Welcome
Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation Non-Profit
WHO WE ARE
We fight for the preservation and restoration of the Ramapough Munsee Community.
At the Ramapough Culture & Land Foundation, we are the stewards of a legacy that stretches back over 11,000 years. Our focus is protecting the preservation and restoration of the economic, social, cultural, sacred and environmental assets of the Ramapough Munsee Community. We promote community sustainability by supporting health and wellness, cultural education, food sovereignty, local indigenous knowledge, and the acquisition of Munsee sacred and public lands.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
The Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation aims to safeguard the environment, uphold the rights and traditions of our community, and foster a sustainable future that honors our deep connections to the land.
The town of Ringwood and the state of New Jersey gave the Ford Motor Company permission to dump 256 million pounds of toxic waste around our homes and sacred mountains in the 1960s. This environmental calamity is an ongoing battle against a toxic legacy that has decimated our community, leaving a trail of illness, suffering, and violated rights. Our lands, once the bedrock of our culture and livelihood, now serve as a stark emblem of corporate negligence and environmental injustice.
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
The Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal farm provides sustenance and education to our people, as well as other people in need. Recovering our culture through food sovereignty is of the highest importance.
Due to the toxic waste that has been disposed of upon our community in Ringwood, New Jersey, we have lost the ability to hunt clean game animals and gather traditional wild edibles. We risk losing the knowledge of our healing plants, and with that, the loss of language that is associated with gathering them. Food sovereignty gives us an opportunity to heal through cultural regeneration.
CULTURAL PRESERVATION
Our dedication to cultural preservation is a commitment to the future, to ensuring that the Ramapough way of life, steeped in respect for our history and the natural world, continues to flourish and inspire generations to come.
When our ancestors came to this region 11,000 years ago they recognized the sacred nature of the giant shards of iron ore in the Ramapo Mountains, as we still do today. Protecting this land and history is our inheritance and responsibility.
The Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation works with state agencies and nonprofits to preserve our people’s sacred ceremonial stone landscapes, so that generations to come can enjoy the rich history and culture hidden in plain sight in the beautiful Ramapo Mountains.
The Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan, have called Ringwood, New Jersey home for centuries. The surrounding landscape features iron mines, Native American rock shelters, and a forest that provides food for hunters and foragers. But it also contains a stew of different chemical toxicants from the former Ford manufacturing plant, deep pockets of contaminated soil, streams that now flow with orange water, and the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund Site. The people live in the Superfund site, just upstream from the Wanaque Reservoir, which provides drinking water to millions of New Jersey residents. This book illustrates the connections between scientific data, environmental remediation reports, and personal narratives of the cultural and spiritual traditions of the Ramapough community.
Chief Vincent Mann
BOARD PRESIDENT
Vincent Mann, Turtle Clan Chief of the Ramapough Lenape Nation, actively combats the aftermath of Ford Motor Company’s toxic dumping in Ringwood Mines and co-founded the Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm to revive food sovereignty for his Clan. A trustee of the Highlands Coalition and a respected advocate for environmental justice, Chief Mann collaborates with universities and regularly lectures on the importance of indigenous knowledge, earning recognition for his dedicated service to his community and the environment.
Michaeline Mann
BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
Michaeline Picaro, a Turtle Clan member of the Ramapough Lunaape Nation, has initiated a community garden in Northern New Jersey, blending her roles as a mother, artist, nurse, and healer. Her work, deeply influenced by native medicinal teachings and a profound spiritual connection with nature, focuses on holistic approaches to farming, health, and wellness. Through her diverse background in nursing, holistic healing, and art, Picaro advocates for natural medicine and food foraging, embodying the teachings of Mother Earth in daily life.
Munsee Three Sisters Cannabis 