Reclamation: Healing Blind Brook. by Luna
December 27, 2024
Open gallery
Author: Luna Garcia
Fall 2024 Sustainability Team Cohort
Major: Biology & Visual Arts
Graduation Date: 2025/26
The sustainability team has been working to restore an old-growth forest on campus that is under threat, known as Blind Brook. The threat placed on Blind Brook and other areas on campus made it necessary to find a way to protect it. As an Invasive Species Management intern, I’ve been leading a project to design and install an Indigenous land acknowledgement plaque at the entrance of the forest— dedicated to the Munsee-Lenape and Wappinger people. Being Indigenous, I’m excited to implement pieces of my identity and that I’ll be taking a huge step in reclaiming land for my community!
I’d like to challenge students to think about Purchase college’s specific cultures, ceremonies, and identity as a campus. How can we make the students of color on this campus feel stronger, more heard, and seen? We can start by going back. Back to the original owners of the land that we’re living on– what the environment looked like, and how it became like this. In my time spent researching the Native history of Purchase, I’ve found ways to “go back” literally: exploring the internet archives on Purchase’s History page, checking previous years on the Google Maps satellite page for Blind Brook, and speaking to Lenape elders who have been through forced relocation from decades ago.
Invasive species thrive in scarce environments and don’t express reciprocity and mutualism. With them, there’s no reciprocity– just overtaking. Protecting native species is my way of fighting back against the effects of colonization on Native land. Invasive species are a direct product of colonization itself, disrupting native ecosystems much like colonial actions disrupted Indigenous lands and communities. There is an important cycle of giving and taking from and to the earth that was hurt many years ago with the loss of biodiversity.
“It is not enough to weep for our lost landscapes; we have to put our hands in the earth to make ourselves whole again. Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair.” -Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass)