Land Tribute Program Will Support Center for Native Health
Conserving Carolina is inviting its members and community to participate in the Tohi Land Tribute program in partnership with The Center for Native Health (CNH), a non-profit based in Cherokee, NC, that supports holistic good health. Their work spans four program areas: climate, land and wellness; relational health; education and training; and art, language, and healing. One hundred percent of all land tribute contributions will support this mission.
A land tribute is a voluntary way to support the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples and their rights to the land. It functions similarly to paying rent or the mortgage on your home. Rent or mortgage payments allow us a place to live; land tributes acknowledge that we are living and working on stolen land. Individuals living on or otherwise using Native land can opt-in to giving a self-defined dollar amount, whether one time or monthly.
These land tributes will support the mission of The Center for Native Health, which is rooted in a cultural perspective of good health, or Tohi. From this perspective, in the words of authors Lisa Lefler and Tom Belt, “Health is more than the absence of disease; it includes a fully confident sense of a smooth life, peaceful existence, unhurried pace, and easy flow of time. The natural state of the world is to be neutral, balanced, with a similarly gently flowing pattern… All aspects–physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual–figure into the Cherokee concept of good health.”
Dr. Trey Adcock, executive director of The Center for Native Health says, “This represents a significant step on the part of Conserving Carolina and its network of members, in partnership with The Center for Native Health, to develop this land tribute. This moves beyond simply a gesture of recognition and honor into action. As a Native-Led, Native- controlled nonprofit every dollar will direct impact on the Indigenous families living and thriving across the region.”
Jane Lawson, the owner of Laughing Waters Retreat Center and a Conserving Carolina board member, says, “Laughing Waters Retreat Center in the Hickory Nut Gorge, Henderson County, NC, sits on land that was once inhabited by the Cherokee. It is only fair and fitting that Laughing Waters be a part of the Tohi Land Tribute program. We honor the sovereignty of the Cherokee, and we acknowledge that we have been living and working on stolen land.
Conserving Carolina has been working with Cherokee partners since 2023. The land trust, based in Hendersonville, has been partnering with the Cherokee Preservation Foundation and Qualla Arts and Crafts Co-op in order to manage nature preserves for the sustainable harvest of traditional artisan resources.
Kieran Roe, executive director of Conserving Carolina, says “We welcome this opportunity to deepen our work with our Indigenous partners and to involve more people in our community. Over the years, this partnership has allowed us to begin learning new ways of relationship with the land, informed by deep ancestral knowledge, which has been a true gift.