To conclude 2024, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and First Nations Development Institute (FNDI) co-hosted a national conference titled "Shared Horizons: Navigating Tribal Co-Stewardship and Co-Management Opportunities." This event aimed to bring together Tribal and federal employees and representatives to attend trainings, share ideas, and network to advance the field of Tribal co-stewardship and co-management.
Tribal co-stewardship and co-management focus on public land management by emphasizing Tribal sovereignty and promoting government-to-government cooperation. These approaches have roots in cooperative management practices from the 1960s designed to protect Tribal treaty rights. However, it was not until 2021 that they became a federal priority through Joint Secretarial Order No. 3403 issued by the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture. Since then, over 400 cooperative agreements between Tribal Nations and federal agencies have been established for managing ancestral homelands.
John Echohawk, Executive Director of NARF, delivered the keynote address at the conference. He highlighted the long-standing collaboration between NARF and FNDI focused on protecting Tribal homelands. Echohawk underscored the historic efforts by Tribal Nations to safeguard their sovereign interests in their lands and natural resources. He noted that the federal government's commitment marks a significant change in how federal and Tribal governments engage with shared land interests.
The two-day conference featured various trainings led by experts from both tribal communities and federal entities such as the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Forest Service. Among them were sessions on Sacred Site and Cultural Resource Protection by NARF Staff Attorney Beth Wright, as well as Co-Stewardship Authorities and Agreements training conducted by NARF Fellow Noah Lee.
Although the conference itself was not recorded, related webinars are available through FNDI’s resource on Stewarding Native Lands. The Shared Horizons conference emphasized including Tribal Nations in managing their ancestral lands while reinforcing sovereign-to-sovereign cooperation for effective management decisions.
Participants expressed hopes for another conference on these topics next year despite uncertainties due to potential changes in administration policies. Relationships forged during this gathering are expected to continue influencing collaborations between Tribal Nations and federal agencies moving forward.
NARF's representation at this event included John Echohawk as keynote speaker along with Staff Attorneys Brett Lee Shelton, Beth Wright, and Fellow Noah Lee.
In support of these initiatives, NARF has developed a Sovereign-to-Sovereign Cooperative Agreements Repository consolidating various agency resources along with tribal guidance related laws regulations scholarship concerning co-stewardship co-management other forms sovereign-to-sovereign cooperation.
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