This year, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry announced the creation of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, the first of its kind in the Northeast. According to its mission statement, the center will create programs that draw on indigenous and scientific knowledge to support the goals of environmental sustainability. The establishment of the center was announced last October at a teach-in at the college entitled, "Finding Common Ground: Indigenous and Western Approaches to Healing Our Land and Waters." The event was co-sponsored by the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force and other community organizations. The teach-in, according to Dr. Robin W. Kimmerer, director of the center, was a holistic effort to educate the general community about indigenous land rights issues, land stewardship and the environment. Using an approach called Traditional Ecological Knowledge, or TEK, which Kimmerer describes as a "way of knowing," the center is working to bring an American Indian mindset into the scientific conversation.