Session 5 | Whose land are we birding on? Access, displacement, and land rights (Panel Discussion)

Session 5: Whose land are we birding on? Access, displacement, and land rights
A panel discussion with Steve Hampton, Seth George, Cease Wyss, and Alyssa Bardy
Steve Hampton is a member of the American Ornithological Society's Ad Hoc Committee for English Bird Names, where he helped draft the recommendation to change all honorific names. He worked for the California Dept of Fish & Wildlife for 25 years, involved in oil spill damage assessments, seabird restoration, and tribal coordination. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington (also known as qatáy, S'Klallam lands) and serves as the Conservation Chair of Rainshadow Bird Alliance (formerly known as Admiralty Audubon Society). Steve’s writings are at stephen-carr-hampton.com.
Seth George has been a Culture Teacher at the Tsleil-Waututh Nation siʔáḿθət School. Seth is a Guide with TWN-owned Takaya Tours social enterprise outdoor adventure company. He enjoys paddling and canoe culture and has frequented Maplewood Flats all his life.
T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss is an Indigenous Matriarc of the Skwxwu7mesh, Sto:lo and Hawaiian people. Through her work as an ethnobotanist, artist, activist and community-based educator, they strive to share Indigenous customs, teachings, and futures and to connect Indigenous peoples. Wyss’s thirty-year career encompasses a vast array of practices, from weaving, making remedies, medicine walks to the realm of Indigenous Digital Futurisms. Ceases’ interactive, community-based work is insightful and informative of their contemporary conditions. Cease Wyss has been an inspirational teacher at Maplewood Flats sharing her vast array of knowledges impacting ecology and Indigenous rights. Her ideas are shared on her website tuyttanatcease...
Alyssa Bardy is a self-taught natural light photographer and a visual storyteller, a mother and a wife. Her photography tells the stories of motherhood, Indigenous reconnection, nationhood, and interconnectedness with Land, with a special passion for birds. Alyssa uses the lens as a tool for herself, her children, and future generations to learn and share the brilliance and beauty of both culture and creation. Alyssa is Upper Cayuga of Six Nations of the Grand River and is a member of Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, where she and her family reside. Examples of her work can be found in publications for Canadian Geographic and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. She has collaborated with artists such as Morningstar Designs and Chief Lady Bird and has provided imagery for the written words of Christi Belcourt, Waubgeshig Rice, Amy Shawanda and Christine Lukasavitch- MacRae, among others though the Centre for Humans and Nature. Most recent exhibitions include her piece, People of the Longhouse in the Woodland Cultural Centre 2023 Indigenous Art show, and Nyá:wen Wháta, on public display in downtown Kingston, in 2023 as part of the Waawaateg exhibit.
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Decolonizing Bird Knowledge Symposium
Saturday, November 30th from 10:30am to 4:00pm PT
Birding across Turtle Island is undergoing a long overdue moment of accountability and diversification, and this first-of-its-kind gathering heralds the future for birding. In this symposium, hear inspiring speakers from across Turtle Island on Indigenous Knowledge and decolonization of birding and bird knowledge. Through practical case studies from some rock star birders and theoretical sessions this was an inspiring day!
At its heart, Indigenous Knowledge holders continue to confront the biases embedded in western science that dominates this space, reflecting its colonial roots. Together we want to go further and address land dispossession and other decolonizing birding issues.
1. Emerging culture shift in birding communities and efforts to decolonize, diversify, and implement ‘Two Eyed Seeing.’
2. Lessons of tackling bird names and efforts at un-naming from the USA.
3. Amplify projects around building inclusivity and cultural safety.
4. Consider where we bird and First Nations’ land rights beneath our feet. How does UNDRIP impact birding?
5. Be inspired by what Indigenous Knowledge teaches us about biodiversity and birding.
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The Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia (WBT) is a non-profit society that manages the Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats in North Vancouver. Our mission is to provide wild birds with sanctuary through ecological protection and restoration, and support communities with education, culture, and reconciliation programs.
We acknowledge that The Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats is situated within the traditional and unceded territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN).
wildbirdtrust.org | coastsalishpla...
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