After graduation from Harvard, LaDuke accepted the job of reservation principal of the local school and became involved in a lawsuit to recover lands that had been taken by the federal government and the logging industry from the White Earth Reservation. After losing the suit, LaDuke founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project and began the work of recovering the 800,000 acres that had been taken from the reservation. So far, the Land Recovery Project has purchased 1,000 acres and expects to acquire an additional 30,000 in the next couple of years.
She is on the board of directors of GreenPeace USA, and organized and hosted the recent "Honor the Earth" national tour by the popular folk/pop group, the Indigo Girls, raising over $250,000 to aid grassroots organizations. In March of 1995 Time Magazine nominated Winona LaDuke as one of "50 Leaders for the Future". She also publishes the journal Indigenous Women and serves as a program officer for a Native American controlled foundation. She was recently in Chiapas, working with indigenous peoples' in the region and attending an international conference.
LaDuke is author of All Our Relations, a book on Native Environmentalism, and The Last Standing Woman, a novel. She works on issues ranging from land restoration to organic agriculture. Winona resides on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota with her two children.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2000
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited