People Over Projects: Treston Chee
Behind every reference to “community partner,” “donor,” and “staff,” there is a name, a face, and a story. Our work is about people, by people. As part of our continued focus on People over Projects – an investment in long-term relationships over short-term targets – we’re sharing stories of the people that make our work possible.
As our Indigenous Lands Program Content Creator, Treston Chee unites his background, his love of the outdoors, and his talent for film and photography to connect the stories of our partners and supporters.
Treston:“I am Diné, and growing up on the Navajo Nation reservation has been a big factor in my life because a lot of the things that have been told to me have always been oral. And I have to remember a lot of that in order to follow where I want to be going and know how to present myself. And that’s been a foundational perspective for me in working with Trees, Water & People too – storytelling of Indigenous lives and Indigenous perspectives on Indigenous lands.”
Treston came to Sante Fe to study at the Institute of American Indian Arts and also became involved in outdoor recreation and conservation, connecting him in 2021 to TWP’s local work.
Treston: “Starting with Trees, Water & People, I saw a huge diversity of employees and it all seemed very family oriented. And that's what I think really pushes and inspires storytelling itself. This doesn't feel like a job, it feels like I'm living in another family context providing oral systems and stories to pass down.”
In his work, though, Treston is deeply thoughtful about which stories can be told, and how. Respecting the communities we partner with means accepting the stories they may, or may not, want to share and following their lead in framing the meaning of their efforts.
“Within filmmaking, storytelling, those stories not only need to come from the people, from the land, but also need to be framed by what type of stories they want to tell. That's a huge connection I've seen between Indigenous sovereignty and storytelling. And that’s one thing I’ve really liked about TWP is our work isn’t about putting stamps on the projects that we help fund. We're in the background, and we're able to help uplift that community or uplift that voice.”
Ultimately, we know the real impact of our work is revealed in the stories Treston and our team help us tell. Our North Star isn’t just planting trees or building stoves – it’s expanding the ways we value our world and rebalancing the ways we live within it.
Treston: “I think what storytelling has done for millennia of cultures and traditions amongst tribal nations is that it's kept in line the most important values of our lives, which are things that can't necessarily be measured. And yet, now everything's connected to money and things have been commodified, water and land. But amongst Tribal nations, those lands aren't a measurement. I feel like the land itself, the water itself, can measure us. And I think why a film or a photograph makes somebody cry is really because of those values. Storytelling shows the things that can’t be measured, but can only be felt.”
