The Land Returns

By Jennifer Robinson / Web Producer

Published October 8, 2026 at 3:29 PM PDT

Director Boots Kennedye and producer Kevin Abourezk film the corn harvest by Pawnee tribal members and friends at one of the Pawnee Seed Preservation Project’s gardens in Nebraska.

Stream now with KPBS+ / Premieres Monday, Oct. 12, 2026 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

"The Land Returns" follows a growing grassroots movement of restitution and reconciliation, as Indigenous nations reclaim ancestral lands with the help of non-Native allies.

“The Land Returns” chronicles a surprising new way that Indigenous nations are regaining their land: individual settlers, local governments, environmental organizations, and even corporations are returning stolen land to Indian nations as part of a growing grassroots movement of restitution and reconciliation.

Three stories take center stage: the Pawnee's return to their Nebraska homelands through a writer's land donation, the Wiyot people's repatriation of a sacred California island, and the Arapaho and Cheyenne working together with Boulder Valley allies to reclaim land on Colorado's Front Range.

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Deb Echo-Hawk, director of the Pawnee Seed Preservation Project, talks about her tribe’s efforts to revitalize its traditional corn in their ancestral homelands of Nebraska. The project currently works with farmers to plant 19 Pawnee corn gardens in Nebraska, Echo-Hawk said during an interview on March 3, 2020, in Pawnee, Oklahoma.

Walter Echo-Hawk, former president of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, talks about his tribe’s removal from Nebraska and the tribe’s efforts to reclaim some of their homelands and grow their traditional corn there during a March 4, 2020, interview in Pawnee, Oklahoma.

Director Boots Kennedye films Fred Mosqueda, and Arapaho leader, at Haystack Mountain in Boulder County, Colorado.

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The Land Returns

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