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Last week, the Interior Department announced new guidance to expand tribal co-management of federal lands, waters, and wildlife. This guidance is a follow-up to commitments made by the Interior Department and other agencies during November's White House Tribal Nations Summit. The Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service each individually released policy memorandums with specific measures about how each department will collaborate with Tribes.
Tribes have fought for years to play a role in decision-making about federal lands, and this new guidance will give Tribes a more powerful voice in the management of the lands they were wrongfully removed from.
"All national parks are located on Indigenous ancestral lands and this policy will help ensure Tribal governments have an equal voice in the planning and management of them," said NPS Director Chuck Sams. Increasingly, Tribal co-management is being treated as a vital part of responsible land management. Indigenous knowledge around fire management, wildlife, and water management sustained these lands for years, and it only makes sense to turn to Tribes as experts on how to manage these lands.
Earlier this summer, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service formalized an agreement with five Tribes to co-manage Bears Ears National Monument. “What can be a better avenue of restorative justice than giving Tribes the opportunity to participate in the management of lands their ancestors were removed from?” said Carleton Bowekaty, lieutenant governor of the Zuni Pueblo in response to the Bears Ears agreement.
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A lot of environmentalists come to it from places of privilege; they’re worried about snow and skiing. But for youth organizers of color, this is our life. This is our autonomy and our agency. So, climate justice to me is giving agency back to communities of color. We’re not in this for the skiing. This is our lives.”
