The Land is the People and the People are the Land: A Circle of Unity and Respect

tending to the roots, cultivating our connections

In the ethos of the Urban Native Collective, the land is not separate from us—it is us, and we are it, in a continuous circle of unity and respect. In nearly all Indigenous languages, there is no distinction between the Peoples and the Land in our sacredness. This profound connection embodies our identity, culture, and spirituality, entwining the destiny of the people with the fate of the land. Here, we explore the deep interdependence between us and Mother Earth, highlighting how this bond shapes our actions and responsibilities.

The Land is not just the ground beneath our feet; it is the keeper of histories, the sustainer of life, and a sacred entity that demands our respect and care. In this collection of resources, we explore the multifaceted ways in which we, as part of the Native community, engage with and honor the land. From the Ohio Native Land Initiative, which seeks to recognize and restore Indigenous lands, to our commitment to crafting thoughtful Land Acknowledgments, we delve into the practices that strengthen our connection to the Mother Earth. Our Urban Gardens Project exemplifies this bond, turning urban spaces into vibrant centers of growth and learning, while our work in preserving Ohio's Sacred Sites ensures that these lands remain respected and protected. Join us in this journey of understanding, cherishing, and nurturing the land, as we continue to weave the wisdom of our ancestors into the fabric of our modern existence.

Let’s talk about Land Back in Ohio

Land Back is about restoring Indigenous relationships, responsibility, authority, and power over Indigenous homelands. In Ohio River Valley, that requires understanding a particular history. Tribal Nations were forced from their homelands through warfare, treaties made under enormous pressure, federal policy, and removal. By 1843, the Wyandot had been forced from Ohio as well. The Tribal Nations connected to these lands survived. Their governments, citizens, cultures, languages, and relationships to their Ohio homelands continue today. Removal created distance. It never erased relationship. For that reason, Land Back in Ohio River Valley begins with the Tribal Nations whose homelands are here.

What does Land Back mean?

Land Back can take several forms. The clearest expression occurs when land returns to the ownership and authority of a Tribal Nation. It can also include durable arrangements that restore Indigenous authority, access, stewardship, or decision-making over culturally significant land. Depending upon the land and the wishes of the Tribal Nation, these approaches may include:

• Transfer of land title to a Tribal Nation

• Tribal acquisition of ancestral land

• Placement of Tribal land into federal trust

• Return and protection of sacred or culturally significant sites

• Tribal conservation or cultural easements

• Legally protected access for ceremony, gathering, medicines, foods, or cultural practices

• Tribal co-management or stewardship agreements that carry meaningful decision-making authority

• Indigenous land trusts or other permanent structures created with clear accountability to the Tribal peoples connected to that land

Each approach begins with the same question: Whose homeland is this, and what do the Tribal Nations connected to this place want?

IS Land Back is happening in Ohio RIVER VALLEY?

In 2026, the federally recognized Shawnee Tribe acquired property bordering Serpent Mound in Peebles, Ohio. The Tribe describes this area as part of its Shawnee homelands. Chief Ben Barnes has explained that the acquisition will help protect the sacred site and create a buffer around Serpent Mound for future generations. The significance reaches beyond acreage. A Tribal Nation that was forcibly separated from its Ohio homelands once again holds land there and exercises responsibility for its protection. That is Land Back.

Native land ownership and Land Back

Native people and Native organizations also purchase land in Ohio for community centers, gardens, cultural programs, housing, offices, conservation, and gathering spaces. These investments can strengthen urban Native communities and create places where Native people belong. We at UNC use precise language for these efforts.

A Native organization purchasing property for its own organizational use is Native community land acquisition. Land Back asks an additional question: how does the project restore land, authority, or permanent stewardship to the Indigenous peoples and Tribal Nations whose homelands are involved?

An urban Native organization can play an important role in Land Back. It can organize donors, purchase property as an intermediary, facilitate relationships with landowners, create conservation partnerships, advocate for the return of public land, support Tribal acquisition costs, or help build an Indigenous land trust. The structure should make the Indigenous beneficiary, ownership, authority, and long-term purpose clear. At UNC, we work directly with Tribal Nations to share dialogue about the important role of Land Back and how we represent this concept to the general public. For instance, we do not describe our community gardens, Native Sovereignty Center, or the Ohio Native Land Initiative as Land Back.

Questions to ask about a Land Back project

When an organization describes a campaign as Land Back, donors and community members can ask:

• Whose ancestral homeland is the property on?

• Which Tribal Nation or Nations are involved?

• What role do those Nations have in decisions about the land?

• Who will hold legal title?

• Who will determine how the land is used?

• Will the land eventually transfer to a Tribal Nation, Tribal entity, or permanent Indigenous landholding structure?

• What Indigenous rights to access, ceremony, stewardship, gathering, or governance are being restored?

• What happens to the land if the organization changes leadership, changes mission, sells the property, or dissolves?

• Do fundraising materials clearly explain whether donations support Tribal land return, permanent Indigenous stewardship, or property owned by the nonprofit itself?

Transparency strengthens Land Back. People who contribute to a land return effort should understand where their money goes, who will own the land, whose authority will govern it, and how the arrangement will endure.

Land Back and urban Native communities

Urban Native people have a vital place in this work.

Many Native people living in Ohio River Valley are citizens or descendants of Tribal Nations whose homelands lie elsewhere. Others belong to Nations with deep relationships to Ohio and the broader Ohio River Valley. Urban Native organizations bring people together across Nations and can help Ohio institutions build stronger relationships with sovereign Tribal governments. Our roles carries responsibility.

Urban Native organizations can advocate for land return without substituting themselves for the Tribal Nations connected to the land. We can build relationships, mobilize resources, educate the public, protect sacred places, and help create pathways for Nations to return. At the Urban Native Collective, we understand Land Back as a sovereignty practice. It means moving beyond acknowledgment toward relationship, responsibility, access, authority, and return.

Sometimes that means acres.

Sometimes it means jurisdiction.

Sometimes it means a Tribal Nation regaining the ability to protect a sacred place.

Sometimes it means restoring access so Native people can gather medicines, conduct ceremony, care for ancestors, protect water, or teach children on their homelands.

In every form, Land Back should increase Indigenous authority over Indigenous land.

That is the standard we bring to our work in Ohio.