INDIAN ISLAND, Maine — The Penobscot Nation is looking to expand its holdings of timberland as a way to both conserve areas of historic importance to the tribe and generate additional income from timber harvesting.
"This is our homeland, this is our holy land, all of the things that make us an Indigenous people," Darren Ranco, a Wabanaki scholar and Penobscot citizen said Tuesday.
The Penobscot Nation owns more than 126,000 acres throughout the state—much of it used for both hunting and sustainable timber harvesting.
The logging operation is small-scale, and pays particular attention to the avoid harming the environment, Ranco says. Profits, while modest, are put directly towards the tribe’s general fund.
"It gives us some income. It helps the general fund out and it goes towards social services," Chuck Loring, director of the Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources said.
In addition to providing some governmental funding, Loring sees off-reservation tribal land as helping the cause of tribal sovereignty.
"I think the number one goal is self-determination. Having more land affords us more opportunity," Loring added.
Supporters of Indigenous land acquisition see the push for more native lands as not only beneficial to the tribe, but as a legitimate alternative to land stewardship through conservation easements, where landowners can legally promise not to develop their land in exchange for a fee.
"They see nature and people as separate systems. And culturally, we are caretakers," Ranco said.
To him, native management of natural resources is proven. "I would compare our last couple thousand years of land management with the western forms of land management…and see who’s done better."
Currently, the tribe is working with the nonprofit Trust for Public Land to acquire 30,000 acres near Katahdin to be managed and used by the tribe for timber harvesting and hunting.