Land Acknowledgement
Land Acknowledgement
Mahoosuc Land Trust acknowledges that we live and work on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Ammoscongon and Pequawket (or Pigwacket) bands of the Abenaki people. We are dedicated to the stewardship of people, plants, animals and water with kindness, generosity, and recognition of the Abenaki.
The Abenaki are one of the five members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, who live in the eastern region of present day Vermont, New Hampshire, Quebec and Maine. Through centuries of genocide, land stealing, forced removal, ethnic cleansing, broken agreements, and colonialist policies and government structure spanning from the 16th century to present-day, the Abenaki occupy a small fraction of their traditional ancestral homelands.
The Ammoscongon and Pequawket people lived in the watersheds of what are now known as the Androscoggin and Saco Rivers. A major village of the Ammoscongon people was at Narakamigou (Rockemeka), at present-day Canton Point, while the Pequawket people had their principal village, Pequawket, at what is now Fryeburg, Maine.
As a result of years of conflict between New England colonizers and the Wabanaki Confederacy, culminating in the attack on Pequawket by a party of scalp hunters in 1725, members of these bands withdrew to the Connecticut River and eventually joined with the Abenaki First Nations at Odanak. Others returned to their ancestral homeland in the late 18th century, including Mali Agat (known to white settlers as “Molly Ockett”), a Pequawket healer who lived at various times in Vermont, New Hampshire, and western Maine including in what is now Bethel, Maine.
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We acknowledge the Abenaki as the original inhabitants and stewards of this place, honor their continuing relationship with these lands, and are grateful and hopeful for their role as past, present, and future caretakers of this land and this region. MLT is at the very beginning of our learning journey, and we recognize we have a long way to go. Moving forward, we hope to continue educating ourselves on the history of the lands we occupy to better inform our work, as well as establish thoughtful and genuine connections with the Abenaki to begin the process of undoing the centuries of wrongs embedded in the land conservation movement as a whole. Thank you to the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society for sharing their knowledge and resources with us to assist in writing this statement.
What Have Been Done So Far
2021
Flint Mountain conservation easement from MLT to Northeast Wilderness Trust reserved MLT’s right to enter into Cultural Respect Easements, or other similar document, with Federal and/or State recognized tribes.
Staff and senior board member attend 4-day First Light course on Indigenous voice and Wabanaki empowerment
Donation of “Solidarity Deposit” to Wabanaki self-determination fund (November 2023)
2024
Spring Newsletter 2025 article entitled “A Village at Valentine”, outlining the indigenous history of some of the lands now stewarded by MLT
“We Live on Abenaki Land: Interpreting the Evidence and Dispelling the Myths” workshop with Will Chapman of the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society
Staff attends:​
- MLTN Conference → Wabanaki Leadership in Land Return: Building Partnerships for Land Rematriation
- MPC Conference → Returning Significant Financial Resources to Wabanaki
- First Light Community Conversations
MLT works with FirstLight representatives and incorporates provisions in 12,300-acre conservation easement providing for cultural access permissions for Wabanaki.
2023
Farmer’s Hill – Cultural access permissions granted to Federal and/or State recognized tribes.
2025
If you’re interested in learning more about and supporting Wabanaki-led and/or Wabanaki-focused organizations, check out these links:
A collective of non-native land-oriented organizations across Wabanaki homelands working to relearn the stories of these lands, recenter Wabanaki voices, and return land, money, and decision-making authority to Wabanaki communities
Rematriates Wabanaki lifeways through engaging with our kinship responsibilities and reclaiming traditional foods & healing.
Supports the self-determination of Wabanaki people through education, truth-telling, restorative justice, and restorative practices in Wabanaki and Maine communities.
A community of youth and adults who use their diverse lived experiences and collective empowerment to co-create youth-centered programs and partnerships that encourage leadership, learning, exploration, and growth, all grounded in radical accessibility and relationships rooted in equity and care.
Provides community-based public health services and disease prevention programs as part of a robust tribal public health infrastructure to four federally recognized tribes located in five communities: the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, and the Penobscot Nation.
Further Resources
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Historical Timeline of Wabanaki-Maine Relations (from Wabanaki REACH)
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Genocide and ME: Shining the Light of Truth by Maria Girouard (Penobscot)
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The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation by Frederick Matthew Wiseman
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Reclaiming the Ancestors by Frederick Matthew Wiseman
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Wabanaki of Maine and the Maritimes: A resource book about Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet by American Friends Service
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Unsettled Past, Unsettled Future: The Story of Maine Indians by Neil Rolde