Land Acknowledgement for City Nature Challenge: NYC
The City Nature Challenge: New York City takes place in Lenapehoking, the ancestral, unceded lands of the Lenape people. Lenapehoking includes parts of what are now known as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. We want to acknowledge and pay respect to Lenape elders, past and present. This land has great significance to the Lenape people who were forced to leave it by European colonists, and we must recognize this fact as we explore the nature of what is now called New York City. The Lenape were the original stewards of this land and its many different habitats. There are only a few spaces left that resemble what this area was like before colonization and we encourage you to be respectful in these spaces and all places in the city. We ask that you be thoughtful when you are out on this land and realize that settler colonialism has deeply changed this landscape from what it once was. We hope that your nature observations in Lenapehoking inspire you to seek out more information about the Lenape people and culture. Here are some places to start:
"Home in Lenapehoking" - An interview of Joe Baker and Hadrien Coumans, co-founders of The Lenape Center, in Urban Omnibus.
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