On May 9, 2026, Guåhan Sustainable Culture (GSC) will host the Ginen i Halom Tåno' Island-Wide Hunting Derby — a community event spanning public and permitted private lands across Guam, celebrating CHamoru wild food traditions and bringing together hunters of all experience levels in service of our island's people.

The Derby is more than a single-day event. It is the culminating celebration of a year-long effort to train new hunters, grow a culture of ethical and sustainable harvesting, and return locally sourced food to families across Guam. We are asking our community, including businesses, organizations, and individuals, to stand behind this mission.

A Program That Is Already Making a Difference

Through the Ginen i Halom Tåno' program, volunteer instructors from the Guam Department of Agriculture's Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources (DAWR) have provided hunting safety and ethics training to 32 new, beginning, and youth hunters — equipping them with the knowledge and responsibility to hunt safely and sustainably on our island.

Beyond the classroom, 16 participants have taken part in hands-on mentored hunts — gaining real field experience while also learning game care and meat processing: the critical skills that turn a harvest into food on the table for families and communities. This connection between the land and food security is at the heart of everything Ginen i Halom Tåno' stands for.

Driving this work is a community of 12 dedicated mentors who are experienced hunters and community members who volunteer their time to guide, teach, and walk alongside the next generation of peskadot. They are not just teaching hunting, they are passing down the traditional CHamoru relationship with the land, one mentored hunt at a time.

Your sponsorship helps sustain this pipeline by supporting the training, the mentors, the equipment, and the community harvests that make it all possible. Every contribution ensures we can keep this program growing and keep these connections alive.

About the Derby

The Island-Wide Hunting Derby addresses Guam's invasive wild pig population — a serious ecological and agricultural threat — while turning that effort into a community food security mission, processing harvested game and distributing locally sourced meat to families across the island.

Following the Derby, an Awards Ceremony and May Harvest celebration will be held on May 15, 2026 at the GSC Food Resiliency Hub in Yoña, featuring local chefs and culinary teams showcasing CHamoru-inspired dishes made with ingredients harvested from our island.

The Derby is presented by Guåhan Sustainable Culture in partnership with the Guam Department of Agriculture Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources (DAWR), with support from the First Nations Development Institute.