Chuck Sams is well prepared. Thirty years of experience in tribal land management made him the ideal choice to be the first Native American director of the National Park Service (NPS) in December 2021. 

It began as an Indian taco stand at the annual Gathering at the Falls Pow Wow at Riverfront Park in Spokane, Wash. Today that taco stand has grown into two locations of Indigenous Eats, a restaurant co-owned by Yakama Nation member Jenny Slagle. She and her husband and business partner, Andrew, operate the two Spokane eateries, where they offer a menu of “Native American comfort food.”

When James LeMoine became one of the inaugural recipients of the Indigenous and Black Engineering/Technology (IBET) Momentum Fellowships in 2021, it marked a turning point. The fellowship — currently available to PhD students in engineering and computer science at 16 Canadian universities — not only offers significant financial support and opportunities to meet other Indigenous engineering students, it can also be a wake-up call for the institution. 

Traditionally, members of the Karuk Tribe consumed about 450 pounds of salmon per person, per year. Brook Thompson may not have the privilege to eat that much because of environmental neglect and dams built on the Klamath River, but salmon is significant to her culturally, having grown up as a fisherwoman. The importance of salmon and fresh water to her people has always resonated with her. As a result, Thompson is intent on ensuring that both the salmon and fresh water sources are always protected.

The stories told to us by our elders can sow seeds that flower for later generations. For Sky Harper, Navajo (Diné), stories told by his mother, Cassandra Begay, ignited a passion for learning that can help his people. He is of the Towering House Clan, born for the Red Running Into Water Clan. His maternal grandfather is of the Big Water Clan, and his paternal grandfather is of the Towering House Clan. His mother’s tales sparked a fascination with the natural world and motivated him to understand it by pursuing a wide-ranging discipline that comes with an opportunity to give back.

Caydence Palmer has good reasons to be optimistic about her future. A senior at Mescalero Apache High School, she is applying to her dream college — the University of Arizona — and hoping to enter the field of mechanical engineering. Palmer, who’s had opportunities to travel the world, to be the youngest student in advanced engineering classes, and to be the only Indigenous participant in her highly competitive NASA internship cohort, is used to breaking barriers.