The Native American Fish and Wildlife Society

What a conference should be.

Every time I hang out with Meg in a wildlife professional space, it ends up being an amazing experience. This past week was no different, as I got to attend the 41st Annual Native American Fish and Wildlife Society Meeting in Welch, MN.

The conference was hosted by the Prairie Island Indian Community, on land about 45 min southeast of Minneapolis, MN. This would be the most time I’d spend (3 nights) on Native reservation land, and I was eager and grateful to have the opportunity for the experience. I had also never been to a conference where Native people were centered and controlled how the space functioned. All my previous conference experience, with few exceptions, have been overwhelmingly white both in terms of who has power and the culture of said space.

Thirty minutes into my trip, I was frustrated and anxious because of a rental car snafu that delayed my travel from the airport by more than an hour. When I landed at 5:05PM I had been hopeful that I could get to the hotel and change clothes in time for the 6:30PM banquet. Finally getting on the road at 6:18 snuffed that plan out and all that was left was to text Meg the following:

"I’m wearing a black Adidas track suit. Will I be out of place if I come straight there [to the banquet]?”

Don’t judge me! Track suits are a fantastic travel outfit!

Meg reassured me that it would be fine and so I showed up with my backpack and track suit to a large banquet hall as young women from the Prairie Island community were finishing a set of dances. I found Meg, gave her a big hug, and she showed me to our table. I sat down to this:

I was starving and gobbled this delicious meal down, trying not to embarrass myself among the table of Meg’s NAFWS colleagues who I’d just met. They were friendly, warm, and not the least bit judgmental about me being late, showing in a track suit, or me snarfing down the entire plate of food in short order.

HOW THIS CONFERENCE WAS DIFFERENT

In my career as an ecologist, I’ve always struggled with conceptualizing doing positive work without the explicit admission that all these lands were stolen. It always seemed odd and uncomfortable that none of my training included learning about how landscapes, species, and communities were shaped by settler colonialism and the ongoing genocide of Indigenous people on the continent I hoped to work.

Most of my learning since earning my PhD 13 years ago, has been centered around a self-guided reeducation of how to understand Turtle Island (North America) within the context of the humans who have stewarded the land for millennia. This education had to be self-guided because the overwhelming majority of my mentors and senior colleagues were/are not engaged with Indigenous geographies.

But learning about these geographies, being fortunate enough to share spaces with people who have the scientific and cultural knowledge that applies to species and environmental conservation has been incredibly formative and rewarding for my development as a professional and as a person.

And here I was at a conference that recognized the importance of and practiced the principles mainstream ecology is struggling to implement.

One of the first things that stood out to me the following day, was how punctual the talks were. I’ve never been to a conference where multiple speakers in a session stayed within their allotted time, but nearly every speaker whose talk I attended did exactly that. I was amazed.

This may not seem like a big deal, but staying within a time limit, to me, shows a deep respect for the space that you are speaking in. You respect the time of the audience, you respect the other speakers in the session, and you respect the overall conference by not going over time so that things run smoothly.

Many of my conference experiences have been somewhat soiled by the pretense of speakers — myself included — who take more than their fair share of time. This pattern is what one might expect from a culture that is obsessed with celebrating the individual. The subtle, but explicit emphasis of the collective in the NAFWS conference space seemed to permeate through to each person, making the sessions run quickly literally like clockwork.

The other thing I noticed about the speakers is that the research presented was very matter-of-fact. There was very little posturing or credential signally in any of the talks I attended. The focus was on the animal relatives and positive outcomes. Folks simply shared what they had to say, presented data and support, told amazing stories, and attentively answered questions. It was clear that the work being done was the showcase and not the persons doing the work.

The Native American Fish and Wildlife Society meeting was a transformative space for me, no doubt.

I’ve also never been to a national conference space with friendlier people. And as a Black person who’s attended dozens of conferences, I can tell you that mainstream conference spaces are not at all welcoming. Folks here said “hello”, asked where I was from, teased and made good natured jokes within minutes, and were genuinely interested in getting to know a little bit about each other.

I was not nearly as aware of being one of few Black people in the conference space, and I detected almost none of the “oh shit, I’ve never been around Black people” energy that pours off of most white folks in conference spaces. No one looked nervous when I got on the elevator with them. The hotel and casino staff gave me the same open friend greetings they gave everyone else, and the only police I ever saw were the tribal officers attending the conference.

This conference was a space where I didn’t have to wear the mask and that meant everything.

WHY I PLAN TO ATTEND NEXT YEAR

It’s hard to put into words just how comfortable and welcoming a space this conference was. A large part of that had to do with Meg being there as one of the NAFWS staff and her knowing so many attendees. But I will attend next year’s conference in Wind River, WY even if Meg isn’t there because this is a space I need as a professional and as a person.

In all the talks given, the impacts of settler-colonialism and white supremacy were front and center and that’s what I never heard as an ecology grad student and something I only rarely hear in mainstream ecology circles. Folks at NAWFS talked explicitly about the need to restore Native sovereignty as the means for saving species and restoring environments rather than a new complex analysis that doesn’t address the core issues.

Talk explicitly about whiteness being the thing that’s doing the endangering in spaces where the culture is controlled and situated in whiteness and the response is hostile. And that reaction is exhausting to deal with when you are trying to solve problems. Trying to convince people of a reality that their peace of mind and sense of self is dependent on not understanding is why I find most academic conferences a waste of my time.

The global climate, ecology, other species, and our own are in danger primarily because of how white supremacy has built and maintains its power. That is something well understood and accepted at NAFWS so that’s where I want to be.

Now, pass the three sisters salad and fry bread! I’m hungry for more!

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New Content

SAVE MONEY, BUY WHOLE!

Necessity is the mother of invention. Some months back I had a tough time finding ground pork in the grocery store. Some things, like egg rolls, are simply not the same without ground pork and I couldn’t find it anywhere. Embarrassingly, I realized that I could just buy a pork butt and grind the meat at home myself. Duh! I had the equipment and had ground meat before, so what was I waiting for?!

So, in the latest video on the channel I show you how to do this along with breaking down a whole chicken. The savings is significant and the control you gain in doing these rather straightforward butchery tasks at home is kind of life changing.

RAISED BED BONANZA!

The weather is getting warmer and so is the pressure to build a more productive garden. This past weekend we hit up the plant sale at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and then purchased 600lbs of compost for the raised beds. Growing plants is all about the quality of the soil, so we continue to step our game up to feed the plants that feed us. I love getting my hands dirty!

Wild Food Update

20LBS OF HALIBUT?!

One of my bucket-list fish to catch is a giant halibut. I’m talking 50lbs and higher, just some massive slab of Pacific Ocean white fish that will fill half my freezer.

The next best thing is ordering said fish whole from Whole Foods. It’s currently halibut season, so I renewed my request for the whole fish. Just like ordering whole lake trout, the fish monger at Whole Foods was just as geeked as I was about the order.

Sadly, Whole Foods whole halibut, at least in Michigan, doesn’t come with the head and thus the cheeks are missing, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of finding different recipes for one of the most prized fish on the planet.

That video will certainly show up on the channel, but in the meantime, check out my fish monger mentor from afar, Taku, and this incredible halibut catch and cook content!

Recommendation

I NEVER FLY WITHOUT THESE

I’ve recommended these before, but I wanted to come back to the two devices I would literally turn the car around at the airport to go back home and get if I forgot them. Planes are noisy as hell and any chance you can get to reduce that noise, the more enjoyable your flying experience can be.

The earbuds airlines hand out are almost never noise cancelling — unless you fly business class for longer flights — so if you want to watch the in-flight-entertainment, you’re stuck with headphones that are functionally useless with all the cabin noise.

The AirFly Pro bluetooth wireless transmitter is one of the best $50 I’ve spent in my entire life. Using this thing on flights allows me to connect my outstanding AirPods Pro to the IFE and enjoy that content at a reasonable volume without background plane noise.

I’m actually a bit shocked more people don’t use the AirFly on flights because so many people have wireless headphones already.

Anyways, even if you fly once a year, this device is totally worth it. And if you don’t already have a pair of wireless noise cancelling headphones, then Apple’s AirPods Pros are stellar.

Business Update

I’m almost finished reading Kathryn Finney’s book, Build the Damn Thing: How to Start a Successful Business If You’re Not a Rich White Guy, and I’m looking forward to starting this book by Arlan Hamilton.

It’s such a joy to learn about business from folks who both understand how to be successful entrepreneurs, but also folks who can speak to being presumed less- or incompetent by mainstream culture.

The contrast and similarities between these books and advice and those of rich white guys has been interesting to observe and I plan to talk about such on the channel, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter!

-Jonathan