Betty Osceola is an Everglades conservationist, anti-fracking and clean water advocate. She is a member of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida’s Panther Clan, and of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. She is also an airboat captain and operator of Buffalo Tiger Airboat Rides.
Betty was born and raised in the Everglades. While she was growing up there, she and her family lived in a chickee hut with four walls. Her mother would move around Florida for employment sometimes working picking citrus around Lake Okeechobee and at tourist attractions, making baskets and sewing quilts.
She also shared that her people had once lived off the land planting corn and pumpkin in the islands, but these days the waters are so polluted that they are not able to do that anymore.
So, Betty helped found the Walk for Mother Earth—a grassroots organization comprised of Native Americans, Glades people, scientists, environmentalists, and concerned South Florida citizens.
Alongside her uncle Bobby Billie, a spiritual and clan leader, Betty lead an annual multi-day prayer walk along a proposed bike path to be built on Florida State Route 41 between Naples and Miami which was designated as the River of Grass Greenway project.
Betty and her people opposed this construction and set out to educate the public and government officials about the negative impact it would bring to the Everglades ecosystem. Eventually, they spoke at public hearings at the Collier County and Miami-Dade County board of commissioners, which concluded in both counties rescinding the project.
Betty and Holley Rauen from Pachamama Alliance also organized and lead a group during a seven-day long and 140-mile prayer walk around the perimeter of Lake Okeechobee to bring attention to the water quality issues. During the entire walk she carried a red bandanna attached to her walking stick to bring attention to the missing and murdered Indigenous women.
She made two trips from the Everglades to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to deliver supplies to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
In 2018, Betty received the John V. Kabler Grassroots Organizing Award during the Everglades Coalition annual summit.
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