Next year, we will celebrate 250 years of our great nation. It’s an opportunity to reflect on our history and on the people and events that shaped America. The story of our country is intertwined with its land, a topic we in the Forest Service are familiar with. As such, we must recognize the people who stewarded this land since time immemorial, prior to European contact. Reflecting on the contributions of the first stewards of the land is one important way to commemorate Native American Heritage Month.

The native peoples of North America developed land management expertise years before our nation was established. We are fortunate to learn from this expertise as we partner with tribal nations to do the critical work that’s needed to maintain the health and vitality of our nation’s forests. At the heart of all we do together is relationships. We make a greater difference at a larger scale when we work with tribes and learn from their traditional knowledge. I’ve said many times that I believe we need to listen more than we talk. This, I believe, is the foundation of continual improvement of our relationships with tribal governments across the nation. We all have a role to play in growing and strengthening those relationships.

We are moving forward, working in new ways with tribes through shared stewardship to truly manage forestlands together. I am committed to listening to those closest to the ground who know the most about our forests through new, enduring agreements. For example, we will soon be signing a new agreement with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians to expand Cow Creek's role in active forest management. This is particularly critical work to focus on together, given the catastrophic wildfires that burned over 1 million acres across southwestern Oregon and the tribe’s ancestral homelands in the past decade alone.

Tribes often have special relationships with agency-managed lands: Areas may have cultural or spiritual significance, and under the 1990 Cultural and Heritage Cooperation Authority (PDF, 2.7 MB), we are addressing barriers to accommodating tribal access to and use of these lands for traditional and cultural purposes. These long-standing tribal relationships are also recognized under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. This act established that tribal ancestors and their belongings interred on Forest Service lands are to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity and returned or reburied in keeping with the traditional rites and honors of their affiliated tribal contemporaries. This is some of the most solemn work we undertake in the agency. These ancestral lands are indelibly linked to the oldest life ways on the continent and remain essential to tribes today.

As we celebrate November as Native American Heritage Month, we also recognize that the work we do with tribes isn’t limited to one month of the year. We continue to expand our relationships year-round, and one way to do that is to learn and uphold the numerous laws, policies and plans already in place. These range from treaty rights to laws like those named above.

As we head into our 250th anniversary, I can’t think of a better year to highlight the strength and resilience of Native Americans and their enduring contributions to our nation.

Note: For those of you in the National Capital Region, I am excited to announce the dedication of the Forest Service Hall of Nations. The Hall of Nations will display national flags representing Federally Recognized Tribes of the “nations within a nation.” This flag dedication ceremony will be held Nov. 25, 12 p.m. EST, in the hall outside the Chief's suite. Please be sure to join us.

Read the president’s message on National Native American Heritage Month. 

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