30 Years Of Work
We’re Proud Of..
“Lankard became a familiar sight in the Capitol with his battered leather backpack, laptop computer and a small, smooth stone from his beloved Copper River that he always carried. The honorary chief of the Eyak tribe, Marie Smith-Jones renamed him Jamachakih. Translation: Little bird that screams really loud and won’t shut up.” Time magazine, 1999
2021 - Bering River Coal Boundary LIne Extended
We did it after 27 years!
Native Conservancy, Dune Lankard speaking about the recent victory to extend the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council's restoration boundary to include the entire Copper River Delta and Bering River Coalfield region.
The Copper River Delta Restoration Boundary Line was extended to include 250 square miles of original wilderness. The Delta and our wild salmon way of life are now included in this political restoration boundary since back in 1994, when the imaginary restoration line was drawn in the sand and excluded on the western banks (river right) of the Copper River. The Copper River Delta is one of the last world-class wild salmon wetland baselines left intact, roadless and wild in the world. It should always be that way! Our love for the Delta, for wild salmon and for our planets remaining wild places is what should unite us all, to stand up together and protect what is left of the wild, and what is still thriving, especially during these chaotic pandemic and climate changing times." We are all in this together, to protect what’s left on our blue planet before we are out of choices. Wild places like the Copper River Delta are a "crown jewel of wilderness" that is still roadless, wild and thriving, so let’s keep it that way.”
2017: Native-owned Land Trust
Native Conservancy Founder and CEO Dune Lankard also helped launch and lead a national Native-owned, Native-led land trust organization, the Native Land Trust Coalition (NLTC). The NLTC is critical for Indigenous First Nation peoples across America who want to get involved in land conservation efforts in their respective homelands. This entity, along with the Native Conservancy, offers global conservation funders the opportunity to fund and support Indigenous-led land conservation efforts.
Conservation also means Native cultural revitalization, cultural easements, cultural landscapes, and protecting inherent rights of sovereignty, subsistence, and spirituality.
2016: Permanent Protection of Forest
Native Conservancy, in conjunction with EPC, helped to permanently protect 62,000 acres (85%) of the subsurface coal rights in the Bering River Coal Field region in December, 2016. This rare subsurface conservation agreement is held in trust in perpetuity by our Native Conservancy. We must now designate a Bering River Coal Field Stewardship Fund to monitor and protect the Bering River Coal Field in perpetuity from ever being mined. The Bering River Coal Field conservation covenant is one of the largest, protected subsurface conservation easements in the history of the United States.
2003: The Idea of a Native-run, Native-controlled Land Trust Emerges
The Native Conservancy was conceived when we realized that we needed a land trust to conserve and hold title and/or conservation easements to the Bering River Coal Field. When we tried to partner with non-Native groups, we didn’t feel they could fully understand Native people, our Native culture nor how our inherent rights of existence are inextricably tied to sovereignty and subsistence and our ancestral lands and oceans.
“Back in 2002, after visiting Alaska, I wanted to support a new conservation path to permanent protection of endangered habitat, subsistence ways of life of Alaskan Natives, and protect Indigenous people’s inherent rights of sovereignty on their ancestral lands. I’m happy my support helped start the Native Conservancy back then, which was Native-owned, Native-run and led by a Native board to help empower them to protect their irreplaceable Native way of life.” Susanna Colloredo-Mansfeld, Individual Donor
Conservation groups have repeatedly asked Native people to step aside because they didn’t want an “Indian Problem” to impact their land conservation visions and negotiations to protect our land. Our initial Native Conservancy goal was to find a way to purchase the Bering Coal patents and be positioned to permanently protect them with a Native-led, Native-owned land trust, as who would be better to protect the lands, other than the original stewards of the land.
Native Conservancy was the first Native-owned and Native-led land trust in 2003 with an all-Native board in Alaska and in the United States.
The Native Conservancy was the first Native-led land trust with an all-Native board in Alaska and in the United States. We wanted to figure out how to protect our beloved Copper River Delta and endangered habitat in Prince William Sound without more compromise. One of our first grants enabled us to demonstrate the actual cost of building roads and ports of extraction, erecting bridges over anadromous salmon streams across the pristine and roadless Copper River Delta. Because of our tireless, dedicated and focused work to keep the Delta wild, no roads or intrusive development has taken place (so far).
Native Conservancy developed evidence about why permanent protection of the Bering River Coal Field was in the best interest of the region, the wildlife, the wild salmon and the people.