The American Indian College Fund (College Fund) has published, Caring for Our Kin: Stories of Indigenous Environmental Stewardship, sharing the stories of seven Indigenous environmental leaders as a guidebook for Native students and community members. The guide was created as part of the College Fund’s Tiyata Wan Unkagapi (We Are Making a Home) Environmental Stewardship Program, which supports environmental science and natural resource programs at tribal colleges in the Northern Great Plains region.

“Caring for Our Kin” provides examples of the multi-faceted approach to stewardship that communities need to build healthy ecological systems. The seven Indigenous environmental leaders include Adriann Killsnight He’heenóhká’e (Blackbirdwoman) (Northern Cheyenne Nation) who first began pursuing her education in environmental studies and resource management. Killsnight struggled with translating the deep spiritual meaning of terms and concepts in her native Cheyenne into English. Today, she holds communication and collaboration as central to her work. She approaches wildlife management as relational stewardship in which animals, plants, water, and soil are relatives carrying cultural, ceremonial, and historical knowledge.

Ayanna Maynard (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) works in her home community of the Cheyenne River Sioux. Maynard blends ecological restoration, cultural revitalization, and community-driven education in her work. With a deep appreciation for mentorship and designing student learning experiences that develop skill-building, she recognizes that technical knowledge alone is not enough to succeed. Her belief that it is essential for community members to know how to grow food and medicine while successfully sustaining an enterprise inspired her to obtain dual degrees in sustainable agriculture and food systems and business administration.

Foster Cournoyer Hogan’s (Rosebud Sioux Tribe) work focuses on supporting and strengthening bison revitalization across tribal nations, organizations, and landscapes. Once a pre-med student, he shifted to Native American studies and education and subsequently received a master’s degree in tribal administration and governance after realizing he wanted to help heal communities in a different way. He views his work as rooted in relational accountability and recognizes the emotional and structural complexity of Indigenous conservation.

For Nick Hernandez (Oglala Sioux Tribe) the Western intellectual frameworks of his higher education work best when paired with Indigenous values. He utilizes knowledge from both worlds as he builds Indigenous-led community systems around food and workforce development. His goal is “generational abundance,” envisioning a future where Indigenous youth no longer have to choose between cultural belonging and professional advancement.

Shaun Grassel (Lower Brule Sioux Tribe) was raised on and shaped by Lower Brule land, and he has come full circle to lead a nonprofit focused on grassland restoration and wildlife conservation for his homelands. He designed both his master’s in wildlife and fisheries sciences and PhD in natural resources to address tribal priorities. His current work stems from his awareness that systems-level influence is essential to scale impact for “boots on the ground” efforts. What sustains him is the vision of tribal programs leading conservation projects from the outset rather than being consulted last.

For Teri Harper (Cherokee Nation) conservation is first a direction as well as a job description. She built the internship program from the ground up within Aaniiih Nakoda College’s Buffalo Research and Education Center. She believes Indigenous knowledge belongs in scientific spaces and to understand that science, students need to ground themselves in lived experiences.

Zach Ducheneaux (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) carried his childhood memories of the 1980s farm financial crisis into his career decisions. He seeks to build systems that work for Native communities and has worked in roles and organizations that try to fill the gaps left by policy failures. He incorporates lessons from his experiences in horsemanship into his worldview and business relationships, such as partnership, listening, observing, and leading with empathy. Today, he focuses on designing investment models grounded in relationships and shared prosperity to leave behind financial systems future generations can inherit with pride, not fear.