Alyssa Ledesma

Alyssa is a graduate student in the Environment and Community M.A. program at Cal Poly Humboldt as well as a Voupul Graduate Research Fellow and Graduate Research Assistant with the Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute. As a first generation scholar, she earned her B.S. in Sustainability Studies from the University of California, Riverside. She is an enrolled tribal member of Gabrielino/Tongva Nation and a descendant of grandparents who immigrated from Mexico.

Alyssa is passionate about Indigenous-led land stewardship, food sovereignty, and environmental health where her work is guided by community input, collaboration, and creating culturally relevant educational resources. Coming from a background in natural resource management, she brings years of field experience and focuses on recentering Indigenous Science by highlighting the vital role of Indigenous cultural practices and food-ways within Northern California’s redwood ecosystems. In collaboration with the Good Fire Healing Coalition, she also works toward the resurgence of cultural fire practices and bringing good fire back to Wiyot Plaza’s redwood forested area at Cal Poly Humboldt, situated on the ancestral land of the Wiyot.