Young & Indigenous

In this powerful episode, co-hosts Santana and Haley sit down with Chief Beverly Cook of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, to discuss the toxic legacy of industrial contamination along the St. Lawrence River. They explore how pollution from General Motors, Reynolds Metals, and Alcoa Aluminum led to dangerously high levels of PCBs in the water—and how that contamination ultimately made its way into women's breast milk. Chief Cook shares powerful insight on the intergenerational impacts of environmental harm and the urgent need for trauma informed practices & responses. 

This special crossover episode marks the launch of our Young and Indigenous at Bioneers series and continues the ongoing conversations from Healing Women Heals Mother Earth. Co-hosts Haley and Santana speak with Amy Bowers Cordalis, a Yurok attorney and activist, about the historic removal of the Klamath River dams. Recorded live at the 2025 Bioneers Conference, the conversation explores how restoring the river is inseparable from cultural survival and personal healing. Amy shares powerful reflections on health, justice, and what it means to fight for the future of your people — and the planet — one foot in front of the other.

In this mic drop of an episode that launches the YAI at BIONEERS series, Raven and Santana sit down with Emmy-nominated host, writer and public speaker Baratunde Thurston. In this conversation they discuss healthy masculinity, storytelling as resistance, and maintaining Indigenous values in the age of AI. Together, they explore what it means to carry and protect information in an era of knowledge erasure, and how humor, creativity, and active participation can help us build pathways of resistance. This pivotal conversation dives deep into urgent questions: Is democracy dying? How do we keep knowledge alive? What does it mean to be a citizen? And how can men truly support women? Recorded live at the Bioneers Conference, this episode invites us to look inwards and outwards — at who we are, and how we can live in good relation with those around us. You’re going to want to listen to this more than once. 

In this special series, the Young and Indigenous podcast team dives into conversations with 16 Indigenous and allied environmental leaders, recorded over three days at the 2025 Bioneers Conference. With a crew of eight young Native changemakers, this marks our most ambitious series yet — capturing voices from across Turtle Island and beyond. From water protectors to culture keepers, the interviews span a rich diversity of Tribes, geographies, and movements, offering powerful insight into what it means to lead, heal, and resist in today’s world. In these times, we look to these leaders — young and old — to shine light on the solutions we need now. Guest voices in this trailer include: Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, Baratunde Thurston, and Amy Cordalis.

Wykeklyaa, Haley, and Santana get into what it’s like navigating the world as Indigenous women — from the people who shaped them to the stereotypes they’re still breaking down. We’ve been calling this the women’s episode and honestly… what if every month were Women’s History Month? It’s real talk on growing up on the rez, pushing back on expectations, and finding your own way. Oh, and did we mention that we love Noelani?

Tune in as a powerful group of Young and Indigenous women share their raw, real, and deeply personal stories as caregivers. From being sisters, aunties, and cousins to navigating love, loss, and legacy — they open up about the humor and hard truths of caring for those they love most.

Frances Charles is a proud member of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. She has served as the chairwoman for over two decades. She is a dedicated advocate for dam removal, salmon restoration, and the protection of Mother Earth and traditional homelands. Listen as we discuss her leadership as Chairwoman, the Elwha Dam removal, and how she takes care of her mind, body, and spirit.Healing Women Heals Mother Earth is a podcast series highlighting the unique role Indigenous women play in cultural preservation, environmental stewardship, and leadership. Most importantly, we will share how women take care of themselves while being involved in high level advocacy work.

Kayeloni Scott is a proud member of Spokane who also descends from Nez Perce. She is the director of the Columbia and Snake River Campaign working to recover salmon populations and a free flowing Snake River. Listen in as we discuss the work she’s involved in, the power of supporting each other as women, and how she takes care of her mind, body, and spirit. Healing Women Heals Mother Earth is a podcast series highlighting the unique role Indigenous women play in cultural preservation, environmental stewardship, and leadership. Most importantly, we will share how women take care of themselves while being involved in high level advocacy work.

Vanessa Castle is a proud member of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Tribal Engagement Coordinator at Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group. Listen as we discuss the work she’s involved in, the Elwha Dam removal, and how she takes care of her mind, body, and spirit.Healing Women Heals Mother Earth is a podcast series highlighting the unique role Indigenous women play in cultural preservation, environmental stewardship, and leadership. Most importantly, we will share how women take care of themselves while being involved in high level advocacy work.

Tune in with Alyssa Macy, a proud member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and CEO of Washington Conservation Action. Listen as we discuss the work she’s involved in, overcoming cancer, and how she takes care of her mind, body, and spirit.Healing Women Heals Mother Earth is a podcast series highlighting the unique role Indigenous women play in cultural preservation, environmental stewardship, and leadership. Most importantly, we will share how women take care of themselves while being involved in high level advocacy work.

Tokala Tatum is a writer, director, producer, and overall creative descending from the Yakama and Rosebud Sioux Tribes. Tune in to see how he is continuing to push Native American storytelling through different mediums and how his culture and upbringing have influenced his art.

Do you vote?Setting Sun staff members from different backgrounds all answer one question: Does voting matter?  Discussion from both tribal and non-tribal backgrounds, tune in to find out why we vote!

Dionisio or “Nish” Romero is a Coast Salish artist, carver, and canoe paddler from the Nooksack Tribe in Bellingham, Washington.  After almost 2 years in industry, Nish is a gallery-level carver at just 24 years old.  Nish takes after his great grandfather, Spud Cooper, another master carver.  Listen in as we discuss the carving life, cultural teachings, and how he follows in his grandfather's footsteps.  

During the Bioneers Conference in March of 2024, YTLP members Roy, Free, Raven, and Cyrus were blessed with the opportunity to sit down with Oren and Rex Lyons. Oren Lyons is the Wolf Clan Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. A lacrosse player, father, climate activist, and a highly respected elder across Indian Country, Oren Lyons joins us with his son Rex to speak on democracy, environmentalism, traditional stories, and politics.

Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled tribal member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, which has earned Kimmerrer wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. In 2022, Braiding Sweetgrass was adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith. This new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth's oldest teachers: the plants around us. As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to the land. She holds a BS in Botany from SUNY ESF, an MS and PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin and is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology. She lives on a farm in upstate New York, tending gardens both cultivated and wild. 

Alexander is the policy lead for RE Sources’ land use and water protection programs. Alexander completed a graduate program in Environmental Policy at Western Washington University in 2022, where his research focused on how community-driven forest stewardship can help restore the Nooksack watershed. Having grown up in southern Oregon, Alexander graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Philosophy and Political Science. Alexander has worked for numerous conservation nonprofits on various policy issues ranging from public forest management and wildfire mitigation to ecological forest management and climate mitigation. Alexander and his partner spend most of their free time homesteading, floating the river, or rambling through the woods. Alex recently co-created a consortium of activists and advocates called the Whatcom Forest Watch, who worked hard to protect the remaining legacy old growth forests in Washington State. After months of emailing politicians, rallying and campaigning, the WFW saw a victory and the rest of the old growth legacy forests were finally protected. But keeping that victory permanent is what we need to ensure, so spreading more awareness and telling more stories are crucial.

Happy Mother’s Day! Join Wykeklyaa and Roy as they sit down with their mothers to talk about the true essence of motherhood. From cherished memories to the joy and challenges, its a heartwarming episode you won’t want to miss!

NSEA is the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association. Darrell Grey has been the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) Project Manager for nearly 30 years leading conservation projects and managing restoration efforts in his time with the organization.  James Vanderhoort joined NSEA after graduating from Western Washington University and will step into the role of co-project manager as one of Darrell's predecessors. James has spent quite a while following Darrell’s leadership and learning about how to manage conservation projects while they are underway and maintaining the project so that it has a higher chance of being successful. James and Darrell share that this recent year (2023) NSEA planted just over 30,000 Native plants, shrubs and trees in hopes to help combat effects of climate change and habitat loss. 

We continue our PLANTS series with Sadie Olsen, a proud member of the Lummi Nation. Sadie is also a co-founder of Whiteswan Environmental (WE), an Indigenous led 501(c)(3) whose mission is to support community healing through the natural, cultural and historical restoration to the Salish Sea for 7th generation sustainability as a measure of ecological health protection for all. Sadie shares about how WE utilizes plants for programs and tools such as their Field to Classroom Program Curriculum, Digital Ecological Mapping, Stewardship Corps, 13 Moons Food Sovereignty, and Indigenous Public Health. Sadie also gives the audience insight on her own personal experience with plants and how these amazing beings helped her in a time and place where there were no other options. Sadie Olsen is known for her advocacy for the environment, her passion for revitalization of the traditional language of the Lummi People and traditional ways of being. Learning from her elders how to weave cedar and wool and learning about the ecological knowledge which has been passed down, Sadie hopes to help reestablish ancient values in these territories as well as pass on this knowledge to the next generations. Sadie says “I don’t like being called an activist, because for me it is just a way of life.”

Continuing on from our last episode, Morgan Brown is a Tsimshian mother, auntie, sister, and daughter. Morgan works as the Environmental Education Coordinator and Indigenous Science Educator for the Swinomish Tribe. She considers her students to be some of her biggest teachers. Morgan’s inspiration and knowledge fall in the realms of traditional plant medicine, first foods, seed keeping and seed reMatriation, weaving, Sm’algyax language revitalization, poetry, birth keeping, motherhood, advocacy for and protection of Indigenous youth, and healing generational trauma through partnering with plants, animals and ancestors. Morgans current passions are reviving ancestral trade routes and trade based gatherings, Chilkat weaving and natural dying, as well as cultivating an educational ethnobotanical garden with Indigenous youth that centers the teachings of kinship ecosystems, seed and plant stewardship, and Lushootseed language.