Welcome to Science Matters Colorado. The podcast that explores the environmental issues shaping our beautiful state. I am your host, Alex Hippenhammer.

Today I’m honored to share a deeply candid and illuminating conversation with Dustin Freyta, an Indigenous American and one of the leading voices at Sacred Water Mountain Society, based in Taos, New Mexico. Sacred Water Mountain Society is centered on the revitalization of an ancient Indigenous practice known as water planting—a sophisticated method of land and water stewardship that has largely disappeared from public awareness, though its physical traces remain hidden in plain sight across the landscape.

Dustin brings not only extraordinary knowledge of Indigenous histories—including the often-overlooked legacy of slavery and oppression across the Americas—but also a personal story that is just as remarkable. From surviving the generational impacts of colonial marginalization, to a period of monastic solitude in the wilderness of Colorado, his path has been one of reclamation, resilience, and return. What emerges is a reimagining of his relationship with the natural world—one rooted in ancestral wisdom and lived through an unflinching commitment to land-based practices.

This conversation is frank, sometimes unsettling, and always grounded in truth. Dustin does not claim to speak for any tribe or nation—his heritage includes Apache, Comanche, and Pueblo ancestry—but the insights he offers are the result of hard-earned experience and deep research. I’m grateful for his willingness to share them.

Wherever you’re listening from, I hope this episode serves as a reminder of who the original stewards of this land are. For those of us in Colorado, that includes the Ute—specifically the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe—as well as the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Apache, Shoshone, Comanche, Kiowa, and Navajo peoples.

There is much to learn—still—from those who have long held knowledge of how to live in balance with the land. I hope this conversation challenges, inspires, and calls you toward that deeper listening.

Here is my conversation with Dustin Freyta.

Links:

Sacred Water Mountain Society

Outro

If you enjoyed today’s episode, please like the show and follow wherever you get your podcasts. Special thanks to Ruth Massera for introducing me to Dustin and water planting.

For additional features like video, you can find transcribed versions of this and future episodes at my personal Substack, Echoing Earth.

The music for this podcast is Siesta by Ikson, part of the “Tell Your Story” project—a library of free music for content creators. Visit ikson.com to explore the full catalog.