Nationwide, there are 574 federally recognized tribes. Nearly half of them are in the West, where tribes manage or farm more than 55 million acres of land.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s new tribal relations strategy aims to help tribes better protect and preserve the natural resources and farmland they rely on.
That includes dedicating more staff and funding to conservation across tribal lands, and incorporating Indigenous knowledge into that work, said Roylene Comes At Night, the agency’s conservationist in Washington State and a member of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana.
“This gives us an opportunity to now build this tribe by tribe,” she said. “So that each tribal nation that has their own concerns can adapt and adopt those concerns to meet their needs.”
Overall, the new strategy supports tribes’ cultural and farming traditions, and will make sure their priorities and knowledge shape future federal policies, she added.
Other components of the USDA’s new strategy include hiring a tribal relations director, creating a tribal knowledge training plan, and recording accurate conservation data.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
