From water scarcity to floods and erosion, Native nations are addressing climate change across Indian Country. Join the museum for a weekend of conversations, presentations, and artist demonstrations that explore how Indigenous communities are stepping forward with proactive plans to protect their lands, resources, and ways of life.

Education Stations
POTOMAC ATRIUM, 10 AM–5 PM 

FEEDING FUTURE GENERATIONS THROUGH ANCESTRAL INDIGENOUS PRACTICES 
These presentations describe how Indigenous agricultural practices have always respected the Earth with sustainability in mind. Presenters share the ways traditional farming methods and water management are adapting to a changing climate and feeding the world’s growing population at the same time.

CHOCTAW AQUAPONICS with Kaben Smallwood (Choctaw), Andrea Nicole Smallwood (Choctaw), Heidi Marie Couch (Choctaw)
Aquaponics is the practice of growing fish and plants together in one integrated system. It combines aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (the growing of plants without soil). The fish waste provides an organic food source for the plants, and the plants naturally filter water for the fish.

SEA GARDENS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST with Nicole Norris (Xelaltxw), Erin Slade
Clam gardens, a type of sea garden constructed by First Nations and Native Americans living along the Northwest Coast, are a sophisticated form of shellfish management that ensures a reliable food source for their communities. Studies show that beaches with clam gardens increase clam habitats by 150%–300% compared to beaches without clam gardens.

CHINAMPAS: AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AROUND MEXICO CITY with Lucía Pérez Volkow, Diego Astorga de Ita
What is now Mexico City was once covered in canals and artificial islands built upon the shallow lake beds of the Valley of Mexico. Known as chinampas, these amphibious territories developed by the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan allowed for the cultivation of several annual crops. This resilient pre-Hispanic landscape has survived for hundreds of years, and patches of it remain in use in southern modern-day Mexico City.

ZUNI WAFFLE GARDENS, DRY GARDENING, AND CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES with Reyna Banteah (Zuni), Wilbur Haske (Zuni)
The Zuni have farmed the Colorado Plateau for thousands of years, developing techniques and plant varieties uniquely adapted to their extreme high desert environment. Tribal elders continue to transmit these farming methods to younger generations as part of the Pueblo’s traditional cultural knowledge. 

MODERN HAWAIIAN TARO TERRACE GARDENS AND FISHPONDS with Joey Kalanakilaokalāhui Palupe (Native Hawaiian), Makua Perry (Native Hawaiian)
Indigenous Hawaiians created elaborate aquaculture systems, including fishponds to farm freshwater and brackish-water fish as well as ocean ponds to farm ocean fish. Terraced taro gardens were used to cultivate a wide range of brackish-tolerant fish such as mullet, silver perch, Hawaiian gobies, and shrimp. Today Hawaiian communities are establishing community-based initiatives to restore traditional aquaculture ponds to create sustainable and culturally relevant food sources and economic opportunity.

Art Stations
POTOMAC ATRIUM, 10 AM–5 PM

SUSTAINABLE ARTMAKING 
Make art with contemporary artists who create with found materials and learn how they transform items destined for landfills into sustainable works of originality. 

SAWU: TRADITIONAL PERUVIAN WEAVING WITH PLASTIC with Aymar Ccopacatty (Aymara)
Aymar Ccopacatty uses traditional Andean textile techniques learned from his Peruvian family to spin and weave plastic bags. One of the principal spiritual tenets of Andean Indigenous philosophy is that an energetic trail is left by any material object that passes through our hands. Plastic bags represent a piece of our energetic and physical footprint on earth. Visitors can bring one bag, which Ccopacatty will incorporate into his weaving demonstration. 

LA CARTONERÍA: THE MEXICAN ART OF RECYCLING PAPER with Ana Miriam Castañeda Montes de Oca (Tlahuica), Regina Huitsilin Ramírez Castañeda (Tlahuica), Martín Ramírez (Tlahuica)
The Ramírez Castañeda family from Xoxocotla, Morelos, Mexico, are well known for their work in the art of la cartonería and papel picado. Mexican cartonería are unique papier-mâché artworks made of cardboard, paper, sticks, wire, and paste. The makers, known as cartoneros, use creativity and manual dexterity to turn these modest materials into beautiful works of diverse size and complexity. 

Guest Speakers and Panel Discussions
RASMUSON THEATER, 1 PM–5 PM
ACCESS THE LIVESTREAM AT AmericanIndian.si.edu/livestream

1:00 PM 
KEYNOTE presented by Amelia Flores (Mohave), Chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes

Amelia Flores (Mohave) is chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, which is comprised of the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo. These four tribes reside on a reservation a few hours west of Phoenix and possess some of the oldest and most extensive water rights in Arizona. Working diligently on new legislation regarding the Colorado River, Flores states, “In addition to the income we gain from leasing our water, we have cultural ties to our river. The Mohave people have cultural ties to the water and still maintain our practices with the water. Our creator, Mataviily, gave us the land and the water to live off, and we are the stewards of these resources. Those stewardship responsibilities include making sure we keep water flowing in that channel for future generations.”

2:30 PM
OKA (WATER) presented by Kaben Smallwood (Choctaw)

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma citizen Kaben Smallwood leans on his heritage, lessons from his Choctaw family, and his business experience to guide his discussion of Choctaw history, Indigenous agricultural practices, and how he applies ancient Indigenous principles to his modern-day sustainable agriculture company, Symbiotic Aquaponic. Aquaponics combines aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (the growing of plants without soil) to grow fish and plants together in one integrated system. The fish waste provides an organic food source for the plants, and the plants naturally filter water for the fish. 

Kaben Smallwood (Choctaw) was selected by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to serve on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s inaugural Secretary’s Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture. Smallwood, who lives in McAlester, Oklahoma, was nominated for this role by Choctaw Chief Gary Batton and was chosen from more than 300 applicants nationwide. Smallwood is the co-founder and CEO of Symbiotic Aquaponic, a family-owned and operated business that uses aquaponics, a food production system that combines aquaculture with hydroponics to grow all-natural produce. Aquaponics uses less water than other farming techniques and makes it possible to cultivate fresh, locally grown food for socially and economically disadvantaged communities.

3:30 PM
BRINGING LIFE BACK TO OUR BEACHES: THE RESURGENCE OF COAST SALISH SEA GARDENS presented by Nicole Norris (Xelaltxw)

Clam gardens, a type of sea garden constructed by First Nations and Native Americans living along the Northwest Coast, are a sophisticated form of shellfish management that ensures a reliable food source for their communities. Studies show that beaches with clam gardens increase clam habitats by 150%–300% compared to beaches without clam gardens. These staggering numbers suggest that management techniques honed over multiple generations have much to teach us about our current use of shellfish. Additionally, as the growing demand for seafood exceeds what is locally available and sustainable in many parts of the world, traditional methods for managing shellfish are becoming increasingly relevant to contemporary concerns about food security.

Nicole Norris (Xelaltxw [Halalt First Nation]) is from the heart of Hul’q’umi’num’ (Coast Salish) territory on Vancouver Island, Canada. She is a founding member of the Hul’q’umi’num’ Lands and Resource Society, Indigenous planning officer for the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, knowledge holder for the Hul’q’umi’num’, and a Coast Salish ally for her colleagues. Previously she worked for more than two decades as a First Nations intergovernmental communicator, aquaculture specialist, cultural safety facilitator, knowledge holder, and cultural practitioner for the First Nations across British Columbia, Canada. 

4:15 PM
ZUNI WAFFLE GARDENS, DRY GARDENS, AND CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES presented by Reyna Banteah (Zuni)

The Zuni have farmed the Colorado Plateau for thousands of years, developing techniques and plant varieties uniquely adapted to their extreme high desert environment. Tribal elders continue to transmit these farming methods to younger generations as part of the Pueblo’s traditional cultural knowledge. 

Reyna Banteah (Zuni) is from the Pueblo of Zuni, New Mexico, descended from the Crow Clan on her maternal side and the Sun Clan on her paternal side. She serves on the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project’s agriculture committee, supporting efforts to revitalize and maintain Zuni farming traditions. Her small business founded in 2018, Ts’uyya Farm (ts’uyya is Zuni for hummingbird), focuses on sustainable farming methods and saving native seeds that are adapted to the Southwest’s dry, hot climate. Banteah’s goal is to create thriving, self-sustaining agricultural communities in Albuquerque and surrounding Native communities.

Image: Colorado River Sign at Hite Crossing in Utah. Photo by kojihirano