Cactus Conservation Institute is dedicated to the study and preservation of vulnerable cacti in their natural range. It seeks to balance and respect all interests including regulatory bodies, the Native American Church, ranchers, and the scientific community.
While CCI is focused upon cacti native to Texas, it supports the efforts of researchers worldwide through open sharing of data and techniques and through the establishment of the CCI Research Center.
On November 18, 2003, the Cactus Conservation Institute (CCI) received its corporate charter from the State of Texas. Those articles identified it as a charitable corporation organized under the Texas Non-Profit Corporations Act.
On May 6, 2004 the Internal Revenue Service issued its favorable determination letter in response to CCI’s application for tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3).
This determination allows CCI to gather donations to itself tax free, as well as allowing donors to deduct their gifts from their own income tax.
The final underpinning of CCI was put in place when the State of Texas granted an exemption from state corporate franchise tax, retroactively effective on the same date as the IRS determination letter.
Since the officers of CCI are not paid, the organization is able to devote 100% of each donation dollar to its mission of preserving and restoring a selected portion of South Texas Tamaulipan Thornscrub habitat of threatened and endangered cacti.
The release in late 2003 by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department of its Recovery Plan for preservation of the star cactus Astrophytum asterias was the triggering event in the creation of CCI.
Dr. Martin Terry had for some years prior to that release been interested in the link between the harvest of Lophophora williamsii by “peyoteros” in their trade with members of the Native American Church and their accidental or intentional taking of Star cactus.
Not only have collectors put pressure on the remaining populations of star cactus in South Texas, but the apparent significance of star cactus per se to Native Americans has led to deliberate harvesting of star cactus along with peyote. A growing understanding that the fate of star cactus is inextricably intertwined with the commercial harvesting of peyote, and that both cacti need serious study, led to the mission statement of CCI.
One of CCI’s original founders, Steve van Heiden has decades of experience in the study of cacti and other xeric plants. Steve has dedicated his life to building a better understanding of the relationships between plants and people. His fieldwork, research, writing and photographs have been pivotal in all aspects of CCI’s work.
Dr Stacy Schaefer is Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology,
California State University, Chico. Prof. Schaefer has been carrying out ethnographic field research for decades with the Huichol (Wixárika) Indians of Mexico. Her research has focused on a holistic study of the traditional beliefs and practices that revolve around the use of the sacred peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii). She is co-editor and contributor to the book People of the Peyote, Huichol Indian History, Religion and Survival. Dr. Schaefer also published Huichol Women, Weavers and Shamans. From 1991 to 1999 she was a professor at University of Texas Pan American along the Texas/Tamaulipas, Mexico border during which time she conducted extensive fieldwork research among federally licensed Mexican-American peyote dealers and members of the Native American Church (NAC). This work continued through 2015, culminating in Amada’s Blessings From the Peyote Gardens of South Texas which has received numerous awards. Dr. Schaefer’s research has also explored the female perspectives of peyote and pregnancy and the interaction of peyote with the female reproductive system.
Anna Ermakova (Anya) has a background and broad research interests combining nature conservation, ethnobotany, neuroscience and psychiatry, and in particular how they relate to psychedelic science. Deep love for nature and wildlife has motivated Anna to study biology at the University of Edinburgh, while a quest to understand altered states of consciousness has prompted her to specialize in neuroscience and later continued during her PhD at Cambridge, where she investigated the origins of psychosis. She then worked for the NHS, developing and trialing a new psycho social intervention for psychosis. After a brief stint as a clinical trial manager, she had decided to pursue her passion for nature, by studying Conservation Science at Imperial College London. There she got involved in researching peyote ecology and conservation and fell in love with this beautiful cactus and unique habitat where it grows.
Leslie is taking the board seat of her husband and co-founder, Blake Williams, who passed away in 2018. Leslie’s background is in the market research industry, where she founded three companies: Market finders, focused upon developing and sizing new market opportunities in telecom and technology; Kinesis Survey Technologies, a SaaS suite for data collection and reporting; and Cannabiz Consumer Group, which developed big data models to predict the impact of legal cannabis on other areas of the economy. Leslie will focus upon fundraising for CCI.
Mary Motah Weahkee grand daughter of Lee Motah and Daisy Perdisophy. Daughter of Wayne Motah and Nina Gutierrez. Registered tribal member Comanche Nation #003623. Other tribal affiliation Santa Clara Pueblo New Mexico. Born in Rio Arriba county New Mexico, raised in Faxon Oklahoma. Moved and went to grade school and high school in California. Attended Cal State University Fullerton on an athletic scholarship.
Moved to New Mexico taught early childhood and development at the Santa Clara Head start. Santa Fe Indian School, taught varsity volleyball, basketball, softball, track and field and physical education. Taught girl varsity volleyball Pojoaque high school. Santa Fe Preparatory school, taught varsity volleyball and basketball, taught physical education middle school. Native American Community Academy taught boy’s mid-school basketball program. Volleyball instructor Northern New Mexico community college.
Current occupation: 16 years field Anthropologist/Archaeologist Department of Cultural Affairs, Office of archaeological studies, Center for New Mexico archaeology. Crew chief Office of archaeological studies, education outreach coordinator instructor ancient life ways. Tribal Liaison for the Department of Cultural affairs State of New Mexico. Museum of Indian arts and culture consultant for new exhibit “Here now and always”. Scholar educator Perishable projects program. Scholar educator Crow Canyon archaeological institution Colorado. Consultant tribal liaison R.Christopher Goodwinn & Associates resource management group. Sub-contractor Fort Sill Ethnographic Study, archaeological field work Paleo Indian site located on Fort Sill.
Comanche Nation Monitor/Consultant Fort Sill Post Oak Cemetery under past Chairman Wallace Coffey. Working with Comanche nation elder council coordinating site visit locations in Northern New Mexico identifying Comanche trails and history of Comanche occupation in Northern New Mexico. Comanche Nation youth program teaching Comanche occupation and relationships with pueblo tribes in Northern New Mexico.
Cactus Conservation Institute board member
Comanche Nation board of directors SIA: The Comanche Nation Ethno-Ornithological Initiative
Currently residing in Santa Fe New Mexico working with the Department of Cultural Affairs State of New Mexico, Office of Archaeological Studies, Center for New Mexico Archaeology.
Dr. Martin Terry worked in the pharmaceutical industry for decades before deciding to pursue his interest in botanical research by re-entering academia at Sul Ross University. His growing concern over the accelerating destruction of the habitat known as the Tamaulipecan thorn scrub in South Texas focused his interest on star cactus and peyote. The plight of the star cactus showed him what could happen when a cactus is loved to the brink of extinction. A growing concern for peyote and other species and led him to found, along with Steve van Heiden and others, CCI. Martin is the world’s leading expert on lophophora williamsii (peyote) and holds a DEA license to aid its study. Martin has appeared on Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, airing on the Vice Channel, Peyote Files documentary produced by Chacruna institute and others.
The end of the year — after the last cactus flower has folded its petals inward (in West Texas that would have to be Ariocarpus fissurataus), and many weeks before the first spring bloomers (like Echinocereus spp.) will surprise us with their spring bursts of incredible colors — we pause momentarily, at the “still point of the turning world”, to contemplate where we have been and where we are going.
Blake Williams, our cactus brother-in-arms and Board Member of Cactus Conservation Institute since inception, recently passed away after a long bout with cancer. We especially miss Blake’s dry sense of humor. Among the last things he said to Martin on the phone was “You know, dying sure is boring.”
We were blessed and feel honored to have had the opportunity to work with Blake and have him in our lives as a true compadre. And we were especially privileged to have his participation not just as part of Cactus Conservation Institute but as one of the founders. It is a notable point that the three founders all met each other independently and began discussing the pressing need for peyote conservation efforts. Once we discovered that all three of us knew each other and had been carrying out parallel conversations, the creation of Cactus Conservation Institute in 2004 was an inevitable outcome.
Blake was a retired attorney who took care of our paperwork and legal research but he also had a deep love of the Texas brush country and a real knack at finding wild peyote plants when the annual hunt began for our research group.
He was an important creative force for Cactus Conservation Institute in a myriad of ways. Among Blake’s many contributions were his skills as a jeweler. It was his idea to create molds from living peyote plants in order to create realistic peyote jewelry that caused no harm to the plant. These were never sold commercially and were included as incentives for significant level donors. Those are now unique collectables that are possessed by a fortunate few.
Blake will be greatly missed by us all — and by anyone else who had the good fortune to know him.
The Last Captive of the Comanches, taken in the old way by Eviyah when I was a young man and brought into the Ohnononuh band of Numunuh as Kwihnia mahkweetsoi okweetuni (He who saves the eagle from the water). Over 4 decades later as a Sia: The Comanche Nation Ethno-Ornithological Initiative Founder: my days are filled with eagles and Numunuh cultural life ways as we serve the people. Sia is dedicated to uphold the spiritual integrity of all historic Numunuh forms of worship by caring for our living Puha Huutsuu (Medecine Birds) and sharing sacred live energy through legal and ethical feather distribution as the only Tribal feather repository in the USA. We serve all 574 Tribal Nations for cultural ceremonies. Sia (means feather in Comanche) is established on historic lands and preserves actual sacred sites upon which the founders of the 1918 NAC Charter conducted ceremony and prayer meetings. Comanche Native American Church 1918 Charter Association proclaims Sia as Piah Puha Kahni (Mother Church) and Sanctuary to the Native American Church and official repository and archive (photographs,documents,material culture, songs) for the history, culture and spirit of the Comanche People.
Ted was born in the Coahuiltecan Sacred Land along the Rio Grande where the Peyote grows, to Maria Lara, a Tlaxcalteca, Chichimeca, Huichol Indian and Eduardo Herrera, a Tlaxcalteca and Coahuiltecan Indian. He is married to Jo Ann Garcia and they have two children and six grandchildren. Ted is the hereditary Tlahtoani (Principle Speaker) of the Tlaxcalteca Nation and Affiliated Tribes of Texas.
After retiring in 1998 as the Kelly Air Force Base Program Manager for the Production Quality Program, he began a partnership with Hugh Fitzsimons raising Buffalo for ceremonial and economic development.
Ted presently serves on the following organizations:
– as an advocate for stakeholders of tribally owned land or land owned by Tribal members on the USDA/NRCS State Technical Advisory Committee;
– the Mexico-North Research Network, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute, addressing the life flow constraints of Indigenous people on both sides of the Rio Grande;
– as a consultant to the Texas Historical Commission on investigations of artifacts for disposition when uncovered by construction work on Texas highways;
– as the Coahuiltecan Nation’s NAGPRA consultant with the Army Corp of Engineers at Ft. Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas;
– on the Board of Friends of the Indigenous Elders;
– on the Board of the Mantle Rock Cultural Center;
– The Jornada Research Institute;
– Spiritual Elders of Mother Earth; and
– American Indian Alaska Native Employee Association (Elder).
Ted also served with the Coahuiltecan Nation’s liaison with UTSA on a language development program; is a member of First Stewards on Climate Change; is an American Indian Science and Engineering Society Fellow; and is founder and Spiritual Leader of the Rio Grande Native American Church.