Citation by Christopher M. Bailey
Kathy Jefferson Bancroft is a community leader and environmental protector from the Owens Valley, California. Kathy has long served as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Reservation. Kathy was born in Lone Pine and spent her summers in the Sierra Nevada backcountry. After leaving home to attend high school, she came to recognize both the spirit and value of her homeland. After raising two sons, Kathy returned to school earning degrees in biology and chemistry. Kathy’s brought focused attention to a century of misuse by Los Angeles’ water appropriation from the region and the consequent environmental degradation due to alkali dust pollution in the Owens Valley. Kathy’s worked tirelessly to educate her Tribe, the public, and policymakers to bring about meaningful environmental mitigation in a changing world. She is an exemplary voice for the acumen of local knowledge and a role model for earth stewardship.
Response by Kathy Jefferson Bancroft
Born and raised in the place we call Payahüünadu, instilled a sense of belonging to the land, water and the stories that came with it. When I left home to attend school elsewhere, I grew to appreciate my homeland even more. In my role as Tribal Historic Preservation on Officer for the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, I have been lucky enough to work with an array of scientists and some of my favorites have been geologists. Indigenous knowledge is rooted in generations of careful observation of this place. I work at the intersection of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems, translating between the two in order to have a seat at the table to protect my homelands. Aft er decades of this kind of relationship-building—generations really—we are starting to see more individual understanding the value of Indigenous perspectives. We have all witnessed how our knowledge gets reinforced each time that Western science catches up with our way of thinking. They are standing with us, advocati ng for that knowledge to be taken into account in decision-making from the very start, not just through consultation aft er the fact. Together with these allies, we’ll continue working at the intersection of our knowledge systems—listening, learning, and translating so that we can protect this place for future generations.