Bison management is a key part of some of the co-stewardship agreements signed between tribes and the DOI / NPS

Nearly 70 co-management agreements between tribes and the Interior Department were signed this year, bringing to 400 the number of agreements signed by the Biden administration.

“These agreements have become foundational to our work and will be critical as we build our collective capacity, knowledge and expertise to develop and implement collaborative agreements for meaningful co-stewardship of our public resources,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said this week as the 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit came to an end.

At the session Interior also released its third annual report on tribal co-stewardship, which essentially tracks how the department is implementing Joint Secretarial Order 3403, "Fulfilling the Trust Responsibility to Indian Tribes in the Stewardship of Federal Lands and Waters." That order was signed by Secretary Haaland and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in 2021. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo committed her agency to the order as well in 2022.

The agreements cover a range of ways designed to bring tribes into management of public lands. That includes efforts by Interior to expand bison habitat and entering into bison co-management agreements with tribal leaders, shifting historic preservation responsibilities from federal agencies to tribal agencies, carefully weighing the impact of federal agency action on sacred sites, and expanding and reforming self-governance as part of the Practical Reforms and Other Goals to Reinforce the Effectiveness of SelfGovernance and Self Determination for Indian Tribes (PROGRESS) Act.

Some national park units that signed some of these co-stewardship agreements were highlighted in DOI's report:

• Everglades and Biscayne national parks: Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and National Park Service (Florida). Through a co-stewardship agreement, the Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida have committed to engaging in joint and cooperative endeavors focused on the natural and cultural resources of mutual interest to NPS and the Tribe. Work is ongoing to develop additional agreements with the tribe and Everglades National Park related to wildland fire and prescribed burn operations, hydrology and water resources, and visitor services in the park’s Shark Valley area. The Biscayne National Park agreement acknowledges tribal citizens’ right to traditional fishing and gathering of palm fronds and medicinally significant plants within the park’s borders, subject to applicable laws, regulations, and policies. The Biscayne National Park agreement also addresses collaboration on fisheries management and vegetation restoration.

• Grand Canyon National Park: Tribal Working Group and National Park Service (Arizona). Grand Canyon National Park has developed a successful tribal working group with which it entered an agreement for developing the eastern end of the park and dedicating the Desert View Tower and Tusayan Pueblo locations to telling the stories of the park’s 16 affiliated tribes. The locations will have tribal vendors demonstrating their arts and selling their artwork. In addition, the park and the Hualapai Tribe, through the Colorado River Management Core Team, are in the process of developing cooperative management strategies to address overlapping resource-management and visitor-use activities to benefit the Hualapai Tribe, Grand Canyon National Park, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. These cooperative strategies will also address continued co-stewardship to serve as a model to address important shared resource-management across jurisdictions for the benefit of all citizenries, wildlife, and water users.

• Haleakala National Park: Kipahulu ‘Ohana and National Park Service (Hawaii). Haleakala National Park has entered a cooperative agreement with Kipahulu ‘Ohana to manage a Kapahu Living Farm, a five-acre traditional taro farm located within the park, and to provide visitor tours of the facility that will educate visitors about historical practices through cultural demonstrations and hands-on activities.

• Makah Tribal Lands and the Olympic National Park: Makah Tribe and U.S. Geological Survey (Washington). USGS is collaborating with forestry and wildlife biologists of the Makah Tribe on studies that monitor habitat use of radio-collared fishers (Pekania pennanti), estimate fisher density, and quantify distribution and abundance of key prey species in an area that includes the Makah Reservation and parts of Olympic National Park. This study, which compares the use of forest habitats by fishers and refines population estimates and genetic data, will help managers balance efforts to recover fisher populations while maintaining sustainable timber operations.

• Redwood National Park: Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and National Park Service (California). NPS and Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation have formally established a framework for implementing their government-to-government relationship through a co-stewardship agreement. The agreement includes plans to develop a coastal climate change adaptation strategy to focus on the Enderts Beach area of Redwood National Park. This approximately 1,500 acre-area is the site of two significant Tolowa villages, Shin-yvslh-sri~ and Lht’vsr-me’, which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is also one of the most highly visited coastal areas in the park, characterized by steep coastal bluffs, spruce forests, upland scrub and grasslands, and intertidal and marine resources.

• Yellowstone National Park Bison Species Status Assessment: InterTribal Buffalo Council and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Montana and Wyoming). A cooperative agreement was finalized between the InterTribal Buffalo Council and FWS to gather Indigenous Knowledge for inclusion in the Yellowstone Bison Species Status Assessment. The Council is currently conducting interviews with tribal knowledge holders.

• Yellowstone National Park: Interagency Bison Restoration Agreement and Tribal Youth Internships and National Park Service (Wyoming). Yellowstone National Park entered into an Interagency Bison Restoration agreement with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Nez Perce Tribe, Shoshone Bannock tribes, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Yakama Nation, Blackfeet Nation, Northern Arapaho Tribe, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Crow Tribe. In addition, the park has two tribal youth programs. The Yellowstone Center for Resources Native American Internship Program, in partnership with the University of Montana, will offer ten 12-week summer internships for Native American students. The Bison Tribal Internships, funded by Yellowstone Forever, provides opportunities for tribal youth to learn hands-on bison management.

The Traveler has requested a full list of which national parks have signed co-stewardship agreements from the Park Service but has yet to receive it.