From rich stories to diverse cultures, traditions, and histories, our next Ed-Venture with speakers Jay Levy and Trey Adcock explores and acknowledges the important contributions of Native and Indigenous people across the Appalachian Mountains range.

Curriculum: All ages

Presenters:

Jay Levy

Jay Levy recently joined the Appalachian Trail Conservancy as the Indigenous Research & Partnerships Coordinator. Jay earned a degree in Anthropology and holds a Master Wildlife Conservationist Certificate.

In the past, Jay has worked for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) as a Tribal Affairs Specialist, the U.S. National Forestry Department, Maine’s Baxter State Park, and the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) as a Ridgerunner.

Currently, Jay is also the Trail Manager for Connecticut Forest and Park Association’s Narragansett Trail (CFPA) and an Archaeology Supervisor for the Mohegan Tribal Historic Preservation Office. He is a Native American Tribal Representative monitoring federally funded projects protecting cultural and natural resources. He sits on many Native American Advisory Boards and acts as a Cultural Advisor, integrating Indigenous ideology, tribal tradition, and cultural protocol into land conservation. He has worked with many tribal nations on land, water, and human rights issues.

He resides on his wife’s (Pequot Indian) ancestral territory in Connecticut.

Trey Adcock

Trey Adcock (ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ, enrolled Cherokee Nation), Ph.D., is the Executive Director of The Center for Native Health and an associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, and the director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the University of North Carolina Asheville. In 2013, Trey participated in the Trail for Every Classroom program hosted by the ATC and has hiked multiple portions of the southern section of the Appalachian Trail with friends and family. In 2018, Trey was named one of seven national Public Engagement Fellows by the Whiting Foundation for his oral history work in the TutiYi “Snowbird” Cherokee Community. “I wanted to share my story and understanding of land acknowledgment outside of the general bland academic statements that have become the recent fad,” he says. “The Trail means so much to so many people I thought it was important to provide a perspective that not everyone knows or even thinks about — the daily act of land acknowledgment for Indigenous peoples.”

Read more about Trey and his article on Native Lands.