been the most important tools or resources you have used to advance board members' understanding and support of this work?
“Bonnie Pooley (MLT board member) and I took what we learned from the September 2023 First Light Short Course and turned it into a slideshow to share our experience. MLT did direct funds to the Wabanaki Self Determination Fund after the presentation and the board was awesome and engaged! I think we are very well-positioned to have a big impact on this work”
Becca said MLT has also relied on additional educational materials from First Light and Bomazeen, the Wabanaki land trust. The new collaborative website for the Wabanaki Commission and First Light is https://dawnlandreturn.org/. The Resources page is HERE. Bomazeen’s website is https://www.bomazeenlandtrust.org/. The resources page is HERE.
What more work do you plan to do with board members? What are your next steps?
Becca told us that MLT is asking a lot of questions about how to engage with Wabanaki partners and MLT is looking for opportunities to engage organization staff and board with Wabanaki speakers. They are also looking to First Light for continued guidance.
Mary Brennan, board member at Frenchman Bay Conservancy:
What does success in this board engagement look like to you?
“Success in board engagement to me means all board members have a basic understanding of Wabanaki issues and are committed to examine where FBC might make further commitments.”
What have been the most important tools or resources you have used to advance board members' understanding and support of this work?
“I believe that reaching out to First Light and other land trusts was a key to our success” Mary told us.
FBC staff and board members participated in the Learning Journey in 2020 - 2021. Over the past two winters, FBC has continued its learning by holding monthly meetings with outside speakers and hosting discussions about readings shared from the Learning Journey. FBC participated in a two-part decolonization training with Wabanaki Reach in 2021. “This was a turning point for some board members as they looked at their own history and colonization,” Mary said. Wabanaki REACH’s website is https://www.wabanakireach.org/. Educational resources and programming can be found HERE.
Recently, FBC’s learning and actions have come through connecting with other First Light organizations and staff. Mary reported that some of the tools FBC used included Coastal Mountain Land Trust’s (CMLT’s) committee documents presented at Walking Together, the First Light gathering at Camp Wavus in June of 2023. Staff and board members at FBC were able to draw on CMLT’s committee process as they mapped out their own plan for learning and action around Wabanaki lands. FBC has also looked to land trust partners in neighboring geographies, including Hans Carlson from Blue Hill Heritage Trust (BHHT), and Ciona Ulbrich from Maine Coast Heritage Trust (MCHT) for leadership, collaboration, and support.
Mary also emphasized the significance of support from First Light staff. She told us Ellie Oldach and Kara Wooldrik have been invaluable resources who have guided FBC toward increasing its board members’ understanding of the importance of this work.
These connections and conversations helped FBC to develop a one-day board retreat focused on Wabanaki support work in Fall 2023. “Kara met with us to help formulate questions and decide what we wanted for an outcome. In our discussions, it became clear that it would be [most] effective to invite other First Light organizations into a panel discussion. We asked Ellie to speak as well as Hans Carlson (BHHT), and Ciona Ulbrich (MCHT). This provided a window into the larger community of land trust organizations that are committed to Wabanaki issues.”
Mary said, “The best thing you can do is reach out to First Light and other organizations who are doing this work. The retreat could have been presented by the FBC staff and board members who have been through the First Light training, which would have had less of an impact. By inviting other organizations to our retreat, the board was able to hear from other organizations about their struggles and successes and realize this was a larger movement of land conservation organizations supporting the Wabanaki and making commitments.”
She outlined strategies and frameworks that developed from the retreat and said, “The challenge is to obtain board support for Indigenous issues when board members are at different levels of understanding and are concerned about adding responsibilities to their role as board members. A retreat emphasis was that making commitments to Wabanaki support through committee actions was not to add work, but to change the lens with which we do our work.”
According to Mary, FBC’s board is now identifying specific priorities for supporting Wabanaki sovereignty and land return within each committee, for example its finance committee will be looking at the Self Determination Fund, and its stewardship [committee] will be looking at increasing land access, ash seed collection, and land return opportunities. Committees are also pursuing educational opportunities that are specific to their focuses, for example, Bonnie Newsom came to speak to the stewardship committee about middens.
What more work do you plan to do with Board members? What are your next steps?
Mary says FBC’s board committees are continuing to think about engagement specific to each one’s focus. FBC is also tuning into the First Light network for upcoming ways to engage more members. “As we learn of new opportunities–e.g. the Island Access Working Group–[we will] ask board members who were not involved in the Learning Journey to participate so the number of informed board members increases.”
FBC is continuing to pursue opportunities for learning and relationship building. “Our most immediate step is to invite Dwayne Tomah to speak to a group of local land trusts (FBC, BHHT, DCN) this coming spring, an opportunity we’re really excited about.”
By working with partners to organize and attend Dwayne Tomah’s talk, FBC is helping other land trusts and conservation organizations come along this journey, too, strengthening the community of practice and growing the movement.
Have more questions about this process? You can reach Mary Brennan at marybrennan03@gmail.com.