- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Real Estate
The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band will receive 500 acres of forest in Sunderland, Mass., expanding the state-recognized tribe’s land base by 14,000%.
Amherst-based real estate developer W.D. Cowls, plans to donate forested property in central Mass. to the tribe, which currently stewards only the 3.5 acre Hassanamesit Reservation in Grafton.
The tribe plans to incorporate the forest into its existing Hassanamisco Nipmuc environmental initiatives, according to a report in The Daily Hampshire Gazettes. The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band’s leader, Cheryll Toney Holley, said in a statement that the tribe “gratefully” accepted the gift — part of the tribe’s ancestral homelands — from W.D. Cowls president Cinda Jones.
“For us, this is not just about reclaiming land, but restoring an important relationship with an integral part of the Nonotuck homelands,” Holley said. “As we embrace this land, we reaffirm our commitment to care for it as our ancestors have for generations — with respect and reciprocity.”
Per the Gazette, the Band has led efforts in the region to implement traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into forestry and agriculture practices across the board. TEK has become a hot topic in co-management and co-stewardship discussions, per prior Tribal Business News reporting. The conversation has been particularly active around tribal forest management, where Indigenous practices like prescribed burning have been folded into state and federal management procedures.
Jones attributed the gift to the growing land back movement, citing other instances of private landowners returning land to its original stewards.
“This land belongs in the care of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band, whose stewardship practices are rooted in respect for the Earth,” Jones said in a statement.
The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band is recognized by Massachusetts, but was denied federal recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the early 2000s. A 2018 federal court decision upheld that denial, despite noting that the tribe's existence was "indisputable."
