Re-Indigenizing and Collaboratively Tending Urban Greenspaces

This work details the active process of land tending with the intention of re-Indigenization in the Pacific Northwest at several Portland sites; The Native American Student Community Center, PSU Oak Savanna, and the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Land tending is an intuitive process, one rooted in love and respect for life of all forms as well as becoming the perpetual student; land tending is not a skill to be mastered, only practiced. Unlike environmental management, tending cannot be done separate from the earth, in a classroom or otherwise. Connections are what tending is built on top of: the foundation; effort must go into actively creating and maintaining our relationships, not through screens but with hugs, embraces, and close admiration. Just like tending, my thesis is holistic in nature. There was no innate question I felt called to, as my collective experiences and lessons cannot be untangled and studied. I'd like to share the experience of learning the Earth and the projects that I've been fully involved in thanks to this new, profound know-how.