Aquifers Defenders Indigenous Program

Across the American Midwest, water protectors and land defenders are using both Indigenous knowledge and Western science to re-evaluate new pipeline constructions and expose damage caused by existing pipelines. Waadookawaad Amikwag (“Those Who Help Beaver”) is a diverse community group of water protectors, scientists, drone pilots, field monitors, and grassroots organizers that is gathering and interpreting evidence of environmental destruction from the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, expanded in 2021 after a decade of Native-led resistance. The group’s work reveals how water protectors are fulfilling obligations to the land and water enshrined in the region’s founding treaties, and pressuring state and federal agencies to do the same. Join members of Waadookawaad Amikwag and critical geographer Kai Bosworth for a Zoom Webinar discussing their troubling findings, including aquifer breaches, lack of tribal consultations, and inadequate state regulation enforcement. This event will explore how Indigenous knowledge and Western science can be mobilized to halt pipeline destruction, stop future projects, and protect the land and water for future generations––in Minnesota and beyond.

*** SPEAKERS: * VICTORIA M.L. MCMILLEN (Migizi Clan, Anishinaabeg Nagachiwaanong) & Family: Cultural and traditional Ecological knowledge carriers, volunteers with Waadookawaad Amikwag * JAMI GAITHER: Metallurgical engineer and founding member of Waadookawaad Amikwag * JEFF BROBERG: Geologist and founding member of Minnesota Well Owners Organization (MNWOO) and Waadookawaad Amikwag * SCOTT RUSSELL: Journalist and volunteer with Waadookawaad Amikwag * KAI BOSWORTH: Critical Geographer and Red Natural History Fellow This webinar is part of “Natural History for a World in Crisis,” a virtual programming series organized by Red Natural History Fellows with The Natural History Museum.

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