Topsham-based Maine Coast Heritage Trust announced April 29 it has awarded the 2025 Espy Land Heritage Award to Niweskok: From the Stars to Seeds, a Wabanaki-led food sovereignty organization based in Swanville. The annual award recognizes those who are making contributions to land conservation and includes a $5,000 donation to a conservation effort of the recipient’s choice.

The recognition comes at a historic moment for Niweskok, following the Jan. 31, 2024, acquisition of a 245-acre farm. The property — featuring agricultural fields, mature forests, wetlands, ponds and access to the Goose River — marks the organization’s first permanent land base and a return to the region for Wabanaki. Rooted in ancestral knowledge and traditional foodways, Niweskok’s mission centers on reconnecting Wabanaki communities to the land and their cultural food systems. The new site offers the organization an enduring setting to cultivate traditional crops, steward natural resources and host cultural and educational programming.

“We’ve already been doing this work across disparate locations for years — reinvigorating our traditional crops and land management strategies, hosting workshops and distributing traditional foods,” Alivia Moore, Penobscot Nation citizen and co-director at Niweskok, said in a prepared release. “Now, with this land, we have permanency of place — and the ability to continue this work for generations to come.”

This acquisition is a major step toward restoring the Penobscot Bay region as a Wabanaki food hub, reconnecting Indigenous communities with traditional foodways, medicines and ecological stewardship, according to Niweskok. The new land will support educational programming, seed saving, wild harvesting and cultural camps. Niweskok envisions the space as a safe, intergenerational hub where Wabanaki values of care, reciprocity and sustainability can flourish for generations to come.

“Niweskok’s efforts to reclaim land and restore the Penobscot Bay region as a Wabanaki food hub are an inspiring example of how land conservation in Maine is evolving,” said Angela Twitchell, senior director of partnerships and public policy at Maine Coast Heritage Trust. “Their work embodies resilience and a deep commitment to healing and nourishing both the land and the community. The collaborative work between land trusts and Niweskok stands as a model to be replicated.”