On Water, Waste, and Colonialism: Engaging with Indigenous Pedagogies and Black Geographies in Lënapehòkink
Learn About + Contribute Funds to Native Collectives
This is a non-exhaustive list and I encourage you to do your own research to find more collectives to support and opportunities to connect with and learn from local Native land stewards.
American Indian Community House | “501c3 registered nonprofit serving the health, social service, and cultural needs of Native Americans residing in New York City.”
American Indian Law Alliance | “Indigenous, non-profit, non-partisan organization that works with Indigenous nations, communities, and organizations in our struggle for sovereignty, human rights, and social justice for our peoples.”
Indigenization Fund & Support for NAIC-NY | “All Funds donated and or invested will directly benefit the continuation of community strengthening, advocating, development, economic justice and cultural exchange in sovereign ways by the team at the North American Indigenous Center of New York. We are a grassroots organization, with your contribution we will continue to seed a thriving Indigenous Future together!”
Indigenous Environmental Network | IEN is an alliance of Indigenous Peoples whose Shared Mission is to Protect the Sacredness of Earth Mother from contamination & exploitation by Respecting and Adhering to Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Law.
Lenape Center | “Lenape Center is a nonprofit organization fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts. Our work has been the creation and development of exhibitions, public art, symposia, performance, music, opera, theater, and education. (workshops, lectures, curricula). We are currently in our fifth season of our seed rematriation project.”
NDN Collective | “NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.”
Native Women’s Wilderness | “Native Women's Wilderness was created to bring Native women together to share our stories, support each other, and learn from one another as we endeavor to explore and celebrate the wilderness and our Native lands.”
North American Indigenous Center of New York (NAIC-NY) | “The North American Indigenous Center of New York is a Native-women-led and centered nonprofit organization committed to Indigenous empowerment through cultural continuance, intersectional equity, and advancement of economic justice for Native nations, communities, and peoples living in and beyond the boundaries of New York City, New York State, and the Northeast.”
St. Joseph’s Indian School and Native Hope | “Native Hope exists to address the injustice done to Native Americans. [They] dismantle barriers through storytelling and impactful programs to bring healing and inspire hope.”
Databases + GIS
Allan Lu: NYC Sewer Data Map
Billion Oyster Project: The New York Harbor Estuary Species Identification Guide
GPS Nautical Charts: New York Marine Charts
Green-Wood Historic Fund: Green-Wood Stormwater Project
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Muhheakantuck (The River that Flows Two Ways)
Microplastics in Combined Sewer Overflows: An Experimental Study by Fabio Di Nunno, Francesco Granata, Francesco Parrino, Rudy Gargano, and Giovanni de Marinis
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative: Assessing the Effects of Storm Surge Barriers on the Hudson River Estuary
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative: Biodiversity in Hudson River Shore Zones: Influence of Shoreline Type and Physical Structure
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative: Collection: Living Shorelines
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative: Datasets and Modeling: Analysis of Surge Barrier Effects on the Hudson River Estuary
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative: Hudson River Estuary Flow Model
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative: Hudson River Ice Climatology
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative: Understanding the Role Coastal Marshes Play in Protecting Communities from Storm Surge and Flooding
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative: Webinar: Physical Effects of Storm Surge Barriers on the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary
National Sea Grant Office, New York State Water Resources Institute, and United States Department of Commerce: MyCoast New York
New York Public Library: NYC Urban Ecosystem Toolbox: Groundwater and Water Supply
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Combined Sewer Overflow
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Combined Sewer Overflow Outfalls
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Fresh Kills: Leachate Mitigation System Project
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Sewage Pollution Right To Know
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: The Hudson Estuary: A River That Flows Two Ways
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Waterbodies
New York State Department of State: Coastal Atlas
Newtown Creek Alliance: Combined Sewer Overflow
Newtown Creek Alliance: Exploring Newtown Creek: Story Maps
NYC 311: Catch Basin Complaint
NYC 311: Lead in Drinking Water
NYC 311: Request Water Test Kit
NYC Bird Alliance: Harbor Heron Islands
NYC Department of City Planning: NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan For CITYWIDE/OPEN WATERS
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Historical Sewage Discharge Data
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: NYC Sewer System
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: NYC Stormwater Manual
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Request Water & Sewer Records
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Sewage Discharge Notifications
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Trash in Waterways
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Trash it. Don’t Flush it.
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Wait… App
NYC Department of Environmental Protection: Wastewater Treatment System
NYC Department of Records and Information Services: Manhattan Sewer and Drainage District Maps Circa 1871 to 1889
NYC Department of Records and Information Services: Manhattan Sewer and Drainage District Maps Circa 1895 to 1897
NYC Department of Records and Information Services: The New York City Municipal Archives
NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice: Energy and Water Map
NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice: FloodNet
NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice: The State of Environmental Justice in NYC: Exposure to Polluted Water
NYC Open Data: DSNY Garages (Map)
NYC Open Data: DSNY Litter Basket (Map)
NYC Open Data: DSNY Litter Basket Inventory
NYC Open Data: DSNY Salt Usage
NYC Open Data: DSNY — Snow Priority Designation
NYC Open Data: Open Sewer Atlas NYC
NYC Open Data: Sea Level Rise Maps (2020s 100-year Floodplain)
NYC Open Data: Sewer (Road Map)
NYC Open Data: Water and Sewer Permits (Historic)
NYC Open Data: Water and Sewer Permits
NYS COVID-19: The NYS Wastewater Surveillance Network
NYS Open Data: Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) Map
NYS Open Data: Environmental Remediation Sites Map
Queens Museum: The Relief Map of the New York City Water Supply System
United States Environmental Protection Agency: Search for Superfund Sites Where You Live
United States Geological Survey: Groundwater and Streamflow Information
United States Geological Survey: Map of the NYC Water Supply Network
United States Geological Survey: National Water Information System: Mapper
United States Geological Survey: NYC Bedrock and Groundwater Mapper
United States Geological Survey: Saltwater-Interface Mapping - Long Island, New York
United States Geological Survey: Surface Geology Map of New York City
United States Geological Survey: Turbidity Data from the Upper Esopus Creek Watershed, New York
University of California Berkeley Library: Black Geographies: Getting Started
Inspiration + Source Material
Adventures on the Turtle's Back by Joe Whittle
Anti-Colonial Science | Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research
BabyLegs: A DIY Surface Water Trawl for Microplastic Pollution | Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research
Black ecological relations and methodologies by Tianna Bruno
Black Geographies and Black Ecologies as Insurgent Ecocriticism by Alex A. Moulton and Inge Salo
COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War by Edda Fields-Black
Delineation of Potential Groundwater Zones and Assessment of Their Vulnerability to Pollution from Cemeteries Using GIS and AHP Approaches Based on the DRASTIC Index and Specific DRASTIC by Vanessa Gonçalves, Antonio Albuquerque, Pedro Gabriel Almeida, Luís Ferreira Gomes, and Victor Cavaleiro
Demonic Grounds: Black Women And The Cartographies Of Struggle by Katherine McKittrick
DIY Microscopes | Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research
Drawing Boundaries by Barry Smith
Environmental History of the Hudson River: Human Uses that Changed the Ecology, Ecology that Changed Human Uses by Robert E. Henshaw
Essential Readings: Land, Water, and the Environment in Israeli Occupied Palestinian Territories by Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins
First Nations speak out on proposed hydropower for NYC | Riverkeeper
Hidden Waters of NYC: A History and Guide by Sergey Kadinsky
History of the Hudson River | Riverkeeper
In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe
“Indians Don't Make Maps”: Indigenous Cartographic Traditions and Innovations by Annita Hetoevehotohke’e Lucchesi
Indigenous Water Pedagogies: Cultivating Relations Through the Reading of Water | Bruce, F., Bang, M., Lees, A., McDaid, N., Peters, F., & Bushnell, J.
Indigenous Pedagogies: Land, Water, and Kinship by Lees, A., & Bang, M.
Lenape Names for Flowing Water by Jim Rementer, Lenape Language Project
Lenape Names for Other Terms for Water by Jim Rementer, Lenape Language Project
Lenapehoking ~ Watershed | Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River
Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future Kanaka Maoli and Critical Settler Cartographies in Hawai'i by Candace Fujikane
Mapping the Deep Blue Oceans by Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther
Mëshatàm Lënapehòkink: I remember the land of the Lenape by Joe Whittle
Necroleachate and Public Health by Mariane Malvão Fernandes
New York State Supreme Court Rules NYC Department of Environmental Protection Failed to Report Combined Sewer Overflow Discharges by Waterkeeper Alliance
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT CSO Order
On The Living Black Atlas: Learning Geospatial Ethics from the African American Freedom Struggle by Derek H. Alderman and Joshua Inwood
Racial Hydrologies by Brian Walter
Sandhogs: A History of the Tunnel Workers of New York by Paul E. Delaney
The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies by Tiffany Lethabo King
The Green-Wood Cemetery Gets Climate Ready with Stormwater Resiliency Project | NYC Department of Environmental Protection
The inaccessible and abandoned islands of New York – in pictures by Phillip Buehler
Pollution is Colonialism by Max Liboiron
The Power (Relations) of Citizen Science | Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research
The Presence and Significance of Microplastics in Surface Water in the Lower Hudson River Estuary 2016–2019: A Research Note by Helen Polancoa, Siddhartha Hayesa, Carrie Roblea, Marika Krupitskya, and Brett Branco
The River in Us: Fighting Toxics in Mohawk Communities by Elizabeth Hoover
The Sandhogs from Highway under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel by Robert W. Jackson
Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility by Dorceta Taylor
Understanding roles and positionality in Indigenous science & education | Indigenous Land & Data Stewards Lab
Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
United Maroon Indigenous People: Statement to the First United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent | Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Visiting Artists Program Lecture: Torkwase Dyson | School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Waste Is Information: Infrastructure Legibility and Governance by Dietmar Offenhuber
Water Back: A Review Centering Rematriation and Indigenous Water Research Sovereignty | Leonard, K.; David-Chavez, D.; Smiles, D.; Jennings, L.; ʻAnolani Alegado, R.; Tsinnajinnie, L.; Manitowabi, J.; Arsenault, R.; Begay, R.L.; Kagawa-Viviani, A.; Davis, D.D.; van Uitregt, V.; Pichette, H.; Liboiron, M.; Moggridge, B.; Russo Carroll, S.; Tsosie, R.L. and Gomez, A.
Water Spirit | Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River
What a Geographical Entity Could Be by Timothy Tambassi
What does EPA's recent PCB report on the Hudson mean for the future of the river? | Riverkeeper
