Culture as Medicine: Long Time Charging Woman Kim Paul at Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet Nation

The RegenNarration

Chapters
0:00
Setting The Journey’s Stage
3:05
Welcome to newly reclaimed Amskapi Piikani land
8:05
Some Piikani Blackfeet backstory
11:35
The Piikani Lodge vision on the land
14:30
Grizzly bear sensing
16:35
Ceremony Ground
19:35
Leading a regenerative agriculture resurgence
22:20
The New Golden triangle (protecting tribal water & food systems)
25:00
100-day traditional diet outcomes amazed
30:30
Olivia asks what foods constituted the diet
36:05
The Triple Divide headwaters & the water story here (heading to Upper Two Medicine)
39:20
Reclaiming tribal names including that of the Blackfeet
43:55
To love (the story of Mika Matters)
47:05
Our first reclaimed buffalo & last tree burial
49:40
Buying businesses up now (from non-native businesses trading off their land)
51:55
Great Grandmother taken at night and sent to infamous Carlisle PA
52:35
How Kim received her Indian name
59:00
Receiving Thunder (while riding the mountains to fast)
1:07:40
A bigger lens transcending the wrongs
1:10:58
Starting a ‘winter on the land’ program for youth
1:14:05
The place of animals, hunting and meat in culture
1:16:23
There are so many big shifts happening (turning the light on)
1:19:48
The Powwow Begins
1:21:13
A proud moment & hopes for co-management of Glacier NP
1:25:43
Recovering Piikani names
1:27:08
Running Eagle Falls - I don’t believe she was the only female warrior
1:29:14
Grandchildren named in variations of her name
1:30:13
How the feeling has changed towards visitors to Glacier NP
1:32:40
The Holy Sarvisberry (or Serviceberry)
1:35:30
The transformative tale of Neither Wolf Nor Dog
1:38:02
The pain of being excluded from the industry & profit of Glacier NP - & the response
1:39:33
Do people want to come, connect and be part of the change?
1:42:09
Transformative funeral experiences that last days
1:45:33
Grandmother’s favourite place
1:47:00
Melting glaciers, colouring bear grass & the old ones watching over us
1:48:33
Don’t pick on the Divide (investigating a secret nuclear dump & cancer cluster)
1:59:10
The Osage Nation episodes
2:01:05
On the hunt for a multi-species processing plant
2:03:15
A local Montanan with an innovative processing model
2:04:55
The COVID prepper road trains that emptied local food supplies
2:07:15
Taking the ‘winter on the land’ trips to communities
2:08:35
Founding Piikani Lodge (on return from the Himalaya)
2:11:25
Piikani Pizza! The first business Piikani were able to reclaim
2:14:00
Back to starting Piikani Lodge
2:19:00
The pivotal Strengthening the Circle meeting with Robin Wall Kimmerer
2:19:55
A big dream (guiding through epigenetic transformations)
2:21:05
Culture as (Preventative) Medicine
2:23:00
Piikani Lodge’s extraordinary COVID pivot
2:25:05
The unexpected first sizeable donation
2:28:19
Full circle to the original vision with recently re-acquired land
The RegenNarration
Culture as Medicine: Long Time Charging Woman Kim Paul at Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet Nation
Oct 01, 2025 Season 9 Episode 276
Anthony James

Today, an extremely special episode. After we left the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative in Wyoming, but before we reached Paul Hawken back in California, there was one more stop we had to make. Or so we thought. For having made it to the Old Salt Festival (podcast about back in Montana last year), we met a special guest speaker there, Miisami Sapai yi Aki / Long Time Charging Woman, Kim Paul, an elder of Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet Nation.

Kim is founder and ED of Piikani Lodge Health Institute. I already knew about some of its brilliant work, having read Liz Carlisle’s profound book Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming. And then I’d seen the impressive Latrice Tatsey (who featured in Liz’s book) present at the Regenerate Conference in Denver last November, which was also where the extraordinary documentary film Bring Them Home, on the Blackfeet buffalo restoration, was screened. 

Those resurgent Blackfeet stories had felt like they were constant accompaniment on our journey. So I’d lightly wondered if we might end up visiting them and their spectacular country in the far north of Montana (historically and essentially still including current day Glacier National Park). Alas, it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. But then, Kim - this high school drop-out, now with multiple degrees, who carries the Siyeh Ksisk Staki creation bundle and pipes, and was transferred the rights to wear the traditional stand up warbonnet. We met after her presentation at the festival, and she warmly invited us to visit as they approached their Powwow in July.

We pick up our time together with Kim at the Nation’s latest reacquired land, where Piikani Lodge has a big dream unfolding.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 10 July 2025.

For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Mika Matters.

Music:

Into Thin Air, by Hans Johnson (from Artlist).

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by gue

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you.

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!