Kelsey Leonard

I belong to the waters of Shinnecock Bay, and in calling myself Shinnecock, “people of the Stony Shore,” I inherit a duty, a responsibility, an ethic of care. I am compelled to protect that shore, to safeguard that liminal space where water meets land, and to honor all the ecosystems and life forces that are generated and regenerated through those waters. Exploration is an act of relationship—of listening, witnessing, and restoring the places that have shaped my identity.

Much of my research focuses on Indigenous-led ocean exploration—expeditions that use eDNA, Wampum teachings, and technologies to study marine ecosystems in ways that honour our relationships with water. By co-designing methodologies with Indigenous Nations, I help build pathways for communities to assert governance authority, protect culturally significant species, and respond to climate impacts on their terms.

The impact of my work lies in re-centering Indigenous law and the law of Mother Earth. These natural laws offer a way of being and seeing the world where our collective future is not merely secure but plentiful—restorative, invigorating, and grounded in relational accountability. Through Indigenous-led ocean exploration, Earth law, and least-destructive scientific practices, I aim to help reshape how humanity understands its obligations to the ocean.

I came to this work because of the women who came before me— who birthed me onto this planet and bathed me in the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and my home waters of Shinnecock. Being an ocean baby, a child of the sea, means I stand here because of those who protected the water for me, and I now hold responsibility for those who will come after. I have lived most of my life watching my Shinnecock homelands reshape under the pressure of climate change and humanity’s greed. The coastline that holds the stories of my ancestors is eroding; tides are rising; storms are more intense. In witnessing these changes, I understood that the obligations I inherited required me to act, to listen, and to protect our ocean.

My academic path grew directly from that responsibility. I trained in law, water governance, and climate science because I needed all three to understand the systems reshaping our waters. I do this work because Indigenous Nations deserve the ability to respond to climate change with the full strength of our legal orders, our scientific knowledge, and our governance authority intact.

My involvement in Indigenous ocean exploration began with our Wampum teachings, which frame our mollusk relatives—quahog and whelk—as legal and ecological record-keepers. This worldview opened the door to collaborations with marine scientists that honoured Indigenous protocols, such as eDNA surveys co-led with Shinnecock community members.

I do this work because ocean justice is inseparable from Indigenous justice. When Indigenous Nations regain stewardship capacity, when youth, elders and community members take to the water as researchers and decision-makers, when our laws guide marine protection, that is restoration beyond science. My work is a sacred covenant—held in wampum and entrusted through story, law, and Indigenous science—to safeguard the ocean relatives who safeguard us.