Melanie Kirby is an Interdisciplinarian integrating the pollinator stewardship, agroecology, and creative science communication as an Extension Educator for the Institute of American Indian Arts based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is also a professional queen honey bee breeder, consilience researcher, and writer who participates in several national and international organizations including serving on several boards. Melanie is a registered member of Tortugas Pueblo (a state recognized tribal community in southern NM- cousins to Taos & Ysleta Pueblos). She is the founder of Poeh Povi- The Flower Path, an Indigenous Matriarch collective working on community led pollinator stewardship initiatives in and of the Adaptive Bee Breeders Alliance which connects professional bee breeders with scientists for climate adaptive field research. Melanie is also a Fulbright Fellow, National Geographic Explorer, a NM Coalition to Enhance Working Lands Fellow, and a 2023 GRIST 50 Climate Fixer. She holds graduate degree in Entomology and serves as the Extension Educator for the Institute of American Indian Arts where she focuses on pairing TEK (traditional ecological knowledge) with western sustainable agriculture science. Melanie has been keeping bees professionally for 27 years and is grateful the bees have guided her around the globe broadening her interests in biodiversity conservation, regenerative stewardship, and environmental policy.

Publications:
A Nectar Nomad in the Land of Enchantment
Poeh Povi: The Flower Path
Re-Indigenizing Ecological Consciousness and the Interconnectedness to Indigenous Identities
Nectar Nomad

Plenary Speaker

Indigenous Insights: Integrating Regenerative Pollinator Stewardship for Changing Climes & Times

Mario Alberto Levario Quezada PhD is a Zootechnical Engineer and has a Master’s in Science degree with a specialty in genetics and animal reproduction. He graduated from the Faculty of Zootechnics of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua. He also has a doctorate in animal production with specialties in the areas of animal nutrition and reproduction from New Mexico State University. He served as a full-time research professor at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, from which he retired, and for ten years he was in charge of the administration of the agricultural and livestock ranches at the University.

He is currently part of the board of directors and the technical department of Regenerative Management of Ranchos A.C., and is president of the technical committee of the Hereford Mexicana Association and Advisor on animal production for the company MNA of Mexico.

Wendy Lau, M.D. is an Emergency Medicine physician. She has worked in some of the busiest hospitals in New York City. She went to medical school at Cornell University and then completed Emergency Medicine residency in Brooklyn. To support herself during the stress of working in the emergency department, she began practicing meditation. She also became a competitive kickboxer and taught other competitors meditation and visualization techniques. She continued studying Eastern philosophies and experimenting with how they could support her medical practice, and after many years of personal study, began giving practical lectures around dealing with physician burnout. 

During the pandemic she moved to Upaya Zen Center, where she worked remotely with physicians from around the world to support them through the pandemic. After living there for several years she was ordained by Roshi Joan Halifax as a Zen priest. She continues to teach physicians meditation and ways to thrive in the high burnout environments of medicine, guiding them to a meaningful and fulfilling career and life that they originally set out to live. She has recently started to work in addiction and recovery in the Santa Fe area. She is also a co-director of Upaya’s Nomads Clinic that delivers medicine to remote, high-altitude villages of Himalayan Nepal, and a trained Buddhist chaplain. 

Meditation Leader

Thursday November 2, 5:45 – 6:15PM
Friday November 3, 7:15 – 7:45AM
in the Pojoaque room

We hope you’ll join us for meditation and breathwork led by Wendy Lau from the Upaya Zen Center. We know conferences can be a lot, between networking and information-gathering. This time is set aside for relaxation, unwinding and to tune into your body and breath.

Victoria is from the Pueblos of Santo Domingo (Kewa) and San Juan(Ohkay Owingeh), both located in New Mexico. Victoria is an Ecological Restoration and Education Consultant with a well-rounded knowledge working with and for the diverse Tribal communities across New Mexico on environmental and natural resource issues that are faced on their respected tribal reservations and ancestral homelands. She brings a passion that is dedicated to the preservation, conservation, restoration and revitalization of Traditionally Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in modern times. She is currently attending the University of New Mexico, studying her PhD in Geography and Geographic Information Sciences. Victoria has a Masters in Natural Resource Management with a specialization in Ecological Restoration from Colorado State University and a Bachelors in Wildlife Science, Biology and Rangeland Science from New Mexico State University. Victoria currently serves as the Director of Environmental and Natural Resources at the Pueblo of Nambe (Nanbe Owingeh).

Workshop Speaker

Trees, Gardens and People: Embedding Agroforestry in the Web of Life

In this workshop, we’ll hear from team members of the Southwestern Tribal Agroforestry Outreach Project and what they’ve been learning about Indigenous-led agroforestry efforts in the Southwest – including the importance of collaboration, relationships, and storytelling, and how traditional ecological knowledge shapes agroforestry in this region. We’ll share videos and other educational materials highlighting agroforestry initiatives from Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, Tewa Women United’s Healing Foods Oasis, and Santa Ana Pueblo’s Native Plant Nursery. And finally we’ll end in a discussion with participants to learn about your experiences, challenges and dreams for Southwestern agroforestry and silvopasture. This workshop is for anyone with interest or experience in agroforestry, Indigenous agriculture, traditional ecological knowledge and collaboration. Participants will walk away with knowledge about current Indigenous and non-Indigenous agroforestry efforts in the Southwest, how definitions of agroforestry do and don’t fit Southwestern Indigenous contexts, collaborations between Tribal and non-Tribal entities, and traditional ecological knowledge. We hope you walk away feeling inspired to connect with the land and foster healthy ecosystems and communities that include agroforestry practices!

Benita has had the privilege to be raised in a ranching and farming family on the Navajo Nation. A mother of three boys and enjoy having them at her side working day to day. Also holds an 8-5 job is also working as the Dine College Land Grant Director allowing her to work with farmers and ranchers on the Navajo Nation and connecting them to new methods, techniques or strengthening their operations. Her belief is that there is no better way to educate others unless you have walked in their shoes and that’s is her approach is to ensure to teach what is practiced. With her older sister, her children, nephews, niece and our parents, they re-approached how Litson Ranch should be operated. With the intent that the children become invested in livestock production with range management becoming a key part to positively building the next generation of Litson Ranch. This journey has led to changing the sales of calves to auction and moving to production of direct sales of Litson Ranch beef. So many benefits to this change, 1) Providing direct food source. 2) Strengthening our connection to the land. 3)The next generation of Litson Ranch are becoming more invested in the important aspects of livestock production and range management.

Workshop Presenter

Leadership & Entrepreneurship Skills for Value-Driven Businesses: Learning from an Indigenous Approach

Olivia Tincani is a food and agriculture business educator and consultant with over 20 years of experience in the field. Her work focuses on farmer/rancher training, entrepreneurial empowerment, business, financial and strategic planning, curriculum design and development, technical assistance, livestock businesses and whole animal supply chains. Her deep experience in her own entrepreneurial food and farming endeavors infuses her work with ambition, empathy and creative spirit. She is currently executing farmer training programs for The Conservation Fund’s Working Farms Fund, the Intertribal Agriculture Council, Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest Farm Business Incubator, Fibershed, Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance, and the Grazing School of the West. She served as a Business & Communications Strategist for 8 years for Rancho Llano Seco in Chico, CA. She has deep history in food business operations as the co-founder of landmark joint restaurant/farm enterprises Farm 255 and Farm Burger in the rural southeast, and food service design and management company Just Fare in the San Francisco Bay Area. Olivia is a fierce nomad, splitting time between client projects across the country and family home bases in Sonoma County (CA) and the Maremma region of Italy, keeping her hands in the dirt and her skin in the game.

Workshop Presenter

Leadership & Entrepreneurship Skills for Value-Driven Businesses: Learning from an Indigenous Approach