In 2023, the Tolowa Dee-ni' people alongside partnering tribes asserted sovereignty over the 700 square miles of their ancestral fisheries. Now in 2024, we see how marine science and resource management can be guided by community and culture.

In Northern California, Marine science is guided by Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation’s community and culture.

Keepers of the Coastline

In an observational survey, this short documentary presents the realities of coastal erosion by witnessing the experience of Bristol Bay community members. Interviews, local archives, and ancestral knowledge put the circumstances in stark relief as we detail the communities' adjustments to the retreating coastline.

Using photo archives and ancestral knowledge, witness coastal erosion in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Sands of Time

Communities like the Unangax̂ rely on traditional foodways in lieu of customary, expensive grocery suppliers. Following the journey of a local subsistence hunter, we learn the realities of food access in the changing Arctic and the values that inform their harvest.

Following a local Unangax̂ hunter, hear the realities of food access in the changing Arctic.

Tides of Tradition

In a journey of reconnection, filmmaker Steven Tallas explores the hogan - a small, unassuming traditional structure found across the Navajo Nation. Remaining cool in the summers and warm in the winters, this short film revisits the hogan amidst a warming American southwest.

Reintroducing the hogan, an earthen Navajo structure that stays cool in the summers without AC.

Standing the Heat

The Southwestern United States is experiencing a megadrought, but this isn't the first time people have survived one in the region. By highlighting ideas and practices from Navajo tradition, the story recenters our relationship to water.

The Southwest is in a megadrought, but Native Americans have survived them before.

Megadroughts and Indigenous Voices

Agriculture can thrive in the desert. The Tohono O’odham people have used Ak Chin farming, a form of dry farming, to grow crops for thousands of years, and in this short documentary, cultural experts demonstrate these traditional practices as well as implementations for future community planning.

Ak-chin farming makes desert agriculture possible, and now, those practices help communities today.

Harvesting the Future

The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation

GBH Climate and Environment Fund

The first of its kind, "Legacy of the Land" is a collection of 6 short documentaries covering climate change in Native American communities. Each story is produced by a separate indigenous filmmaker making the series as dynamic and distinct as Native American communities themselves. From Alaska to Arizona, audiences witness the knowledge, tradition, and innovation of people living on the front lines of our changing climate.

Legacy of the Land

AboutLegacy of the Land