Land return can transform a community without involving thousands of acres. The Mi’kmaq Nation has acquired Pugweliget, 83 wooded acres adjoining Tribal housing and community space in Connor, Maine.
Residents previously faced “No Trespassing” signs on both sides of the four-acre housing site, leaving, as Environmental Health Director Shannon Hill explained, “no place for anybody even just to go for a walk.” Pugweliget now gives Tribal citizens direct access to land for hunting, gathering medicines, and other cultural uses. It also gives the Nation room to improve the housing site and install needed water and septic infrastructure.
Part of the broader Tributary Land Returns collaboration, Pugweliget shows that restoring a Tribal land base can provide safer community space, functioning water and septic infrastructure, and land where citizens can walk, hunt, and gather medicines without confronting a “No Trespassing” sign.
Additional resources
Land Back: Mi’kmaq Nation Acquires More Than 80 Acres by Native News Online Staff, September 8, 2026
Online video (1 hour, 12 minutes long): Learning from Land Return – Mesgilg Maqamigew and Pugweliget (On August 25, 2026, partners from Mi’kmaq Nation, Trust for Public Land, the Conservation Fund, the Wabanaki Commission on Land and Stewardship, and First Light gathered to share reflections on the recent completion of two land returns to Mi’kmaq Nation. Learn more about their collective work to return land to Wabanaki Nations at https://dawnlandreturn.org/.)
Turtle Talk 