Keeping Indigenous Culture On Maryland’s Shores

Stat: 1 foot: the amount the sea level rose in the Chesapeake Bay in the last century, twice as fast as the global average.

Story: Climate change is driving sea-level rise and worsening coastal flooding across the globe. And in many coastal communities, the rising waters are changing local environments and the places people call home. For generations, the Nause-Waiwash people have raised families, worked, and practiced traditions like muskrat trapping in the marshlands of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In this episode, Nause-Waiwash Chief Donna “Wolf Mother” Abbott takes us through her ancestral lands and guides us through muskrat hunting in the marsh. She discusses how her Tribe’s lands are disappearing and what she’s doing to protect her community’s histories and traditions. 

Related Resources:

• Ocean, People, Planet: A Wildlife Refuge on the Brink
• Nause-Waiwash Band of Indians, Inc.