About Us
Who Are We?
HNLF is an all-volunteer network of non-Native people living in and/or connected to the eastern Tallgrass Prairie region of the United States who partner with and materially support Indigenous-led movements for rematriation—the restoration of sacred relationships between Indigenous people and land.
Where Are We?
HNLF is made up of people and organizations connected with the region we describe broadly as the eastern Tallgrass Prairie—stretching from Lake Michigan to the Platte River in Nebraska, from the Great Plains of Iowa to the Oak Savannas of Minnesota and Wisconsin, from the watersheds of the Upper Mississippi to the Missouri River. We are located on the ancestral homelands of many nations, including the Ioway / Báxoje, Ho-Chunk, Omaha, Sauk, Meskwaki, Otoe-Missouria, Potawatomi, and Oceti Sakowin. Indigenous communities' presence within these lands and waters have often been dynamic, complex, and marked by movement—they haven’t always recognized the colonial boundaries of the state, and neither do we.
Whether you live here or your family roots are found within these lands, we encourage you to contribute to HNLF as an act of repair and healing.
Our Partners
HNLF currently partners with two Indigenous-led, grassroots, intertribal and multiracial projects focused on cultural and communal healing through land rematriation.
The Great Plains Action Society (GPAS) builds Indigenous power and presence across Iowa and Eastern Nebraska through rematriation, healing justice and a regenerative economy. They are an Indigenous-led organization who for over ten years has worked to “ignite a reclamation of Indigenous agency, sovereignty, and rebuild our ancient relationship with the environment—all while helping to curb the climate crisis.” GPAS has liberated 1.05 acres of historically colonized and unhealthy land in Iowa City and is turning it into an urban Indigenous-led Resilience Hub—a living workshop for justice, healing, and economic reimagining!
Niskíthe Prayer Camp is an Indigenous-led, multiracial, cultural revitalization collective in Eastern Nebraska that seeks to purchase land near Lincoln upon which to build an ecovillage—Niskíthe ToNwoN—with ceremonial grounds, gardens, and housing. They will repair the Sacred Hoop of Indigenous people broken by genocide and forced assimilation by living and praying the way they want on lands of their own.
Our Story
In 2021, a small group of descendants of European settlers near Dubuque, IA—inspired by the growing Voluntary Land Tax movement —began meeting to discuss how we as non-Native people might contribute a voluntary “rent” or “tax” to a local Indigenous nation or organization to demonstrate respect for the fact that we live on Native land. In 2023, we began partnering with GPAS, and in 2025 with Niskíthe.
Our Broader Movement
HNLF is inspired by and situated within a broader Voluntary Land Tax movement, at least 16 organizations around the country made up of non-Native people materially contributing to Native Nations and/or Native-led organizations to demonstrate respect for the fact that the land they inhabit is still Indigenous land.
Our Organizing Committee / How We Organize
Coming Soon!!
About our Logo
From the Artist, Moselle Singh:
This logo emerged from weaving together three threads:
The tallgrass prairie
The Oneness between humans and land, and
The simple gesture of touching the earth.
Touching the earth is a gesture that runs deep in my imaginative meshwork; it is a nod to the Bhumisparsha mudra, calling the earth to witness. This is a deeply reverential expression of honoring the earth and stepping into our awareness of Oneness, and, therein, stepping into the responsibility of upholding and embodying that honor. The grasses growing up from the touch of the fingers express that humans and nature are not separate, and that our touch can be one that expresses care and protection. Today's hegemony of colonizing beliefs function through systems of separation and superiority, justifying dishonorable acts of exploitation and extraction. Recovering from this will involve the steady healing of our beliefs, actions, and embodiment….
Moselle Singh (Drawn from Water) is a Punjabi-American artist from Iowa with a background in agroecology and biodiversity regeneration. They celebrate, honor, and defend their relationship with life through art www.mosellesingh.com.