Upcoming Talk: July 24 at 7pm with Melissa Ferretti, Chairwoman of Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe

Join us Thursday, July 24th at 7pm at SEMPBA Headquarters as we welcome Melissa Ferretti from the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe for a special presentation on the Tribe’s ongoing initiatives in and around Herring Pond. Melissa will share how the Tribe is reclaiming stewardship of their ancestral watershed, highlighting current environmental justice issues and programming, community-led restoration projects, and education efforts that center Indigenous knowledge and sustainability. Indigenous place-based knowledge offers us the guidance required to heal the earth and to end environmental exploitation and destruction.

The talk will also include reflections on the significance of the Tribe’s state recognition and the cultural revitalization taking root throughout the region. This is a unique chance to learn about the deep connections between land, water, and community from voices rooted in this place since time immemorial.

Melissa Ferretti has been Chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe since 2018. She has researched and obtained grants to preserve tribal heritage and cultural traditions and works toward acquisition of historical Tribal land and Tribal Recognition.

This program will be co-hosted by SEMPBA at their headquarters building at 158 Center Hill Rd and will also be available by zoom:

Time: Jul 24, 2025 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/9896300188?pwd=lqxXQIlQQ4drs9YBnWuutsndtbERKm.1&omn=87415981940

“Today, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribal community continues the work of our ancestors: protecting land and water for our youth, and for future generations. To us, land, water, and all the wildlife with whom we co-exist are alive and sacred. The land doesn’t belong to us—we belong to it.”

 – Melissa (Harding) Ferretti, Chairwoman Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe