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Todd Mitchell

@tasmitchell.bsky.social

2.1K followers 670 following 110 posts

Native American (Swinomish)/Asian (he/him), Indigenous Scientist, Geologist, Environmental Protection @ Swinomish Tribe. Husband & Dad. Certified Indigenous science teacher. Skeets my own. IG: @tasmitchell; @swinomishdep; Swinomish territory, WA, USA 💙🚴🐈

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · 4d

#IndigenousSTEM
🧪⚒️🍎🐡

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · 5d

25+ years (and 3 boxes of biz cards) at Swinomish doing Geology, Environmental, and Indigenous Science work. And as department director for 12 years!
Thanks to all those who've helped along the way and my Tribe for putting their faith in me to protect our homeland!

3 business cards on a wood background.
Top card says:
Swinomish Indian Tribal Comnuminty
Office of Planning & Community Development
Todd Mitchell
Environmental Specialist - Water Resources.

2nd card says:
Swinomish Indian Tribal Comnuminty
Office of Planning & Community Development
Todd Mitchell
Water Resources Manager.

3rd card says:
Swinomish Indian Tribal Comnuminty
Department of Environmental Protection
Todd Mitchell
Environmental Director.

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Sep 6

Pesto smelling the flowers!

a fluffy ragdoll cat wearing a harness is outdoors in the grass smelling a tall yellow flower

Reposted by Todd Mitchell

Madhusudan 🦉 Katti @leafwarbler.bsky.social · Aug 12

Important new piece by Indigenous scholars—including ecologists @1nativesoilnerd.bsky.social and @niiyokamigaabaw.bsky.social (who is here at #ESA2025 this week)—who set out eight steps to stop marginalization in academia and to enable a shared Indigenous agenda in science.

Decolonize scientific institutions, don’t just diversify them

Indigenous scholars set out eight steps to stop marginalization in academia and to enable a shared Indigenous agenda in science.

www.nature.com

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Jul 30

Thanks to Chapter 7 lead @ecohugger.bsky.social for including our narrative!

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Jul 30

Check out Volume 2 Status of Tribes and Climate Change Report. With @kjrm.bsky.social, we contributed a short narrative on Kukutali Preserve for Ch 7 Indigenous Lead Conservation as an example of leading the work at the first co-owned/managed Tribal State park in the nation.
🧪⚒️🍎 #IndigenousSTEM

STACC - STACC, Volume 2

The second volume of the STACC report followed a similar process as the first volume. A steering committee was convened and lead authors were identified and sent an invitation. In addition, the team...

sites.google.com

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · May 21

sure, send me a DM here

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · May 17

We gave away 1st Salmon Ceremony children’s books written by my late father, Raymond Mitchell, at the Swinomish 1st Salmon Ceremony-Blessing of the Fleet on Thursday and joining our table was a Swinomish Archives display of past ceremonies!
#IndigenousSTEM 🧪🍎🐡⚒️

Two people holding up 1st salmon ceremony books standing behind a table with stacks of the books. to one side is a display board with photos and captions of past 1st salmon - blessing of fleet ceremonies, to the other side is a big poster of the 1st salmon ceremony books standing behind cover.

swinomish gym full of people seated at tables waiting for the table blessing for lunch.

four Tribal youth standing and holding salmon and berries offerings near Swinomish Channel. they are preparing to go the four compass directions to return the offering to water bodies in each of the directions.

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · May 15

Don't, I just gotta remember what's important to follow up later or what to type in search bar to find it

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · May 8

Camas in my garden going big blooming flowers now!
The bulbs are a traditional food for indigenous people in the Coast Salish region.
I’ve been growing it for years to collect seeds to propagate for restoration plantings.
#IndigenousSTEM 🧪🍎🐡⚒️

Several camas flower clusters blooming with big pretty purple flowers!

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Apr 25

Anneka (my Daughter) and I will be reading our Swinomish children’s books (The Enormous Camas & Time of Salmonberries) at the Mount Vernon Library Commons tomorrow, this Saturday, April 26th, 1 PM! Come join us!

Poster advertising DIA Children’s Day & Book Day, Saturday 26th of April, 1-3 PM at Mount Vernon Library Commons. Free event.
Free books, folkloric dance, music, face painting, games, snacks, crafts. Featuring storytime w/ Anneka & Todd Mitchell

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Apr 24

cool, i grew up there!which school
in Edmonds?

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Apr 23

Happy Earth Day!

#IndigenousSTEM
🧪⚒️🍎🐡

A prairie meadow on Kukutali Preserve with purple camas blooming near a saltwater bay with islands in the background.

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Apr 20

pədx̌ʷi”w̓áac,
pud-hway-WAHTS,
Moon of Whistling Robins signals the music of springtime as the robins return to build nests to lay their eggs.

This Swinomish 13 Moon is time when spring plant shoots and fern roots are gathered, halibut are fished, and canoes and baskets made.
#IndigenousSTEM
🧪⚒️🍎🐡

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Apr 17

Great to catch up with friends who helped us learn about camas to start our Swinomish Camas Project!
Each presented our own projects at Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership conf.
I gifted them my daughter’s book “The Enormous Camas” whose idea came on first trip with them in 2019.
🧪🐡🍎⚒️ #IndigenousSTEM

3 people holding up hardback copies of the Enormous Camas book arm in arm with me.

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Apr 10

Tulips in my planting bed getting ready to show all their colors!
Many Skagit Valley fields are either well into bloom or nearly there.

big pink tulips in a tulip bed, many open flowers in foreground and many budding flowers in background

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Mar 22

waqwaqus, is the Moon When Frog Talks. It is when the pacific tree frogs come out and chorus the beginning of spring!

This Swinomish 13 Moon is a time of herring, smelt, and halibut fishing as well as gathering the first nettle shoots for food. 🧪🐡⚒️🍎 #IndigenousSTEM

A pacific tree tree made of beads. you looking at the frog head on. It is beaded with shades of
light green body and shades of cream and white for underbelly
with golden eyes.

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Mar 12

Spring is coming!

single blooming daffodil in a plot of many green bulb leaves.

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Mar 7

Our Environmental Grant Administrator position is still open and accepting job applications.

Position is funded by Tribal general fund hard dollars, not grant funded soft dollars.

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Feb 25

if you order from here:
osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/indigen...

You can use promotion code S25 at checkout for 20% off and free shipping through June 30, 2025!

Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge

With more than fifty contributors, Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge offers important perspectives by Indigenous Peoples on Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indig...

osupress.oregonstate.edu

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Feb 25

The paper on our indigenous science work at Swinomish has just arrived in the published book "Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge"!

Thanks @ecohugger.bsky.social for getting this published! & thanks @kjrm.bsky.social for helping with all the work!
#IndigenousSTEM 🧪⚒️🍎

a hand holding up the paperback book, "Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge". on the cover is an eagle silhouette in white in front of a starry background and above green stylized flower leaves and yellow flowers with red petals.

first page of table of contents of "Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge" book. Chapter 6 is titled: Swinomish Place-based Science, Culture, and Environmental Education:
An Indigenous Approach to Environmental and Resource Issues, By Todd A. Mitchell swəlítub, Page 86.

Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Edited by Lara A. Jacobs.
"Indigenous Peoples have shared values, but we live them out in ways that reflect the places where our Tribes emerged as People and the communities in which we live. Jacobs has created a touchstone in these collected essays and reflections from Indigenous Peoples throughout the so-called Americas and beyond, giving voice to the various ways we live out relationships, reciprocity, and responsibility. I will return to these words again and again, and so will you."
-PATTY KRAWEC, author of Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future

With more than 50 contributors, this book offers important perspectives by Indigenous Peoples on TEK and Indigenous value systems. The book aims to educate and inspire readers about the importance of decolonizing how Indigenous Knowledges are considered and used
outside of Native communities. By including the work of Indigenous storytellers, poets, and scholars from around the globe, Jacobs and chapter authors effectively explore the Indigenous value systems—relationships, reciprocity, and responsibility—that are fundamental to Indigenous Knowledge systems and cultures. Indigenous languages and positionality statements are featured for each of the contributors to frame their cultural and geographical background and to allow each Indigenous voice to lead discussions and contribute critical discourse to the literature on Indigenous Knowledges and value systems. By creating space for each of these individual voices, this volume challenges colonial extraction norms and highlights the importance of decolonial methods in understanding and protecting Indigenous Knowledges. This is an essential resource for students, academics, members of Tribal, state, and federal governments, Indigenous communities, and non-Indigenous allies as well as a valuable addition to environmental and Indigenous studies collections.

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Feb 22

two men are standing in front of a large map that says great white north

Alt: Strange Brew! Bob and Doug MacKenzie are sitting in front of a large map of North America that says “great white north” over Canada. They are surrounded by cases of beer. Bob is saying, “Beauty, eh?”

media.tenor.com

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Feb 21

direct link also; ojs.ethnobiology.org/index.php/eb...

View of Using Indigenous Science to Protect Wetlands: The Swinomish Tribe’s Wetland Cultural Assessment

ojs.ethnobiology.org

Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Feb 21

📣We have a new paper out on our work developing a wetland rating system that incorporates Tribal cultural values and functions to create a more robust and culturally relevant wetland rating system.
🌿 Congrats to all my co-authors who have worked on this project! 🧪🍎🐡⚒️ #IndigenousSTEM
tr.ee/H7-fgZHJvt

Native strawberry white flowers cluster surrounded by its strawberry leaves.

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Todd Mitchell @tasmitchell.bsky.social · Feb 18

Awesome, way to go, professor!