David Moses Bridges

David Moses Bridges (May 17, 1962 – January 20, 2017) was a Native American environmentalist and artist known for his traditional birchbark canoes and baskets.

Bridges fought for tribal environmental rights and was a co-founder of Mulankeyutmonen Nkihtakmikon,[1] to preserve the Wabanaki culture.

After graduating high school in 1980, Bridges moved to San Francisco, California, where he lived for the next ten years.

While living in San Francisco, he worked several jobs that included painting, carpeting, and group home counseling and was able to explore many different types of artwork.

When he moved back home, Bridges's grandfather enlightened him on how to build canoes that were stable enough to go through rivers and bays smoothly.

Bridges also took classes with Steve Cayard at the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, Maine, and the two equally created workshops in Native and Anglo communities.

His most capable eldest son, Tobias, continued his work by joining the canoe project led by Cayard and Patricia, further pursuing her parents' careers in indigenous archaeology.

[3] Ever since then, Bridges had the heart to finish the canoe so he attended school and studied more about the traditions related to his tribal community and about boat making.

Bridges was inspired to build the birchbark canoes because he believed that it would help keep the tradition alive in the modern-day and wanted people to thank their ancestors for creating this masterpiece.

He would often carry his knife around and as he did not want to cut himself on the sharp edge, he created a sheath using birch bark and spruce roots, materials with which he was already working.

In 2019, authors Donald Soctomah and Jean Flahive released The Canoe Maker: David Moses Bridges, Passamaquoddy Birch Bark Artisan through Custom Museum Publishing LLC.

[15] The David Moses Bridges scholarship was provided though the Main Community Foundation that supports the First People Fund Cultural.