The Kalamazoo Nature Center holds responsibility for over 1,500 acres of land. These properties embody a history of deep historical injustices that have produced inequity in access to nature that continues today. KNC occupies the traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of the first peoples, the Anishinaabek. Also known as the Council of the Three Fires, the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Bodewadmi people ceded land in the 1821 Treaty of Chicago and lost lands through forced removal in 1833. Additionally, we acknowledge the complex racial inequity contributing to steep disparities in land access and ownership for Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. This gives weight to KNC’s charge to our community. We are committed to becoming a KNC led by and in service to all of our community and to honoring our complex history in all we do. We are committed to healing these relationships between people and land in our work.