Restore
Repair degraded lands, waters, habitats and properties so ecological function, biodiversity and resilience can recover.
RESTORE · STEWARD · LEARN
Restoring places. Protecting them for the long term.
Turtle Island Land Trust restores degraded natural and urban places, protects lands and buildings of lasting value, and uses stewardship, research and education to keep that work useful to the public.
Place by place
Restoration-firstEcological repair is the reason we enter a project, not an afterthought to acquisition.
More than one way of knowingWestern ecological science can work alongside Indigenous knowledge where it is shared, authorized and appropriate.
Stewardship from the beginningEvery project considers who will care for the place and what its long-term future should be.
Restoration-first stewardship
We do not begin with ownership. We begin with what a place needs.
TILT is designed around ecological restoration, not land accumulation. A project starts by understanding degradation, ecological function, relationships to territory, and the people with responsibilities to the place.
Restoration is not treated as a reason to exclude Indigenous people from land by default. Where a Nation is involved, access, harvesting, cultural use, co-stewardship and Nation-led governance are matters to be discussed with that Nation and reflected in the project where lawful, safe and agreed.
Acquisition, stewardship, partnership or a future transfer arrangement are tools that may support the restoration objective. They are not treated as ends in themselves.
How we work
Restore. Steward. Learn.
Restoration is the work. Learning shapes how we understand the place and adapt. Stewardship carries responsibility forward through long-term care, governance and relationships.
Steward
Care for each place through monitoring, maintenance and relationships that respect ecological responsibilities and the people connected to the land.
Learn
Learn with the place and the people connected to it, and share appropriate knowledge through research, monitoring, field learning and public education.
Ways of knowing
Seeing a place with more than one eye.
Our approach is informed by Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing), a Mi’kmaw guiding principle articulated by Elder Albert Marshall: learning from the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing and the strengths of Western ways of knowing, and bringing those strengths together where doing so is appropriate.
Turtle Island Land Trust may work across the territories of many distinct Indigenous Nations. Etuaptmumk does not replace a Nation’s own laws, knowledge systems, governance or protocols. Each project must be shaped by the Nation and place involved.
Knowledge is not ours simply because it is shared with us.
Indigenous knowledge, cultural information and community data are used, stored and published only according to the permissions, protocols and data-governance arrangements established with the Nation or knowledge holders involved.
Start a relationship
Different partners begin with different questions.
The first step does not have to be a proposal or commitment. It can simply be a confidential conversation about a place, a responsibility, a funding opportunity or a possible collaboration.
For Indigenous Nations & Communities
How TILT approaches consent, access, Nation-specific protocols, knowledge governance, privacy, participation and project relationships.
Our working approach →For Landholders
What happens when you bring us a degraded property, land opportunity or place that may need a long-term stewardship plan.
Discuss land or property →For Funders & Project Partners
What we expect to document about governance, restoration, permissions, monitoring, learning and accountability as projects develop.
Partner with TILT →Explore the work
Work rooted in real places.
Projects are organized for navigation by setting, but each project begins with the territory, the relationships around the place, the knowledge that can appropriately guide the work, and the long-term stewardship pathway.
Rural Projects
Land, habitat, wetlands, shorelines and watersheds where ecological restoration can support an enduring stewardship future.
Explore Rural Projects →Urban Projects
Urban lands and buildings where ecological repair, rehabilitation, education and community stewardship can create public benefit.
Explore Urban Projects →Education & Learning
Field learning, research, monitoring, workshops and public programs connected to places and shared with appropriate permissions.
Explore Education →Relationships & accountability
Every project should show how decisions are made.
Scientific monitoring remains essential, but accountability is broader than measurement alone. Project reporting will explain the relationships, knowledge, actions and responsibilities shaping the work.
01
Relationship
Whose territory the project is in, who has responsibilities to the place, and how participation is structured.
02
Knowledge
The scientific evidence and any Indigenous knowledge that may appropriately and consensually inform the work.
03
Action
What restoration or stewardship response follows from what is understood about the place.
04
Accountability
Monitoring, governance, permissions, outcomes and the long-term stewardship pathway.
Leadership & accountability
Trust should be visible in how we govern.
TILT publishes its federal corporate identity, governance approach and public Board contact, while allowing directors to decide whether detailed profiles are republished on the website.
Our governance model is being built to support Nation-connected participation in project territories, privacy by consent, and transparent public reporting as the Trust’s work develops.
Governance & BoardInstitutional foundation
A public legal identity behind the relationship.
Turtle Island Land Trust is a Canadian federal not-for-profit corporation governed under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act.
Corporation number: 1251063-4. The Trust’s current corporate record and directors are publicly available through Corporations Canada.
View Federal Corporate RecordSupport
Put resources behind restoration, learning and long-term stewardship.
Begin here
A relationship can start before a project exists.
We welcome confidential early conversations with Indigenous Nations, communities, landholders, researchers, funders and project partners.
Start a Conversation