By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq)
Founding Director
It was announced March 3 that EWF has been honored with new support from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. Our Community Green Infrastructure grant (one to 23 applicants totaling about $3.6 million selected from 67 applications totaling almost $17.4 million) will provide our nonprofit with support and technical assistance in 2025 and 2026 to develop our Native American Plant Nursery at two work sites in Marion County.
We have received additional support from state government agencies plus other generous institutional and organizational partners this past year. This has strengthened our capacity to sustain challenges that we may face in the future since we are not immune from the recent loss of federal funding which many of our colleagues have been experiencing this winter.
We realize our visions and dreams for restoring our ecosystems and rich culture and way of life may also be threatened or at least slowed down temporarily, but it only strengthens our personal resolve to overcome any challenges. Centuries of trauma experienced by Native Americans and other people have strengthened our resilience and helped us realize the role our spirituality plays in our conservation work, due in part to our relationship with the world of nature. We also understand the healing our Oldest Grandmother (Mother Earth) provides to us through the gifts of Her medicine and her beauty.
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