Land Acknowledgment

As we gather online from many locations across the globe, the 50th Arctic Workshop recognizes and honors the many different Indigenous Peoples of the circumpolar Arctic as well as the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho whose historical territories include Boulder, Colorado, the Workshop’s home.

We are grateful for their ancestral and contemporary stewardship of their homelands and place-based traditional knowledge. We celebrate their participation and collaboration in high-latitude science.

At the same time, we acknowledge the painful history of ill treatment and forced removal, including an 1864 massacre of Arapaho by the US Cavalry at Sand Creek, Colorado. In this case, the survivors were forced out of Colorado to reservations in Wyoming and Oklahoma, where most Arapaho live today. Injustice and inequities persist, including Indigenous Peoples bearing the early brunt of global warming.

The Arctic Workshop seeks to increase participation of Indigenous Peoples in its annual events. It is recruiting specific Indigenous speakers and offering free registration to all Indigenous attendees.

The Workshop also encourages more collaboration of high-latitude researchers and indigenous organizations, especially projects addressing the needs of northern communities. The Workshop supports the University of Colorado’s pledge to provide educational opportunities for Native students, faculty and staff, and to advance understanding of the history and contemporary lives of Native peoples.