Lacey Rae Cannon

“Mat Ha Wekum.” - “The land where the water bubbles up.” -Richard Bugbee 🌴💧💧💧💧🌴 Grateful for the opportunity to lead the Restoration of the old Jacumba Lake over the last year and a half. Ironically it has mirrored the transformation I have felt in my own life…. Transformation is slow and also not slow… it can be overwhelming but is a beautiful opportunity to learn and grow. The reward is great. Our lives like eco systems, constantly shifting and changing through seasons and time. The more flexible I become to change the more peace I find. The more balance finds me. The more I can show up. ❤️🙏🏼❤️🙏🏼❤️🙏🏼❤️ I love my kids have a swimming hole now…. A place their ancestors came to heal and now they can too! I hope one day they will see my love for them and my support for their connection to their culture and to this land. Thank you @jacumbahotspringshotel for the blessing of being apart of your vision for a sustainable thriving JACUMBA!!!! Your love for the community and respect for the land has been inspirational and I’m honored to be involved. Thank you for your guidance @hunwut1 And a special thanks to the amazing humans that have been epic team members on his project!!! 📸 @icryfiji #savejacumba #hotsprings #sandiego #kumeyaayland #healing #swimmingholes #restoration #indigenousregeneration #regeneration #landrelationship #landstewardship #waterislife #jacumba #jacumbahotspringhotel #womenleading #cherokee #chickasaw #viking #conservation #hotsprings #california #californiahotsprings #empoweredwomen

Indigenous Regeneration and The Yumans Presents Kuhmii Uuyaaw (Elders Knowledge) . The Kumeyaay Cultural Revitalization and Healing Project explored and documented Kumeyaay Elders and their stories of how culture is used as a modality to combat substance abuse in San Diego tribal communities and can be utilized to enhance treatment outcomes as well as to reduce substance use and behaviors. This Kumeyaay Elders Series is supported by the MAT Access Points Project, which is funded through the Department of Health Care Services California MAT Expansion Project and is administered by The Center at Sierra Health Foundation. The Kumeyaay Elders Series was produced by Indigenous Regeneration Directed by Lacey Cannon, Nocturnes Films, Cyrus Sutton, Chris Alvarado, and Richard Bugbee. Filmed by; Cyrus Sutton, Nocturnes Films and Leia Marasovich A special thank you to the elders, team members and funders that made this project possible. @sanmanuelband @boh.ireland Please visit theyumans.com to access 9 other expanded elder interviews directed by @cyrus_sutton @indigenousregeneration and @the_yumans As well as some amazing language lessons made by Chris Alvarado . #kumeyaay #elderseries #storytelling #indigenoushistory #sandiego #native #elderswisdom #opioidaddiction #traditionalknowledge #healing #film #shortfilm #bipoc #indigenous #regeneration #ihc #tribalperspective

It is with much gratitude that Indigenous Regeneration says thank you. Thank you to the San Pasqual Reservation and Tribal Government for the opportunity to create a space over the last 5 years where the community of San Pasqual got to come together through the creation of Mata’Yuum. A place where together we; -Raised over 1 Million in funding since inception in 2017. -Served over 5000 community members -Donated over 1000 Organic Farm Boxes -Created 12 tribal jobs and 3 paid tribal apprenticeships since 2017 -Planted over 4000 native plants -Restored 18 acres of native plant fauna and ecosystems -Gave away over 1000 native trees. -Held 25 community events and campouts. It was a joy to host campouts and peon games, basket weaving, plant walks and Kumeyaay Cosmology Campouts and classes for the kids from the Ed Center and All Tribes Charter School. Becoming the first outdoor educational campus for regenerative agriculture, Kumeyaay ethnobotany, and earth building, focusing on language and cultural revitalization. Thank you for your partnership over the last 5 years and the support you gave, especially to the San Pasqual Environmental Department. Also to the San Pasqual Education Department and Public Works, we thank you. Thank you to The San Pasqual Economic Development Department @hellyaa_quisquis for believing in the project and giving IRG the opportunity to lease land from you and create such a space. Thank you @hunwut1 for guiding and teaching. It’s not without heavy hearts that we come to the end of our 5 year lease of which we will do what we sought out to do from the beginning, and that’s to inspire our native community on regenerative living concepts and community engagement by giving back what’s been created to the community of San Pasqual. Our hope is that SP will continue on with what has been started at Mata’Yuum as Mata’Yuum becomes a working model for all tribes of how to create a space that restores the natural habitat, works towards food sovereignty and creates opportunities for our tribal communities to have a safe place to gather and connect with each other with the land and with cultural roots. Continued in comments…

What environmental issues matter to YOU? . Join Indigenous Regeneration’s Youth Environmental Leadership + PhotoVoice Program and learn how to turn your ideas into action. . Over 4 interactive Zoom sessions, youth will: Learn how communities create change Explore environmental issues impacting tribal communities Use photography and storytelling to share lived experiences Build leadership and advocacy skills Connect with other youth changemakers The first 25 participants to sign up receive FREE tickets to learning experiences across San Diego, including: San Diego Safari Park Museum of Us Scripps Institution of Oceanography San Diego Natural History Museum Ages 14–26 (but all ages welcome) No experience needed Limited spots available Sign up with link in bio…

44 years on 🌎 Here are some of my favorite moments from this year. Grateful for my life, my boys, my family.. blood and chosen. It was a year of hard work and dedication and healing. I honestly stayed to myself a lot…..It was also a year I tried to pack in the adventure memories since its my last year with both boys home. 😭 We had some good ones. I feel very blessed and grateful. Cheers to #44 love you all.

Join us for a 4-part online series rooted in Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and PhotoVoice. If you’ve ever wanted to understand how policy works, how advocacy takes shape, or how to begin writing policy, this series offers a clear starting point. Participants will identify community issues, document them through PhotoVoice, and learn how lived experience can inform policy. This is a foundation-building space focused on awareness, analysis, and skill development. Participants will have the opportunity next year to carry their ideas forward and develop them into real policy. Participants will be introduced to how public funding streams are structured and how youth-led ideas can align with future funding opportunities. . This class is led by Lacey Cannon, Executive Director of Indigenous Regeneration, trained in Substance Use Disorder Policy Advocacy through USC. And Alexxa Cassanova, Kumeyaay from San Pasqual, UCSD Program Coordinator at School of Public Health, Indigenous Advocacy, Tribal Wellness, Scholar SDSU . Date and Time Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 7 PM Additional sessions will take place between June and December 2026 Location Online (registration required, link will be provided) . #partofthechange #ElevateYouthCA #choosechange #policy #advocate

At the end of last summer, we had the honor of hosting a camping trip at Jacumba Lake, a restoration project led by Indigenous Regeneration founder Lacey Cannon and guided by Elder Lahunt Richard Bugbee. . Over the course of those days, we spent time with IRG board member Dr. Stan Rodriguez and his son Raymond Martinez, learning how to make fish traps, quail traps, and tule boats. . We sat together around the fire, whittling and listening to stories of Jacumba Mountain and the creation story, under a sky full of stars. The youth swam, played, and moved freely across this place long known as mat ha wekum, (where the water bubbles up) . This gathering was originally planned as two separate campouts, but an early shift in weather led us to postpone the second portion until this summer. We are planning to return to complete the tule boats and paddle them across the lake, deepen our understanding of cattail and tule, use the fish traps to catch and prepare smoked fish, and continue learning together in community. We extend our gratitude to the Jacumba Hotel crew for granting permission for this campout. We look forward to continuing this work and holding more cultural programs at the lake. . Comment campout if you’d like to join! . #indigenousregeneration #jacumbalake #tuleboats #mathawekum #kumeyaay

Today at the Richard Bugbee Land Relationship Center we held a full day of experimentation and practice with Good Fire. . Dwelling on Carbon joined us to bring scientific measurement tools and support soil sampling that will be sent to the lab. This work is designed to document and demonstrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge through pre and post burn data. . Because we are operating on County land, a full broadcast burn was not possible this year with how extensive and timely burn plans are. Instead, through a burn permit with CAL FIRE, we implemented small circle burns that mimic broadcast fire patterns. These burns were designed to reach temperatures that avoid soil sterilization while still creating the heat and smoke conditions needed to support the germination of fire dependent plants such as hatepaaw ‘up - coyote tobacco. . We tested multiple approaches including seeding before the burn, seeding after the burn, and seeding after with topsoil cover. We will continue to monitor germination rates to understand which method is in best relationship with hatepaaw ‘up - coyote tobacco and track changes over time in water infiltration, soil biology, carbon, and organic matter. . Thank you to Indigenous Regeneration apprentices Raymond Martinez from Santa Ysabel Reservation and Ravel Rodriguez from Pala Reservation, and to all of our community members who showed up to participate in this work. Thank you to Raymond Martinez for sharing your fire knowledge with us, and to Lacey Cannon for passing on lessons you learned from lahunt Richard Bugbee. . Thank you to San Manuel Band of Mission Indians for supporting this day and to Levi Cannon from San Pasqual Reservation, currently in fifth grade, for creating this amazing and educational video. . Huge thank you to our land owner @boh.ireland for trusting us with this land and supporting burns like today! . #indigenousregeneration #goodfire #tek #therichardbugbeelandrelationshipcenter #sanmanuelcares

San Diego quail, especially California quail, offer a path toward food sovereignty that we think is worth exploring. They are drought tolerant, require minimal inputs, and reach maturity in 6 to 8 weeks, producing nutrient dense meat with 20 to 25 percent protein and eggs with 13 to 14 percent protein. This is small scale, land aligned protein that can be grown within community without dependence on outside systems. Bugbee always wanted to explore breeding quail in captivity as part of working around limited land access for trapping or hunting them. Thank you to the UCSD Urban Equity Farm Grant for supporting our chicken and quail pen, to Kumeyaay youth and San Pasqual community member Ash Cannon for the chicken coop design and buildout, to San Pasqual community member Mario Lopez for his contributions to the new quail pen, and to our farm interns (Raymond Martinez, Santa Ysabel and Ravel Rodriguez, Pala, lead farmer) who for helping build and bring these pens to life. . We are looking forward to exploring this system and to some delish bbq when prickly pear tuna and mesquite bean season arrives… 🤤 . Additionally this area is home to our compost cookin… where chicken pen clean outs become our next batch of compost for the garden….. . #foodsovereignty #californiaquail #therichardbugbeelandrelationshipcenter #paradisetribalfarm #indigenousregeneration

M E S Q U I T E . ‘aanall gathered at the Jacumba (mat ha wekum) Lake last fall with @stan.rodriguez.1 . Thought I’d try getting them to germinate. I heard it could be difficult. I tried to mimic digestion of a COYOTE… . Mechanical breakdown – chewing cracks the pod and sometimes nicks the seed coat . Chemical scarification – stomach acids weaken the very hard seed coat . Heat + moisture cycling – gut environment hydrates the seed Deposition in nutrient-rich scat – provides nitrogen and microbial activity . Spatial dispersal – seeds get moved to favorable soil with depth to grow deep roots quickly. . This process took 7 days. . Bug and I talked about planting mesquite in the hot dry slopes of the property. It’s an honor the seeds are gathered with a common friend and from a place my heart is so dear to JACUMBA! . Mesquite is an amazing food for food sovereignty in San Diego…. It makes delish flour from the bean pods, the wood is good fuel for a fire, and bug said it makes the strongest craddle boards. . #jacumba #paradise #mesquite #germination #foodsovereignty

#selfportrait #december #mountainlife

9 years I have been dedicated to giving my all to Indigenous Regeneration. For this guy….. and for his brother. I remember taking this photo where Levi is a baby on the day we had our first board meeting and walked Mata’Yuum. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago…. And although I have sacrificed a lot to do this work…. It has also allowed me more time with the boys and to be able to show up to them more and I’m so grateful. I’m grateful for my time learning and for my time I had with my teacher… and the time the boys got to have with him too. I’m grateful for getting to give to the land daily and share that love with others…. And I’m grateful for all the relationships, the teachers, the family and the friends I have gained along the way. Sometimes I wish I could just rewind to this time in life when the boys were so young…. Even though I love now too…. Bitter sweet as they say. It feels like it went so fast. 9 years fighting for food sovereignty… for cultural continuation, for language preservation, for plant knowledge sharing…. For land based education, for connection. I hope my boys will see why and for who one day and that they know it was always for them…… Happy 9 years to @indigenousregeneration May you grow on to support the many amazing humans in San Diego’s Tribal community and work being done. May you inspire…. . Photo credit from @growingequityucsd Abalone necklace by @existtoresist DJ Levi….caught mewing again