Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Restores Water with Oysters
For more than 400 years, the Wampanoag people have protected their homeland in Mashpee, Massachusetts. Today, the tribe is restoring its bays and streams with oysters and confronting the impacts of overdevelopment and climate change. Their environmental stewardship is woven together with language revitalization, cultural teachings, and a deep spiritual connection to the water.
✍️ Reported by Pauly Denetclaw
🎦 Produced by Stewart Huntington
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#ictnews #landstewardship #waterislife #environmentalimpact #naturalhealth
@ginaryan4957
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
All of the lands belong to the Native Peoples and tribes in America. They truly know how to take care of the land. God bless them all.
@theresaclancy6091
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Riverside used to be a hot spot for oysters, but I wouldn’t eat them because they eat what’s on the bottom.
@2jmacp
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Thank you and Congratulations. We hope examples of your care and service to the Earth are borrowed around the corner in Connecticut and everywhere!
@ancestralabundance
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Progress
@Cuban20
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
This is amazing!
@autumnstoptwo
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
absolutely beautiful, thank you for this work!
@JoDo777
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
💖💖💖💖
@paul2081ok
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
I thank the Wampanoag Tribe for helping the Pilgrims survive an extremely cold Winter and I thank you for your Chief that owned New England, who sold his land to Euro immigrants at an inexpensive price, thank you!
@paul2081ok
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
I thank the Wampanoag Tribe for helping our Pilgrims survive an extremely cold Winter and I thank the Chief that owned New England for selling land to the Europeans that immigrated to New England, Thank You!
@brewstercole77
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Blessings to All Good Organized Wampanoag 🙏🏻💙
@Beth-ie
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
The Santuit river, where the herring still migrate, runs through this land I live on. Took out the septic, put in a holding tank. No lawn, no fertilizer. Natural & full of life! ✌️
@AlexHop1
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Thank you!
@pfranks75
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
My father was a quahogger on Narragansett Bay. He was born in 1935 and remembers the waters being clean until large home heating oil storage containers were installed. The waters are now clean but the sludge of over 300 years of commerce make only certain places safe to dig for clams.
@meredithmakowski1291
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Thrilled to see people caring for our waters. May we all continue to appreciate and care for the water and land that makes us who we are. Thank you to the Wampanoag for helping everyone thrive.
@mchurch3905
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Great job European immigrants! Nothing like attempting to eradicate native tribes and the ecosystem for a few hundred years then selling it back to them for a tax write off.
@health3817
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Climate is regulated, climate regulation never ends, gravity cannot change tomorrow.
@RoyaltySun2026
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
1828 Webster dictionary definition of American
@billiehannahanna6125
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
yrs ago, we used to get quahogs that were so plump and tasty. The bay got so dirty (Chesapeake Bay), that it was unfit for oyster, etc. Not clean enough for ppl. It is amazing how quickly warer can heal and wildlife returns when ppl show respect.
My dear, I blame the notion that man is special. We teach them that from the moment they are born. It shocks me to see uneducated, ignorant men acting like they are experts on everything by virtue of being male. That's what religion has done. It has cost this earth so many lives, so many species gone and now we have Trump trying to wreck it all in double time just to prove to liberals that he can. I am hearing from ppl arnd town little signals that they are rooting for the endbto this administration. If simething happens, these will be the activists as in the ones who will over themselves in all ways to fight for democracy. They are looking me in the eyes and twinkling that they are with the liberals! A few words said quietly in public places and many blessings offered for safe going.
@kathleencard5641
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Thank you..this grounded me & helped me remember.
@dadevi
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
It's rare to hear about tribal communities on the east coast. Thanks for sharing the conservation and restoration efforts! Please do more stories about eastern tribes.
@OriginalCreatorSama
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
the water is your bones, your soul. I hope English can soon develop these kinds of concepts. The sooner we do, the better we will be able to care for our planet <3
@kirkstewart-vf6hg
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Kidneys of the ocean so are mussels !
@mariyamwaniki
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Did they learn this from the kids in New York?
@pnickerson
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
I grew up in mashpee. I saw the wampanog God mashuap one night. A large Black mountain lion type thing with glowing green eyes from 10 feet away. It crossed right in front of me. It Stopped & looked at me then moved on. I'm a Christian. I swear by my Lord Jesus this happened.I'm writing this to let the wampanogs know that their God lives & still watches over them.
@esterparis1190
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
It should also be noted that oysters absorb carbon dioxide in their shells. Did you know that limestone contains 44% carbon dioxide by weight? For a long time, planting trees was thought to be the solution for absorbing carbon dioxide, but the massive forest fires have shown that this is no longer the case.
@kittymervine6115
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Mass should be supportive. They are proud of being diverse and educated. Yep, the vacation homes, when I was there last, new homes were STILL BEING BUILT, it seemed right on the edge of the water. Couple of stilts, and even gated communities near Woods Hole….
@keithdjohnson9824
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
#Beavers have HUGE impacts in drylands & ecosystems everywhere. They are a keystone species, the hydrological engineers of a continent. https://youtu.be/0p05KKUqZkc
@keithdjohnson9824
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Outstanding! The outcome can be accelerated by watershed steward activities in as many tributaries to the Mashpee as possible. Identify the communities upstream and enlist volunteers and trainees. Don't stop with oysters, but clams, too. Beavers can be SO helpful in the higher branches of the watershed. Aquatic restoration and watershed management are necessary EVERYWHERE. #EarthRepair is everyone's business, if there is to be a future for humans. The current administration of billionaires only seek a future for themselves alone & the rest of life is an 'economic resource' to be exploited until depleted (i.e. dead).
#TerraformEarth1st #permaculture #PerennialPolycuture #horticulture #restoration #ecoforestry
@s.fuhrmann
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
We need more people to believe as they do.
@tstorm3706
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Keep teaching and hopefully the settlers will learn. Solidarity from a 5th generation Canadian settler who now has the honour of protecting 30 acres of unceded Algonquin territory. Today a wolf came around trying to get one of the wild turkeys I help with feed. Last week I saw him get one. The flock has grown from 16 to 33 in four years despite jakes being pushed out or leaving to find their own mates. I also have a lot of young Oak and Beech popping up as a result of gathering and scattering acorns and beechnut from nearby forest that were not farmed in the early 20th century. Maples already about and the 2 Hemlocks that survived are pandered to, you might say. Rowans also get special attention and the old orchard maintained for the bears who spend a few weeks here in the fall. If I have one legacy I hope it will be that I left the land in better shape than I found it. E
@J-Nice305
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Very interesting. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe helped The Plymouth Rock Pilgrims eat and from starving back in the 1600s.
@RebelCowgirl01
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Thank you for your hard work. Doesn’t feel like enough but thank you. ❤❤❤
@Mrs.TJTaylor
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Thank you for sharing a positive story. Thank you for showing what is possible.
@Morningdovecamp
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Thank you Native Americans 👍👍👍
@amcwagonnut
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
The town of Mashpee has been supported of these programs also and one local beat rich homeowners on the shore for the right to grow oysters in the bay. The enviroment won thankfully. I row in Mashpee and the way they have cleaned up the Mashpee River is amazing
@DPM-dp9on
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
What a joke. Not even a tribe. It’s laughable to think of indians as conservationists. This complete story is nonsense. Give this “natives” DNA tests.
@JohnRyan-gr8bs
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
Hope they do better than the oyster project on the Vineyard
@imochiexe5056
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 am
May the Great Spirit, the Creator and Mother Earth bless your efforts with unlimited successes. Wopila tanka.❤️💯💪🙏
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