Hopi Tutskwa
LAND STEWARD FELLOWSHIP
ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP
The Hopi Tutskwa Land Steward Fellowship identifies, engages, and empowers the next generation of land-based leaders while cultivating broad support for fellows to participate in focused training, hands-on work, sharing, reflection, and kinship building. Our Fellowship is offered to Land Stewards from throughout the Indigenous Southwest who are engaged in Land Stewardship practices within their traditional territories. This Fellowship supports established and emerging Land Stewards who are committed to strengthening their knowledge and practice. This opportunity will strengthen pathways for fellows and provides opportunities to gain tangible skills and knowledge while building kinship relations.
Immersive Learning
In addition to financial support, we also offer land-based, hands-on learning opportunities. These sessions facilitate connection through discussions and field experiences, promoting health and wellness. Our goal is to guide land stewards in developing community-driven solutions that center place-based learning, fostering deeper relationships with their sacred homelands and nurtur​e Southwest ecosystems.
This work is significant because it represents an Indigenized approach to restoring traditional Indigenous kinship networks impacted by settler colonization. It is rooted in reconnecting Indigenous relatives in an immersive way within our collective tribal communities and ancestral homelands.
Indigenous Land Steward Fellows
We are honored to announce our first Cohort of Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture Land Steward Fellows!
Our Fellows are Indigenous leaders throughout the Indigenous Southwest who are uplifting indigenous communities with their efforts in land stewardship. Selected fellows have demonstrated and recognized the importance of maintaining sacred connections to traditional land and we honor them with this Fellowship. Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture is proud to announce five fellows of this new fellowship opportunity to uplift Indigenous land stewards and their work.
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Our Fellows
We believe that supporting emerging Indigenous land stewards is essential for building a more just and equitable future. Our first fellowship cohort includes individuals from the Hopi, Zuni Pueblo, Acoma Pueblo, Diné, and Akimel O'odham/Piipash Nations. We are proud to provide these fellows with financial awards, acknowledging the vital cultural ecosystems work they offer in maintaining the health of our land and waters.
Ronson Kallestewa
Hopi-Spring Restoration
Reyna Banteah
Zuni Pueblo - Ts'uyya Farm
Jayden Willeto
Dińe Nation - Dragonfly Farm
Chasity Salvador
Acoma Pueblo - Sandstone Farm
Jonathan Curry
Akimel O'Odham/Piipash -Salt River Valley Farm
Learning Journeys
In 2024, we successfully hosted five 4-day, land-based, hands-on training sessions in the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma Pueblo, Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community, and Navajo Nation Tribal Communities. These trainings covered a range of vital topics, including Land/Watershed/Spring Restoration, Traditional Dryland Farming, Ak-chin Farming, High Desert Growing, Seasonal Foraging/Harvesting, Traditional Hunting/Fishing, Traditional Foods, Native Plant Restoration, Ethnobotany, and Wellness.
In 2025, we partnered with our Fellow cohort to conduct two emergent hands-on training sessions focused on Building Healthy Soil Microbes and Indigenous Herbalism. We are also pleased to report that we have leveraged multi-year funding from generous donors to attract additional support. This new funding will allow us to continue our Fellowship programming and provide small grants to current Fellows for their ongoing efforts. We eagerly anticipate advertising our Fellowship program for the 2026 season throughout the Indigenous Southwest.
