The Sierra Fund is now doing business as: Indigenous Futures Society!

Cultural Ecologies

A Worldview Rooted in Eco-cultural Relationship

Cultural Ecologies honors and revitalizes Indigenous relationships with land, water, food, language, and ceremony. Rooted in intergenerational leadership and Traditional Knowledge, this program uplifts Indigenous worldviews as critical frameworks for healing ecosystems and communities. Through this work, we reclaim what was systematically targeted for erasure—Native languages, food systems, and cultural practices that sustain resilience. Cultural Ecologies supports Indigenous self-determination, fosters data sovereignty, and strengthens the intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge. This is not a preservation project; it is a movement to revitalize and re-center Indigenous systems as living, evolving sources of ecological and cultural renewal.

The Land Remembers: Language, Culture, and Belonging

For generations, Indigenous Peoples of the Sierra Nevada have carried languages, lifeways, and ecological knowledge that are intimately tied to place. These are not just traditions — they are systems of understanding that guide how we live in right relationship with the natural world. Colonization, forced relocation, environmental destruction, and policies of erasure have severed many of these ties. As Elders pass and ecosystems change, there is an urgent need to protect what remains and to revitalize what has been suppressed. Our cultural heritage is not static — it is living, evolving, and essential to the survival of our communities and the health of the lands we come from.

Reclaiming Our Lifeways, Restoring Our Responsibilities

Through our Cultural Ecologies Program we work with Tribes to protect, restore, and share Indigenous ways of knowing and being. We

  • Promote the value and wisdom of Traditional Knowledge in conservation, climate adaptation, and cultural healing.
  • Protect Tribal Data Sovereignty and support efforts to reclaim and manage Indigenous knowledge on Tribal terms.
  • Advance Tribal Self-Determination through community-led programming, capacity building, and policy advocacy
  • Revitalize Native Language Diversity by supporting immersion, curriculum development, and language-in-place initiatives.
  • Advance Food Sovereignty through partnerships that protect native plants, traditional food systems, and ceremonial harvests.
  • Support an Intergenerational Movement by centering Elders, youth, and cultural mentors as the stewards of this work.

“Cultural Ecologies isn't just a program, it's a restoration of memory and relationship. Every native plant we tend, every bird we listen to, every story we carry forward ties us back to a deeper understanding: that land, language, and life are not separate. Our culture, our knowledge, is resilient and comes from our rootedness to this land. Cultural ecologies bring that forward, not as a return to the past, but as a return to responsibility.”

Dereck Goodwin, TEKI Program Director, Indigenous Futures Society

Projects

Sierra Meadows Project

This project re-centers Indigenous leadership and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in the revitalization of Sierra Nevada meadows—ecologically vital and culturally sacred landscapes. Historically maintained by Tribal stewardship, these meadows suffered under colonial displacement, criminalization of Indigenous practices, and extractive land use. Today, Tribal nations across the Sierra are ready to lead restoration of these homelands. In partnership with up to 20 Tribes and the Sierra Meadows Partnership (SMP), Indigenous Futures Society will advance a culturally grounded framework that includes mapping priority meadows, creating Tribal-led strategies for restoration, and facilitating knowledge exchange through “Come to our Meadows” gatherings.

Cultural Ecologies