Our Living Lands

For Indigenous people, water is life and must be protected. That’s the mission of Captain Paiute, the main character of an Indigenous comic book series. KNPR’s Jimmy Romo has more on Captain Paiute and other Indigenous comic book characters.

This story originally aired on January 12, 2026

In southern Oklahoma, the Chickasaw Nation is planting trees to combat climate change. The project is also ensuring that Chickasaw culture gets passed down to the next generation. KOSU’s Sarah Liese has more.

As climate change and historic inequities continue to create barriers to outdoor recreation, one skiing nonprofit in rural Alaska is working to help Indigenous people hit the trails. The Alaska Desk's Alena Naiden has more.

Kiara Tanta-Quidgeon is a Mohegan community advocate and health researcher. Our Living Lands Producer Daniel Spaulding spoke to Tanta-Quidgeon about public health challenges facing Indigenous communities and the connections between health and climate.

Gerardo Aldana is a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. Our Living Lands producer Daniel Spaulding spoke to Aldana about Mayan astronomy, Mesoamerican culture, and the importance of Indigenous knowledge.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Rachel Cohen reported from an event where Denver donated bison to several tribes. Our Living Lands Producer Daniel Spaulding talked to Cohen about the experience.

Today, tribes are working to bring back bison, which once roamed Indigenous lands by the millions. As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Rachel Cohen reports, some are getting help from the city of Denver, which manages two herds, and is helping tribes rebuild their own.

There’s a new exhibition up at the Ucross Foundation ranch in Wyoming. It’s called “Resilience” – and it features the work of the foundation’s most recent Native American Artist fellows. That includes Sarah Ortegon, a visual artist, actor AND dancer, who was born in Denver and now lives on the Wind River Reservation. Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann sat down with Ortegon to talk craft, creativity and politics.

Beavers are powerful architects of the land and bring many benefits to the environment… and to us. But colonialism helped drive beavers off their land. One Blackfeet Nation scientist wants to bring them back… with robots. Jamie Jiang has the story.

Crisosto Apache was recently named Colorado’s poet laureate, the first Indigenous person to hold that title. Apache is Mescalero Apache, Chiricahua Apache, and Diné. Our Living Lands Producer Daniel Spaulding spoke with Apache about poetry, land, and Colorado’s Indigenous community.