MISSOULA — The Stolen Waters Summit — hosted by the University of Montana Environmental Studies Program and the Indigenous Graduate Student Association — begins on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.
The Missoula event will feature three days of tribal leaders sharing ideas about how to protect rivers across the West.
Several tribes will be represented in the talks, panels, and films at the event, and most of the content will be focused on learning about climate protests across the country.
Notable speakers include Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray, author Heather Cahoon, and tribal attorney Tara Houska.
Below is the full schedule of events:
Wednesday, November 1
- 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.: Pipelines, Power, & Poems: An Evening with Tara Houska and Heather Cahoon, hosted by Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray. Opening prayer and song by Arleen Adams. (Payne Native American Center Rotunda)
Thursday, November 2
- 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.: Restoration Field Trip to "Place of Bull Trout" (Naaycčstm) with Shirley Trahan and Lucy Vanderburg (meet at Dennison Theater for bus transportation from campus)
- 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.: Indigenous Students and Alumnus Lived Experiences from Standing Rock, Moderated by Lauren Small Rodriguez (PFNAC 011)
- 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.: Rosalyn LaPier lecture: "Kipitáaakii’s Garden" (ISB 110)
- 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.: Covenant of the Salmon People screening with Shannon Wheeler. (UC Theatre.) (register here)
- 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.: Nick Estes' Presidential Lecture: “Ancestors of the Future: Indigenous Resistance and the Climate Change.” (UC Ballroom) (zoom link here)
Friday, November 3
- 10 a.m. -11:30 a.m.: Panel discussion on dams on Indigenous waters with Angela Parker, Paige Johnson, and Xavier Lovato (Payne Family Native American Center 011)
- 2 p.m. -3:30 p.m.: Panel on Indigenous food sovereignty with Ruth Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills, Sid Fellows, Nicole Benally, and Cherith Smith. (Payne Family Native American Center 105)
- 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.: Feast, Round Dance, and Drumming in the Payne Rotunda.
- 8 p.m. - 1 2a.m.: Closing Celebration with DJ Foreshadow, SABA, and Joseph Running Crane and Dylan Running Crane. Zootown Arts Community Center
For more information about the event, visit their website.
