Yesterday marked a historic milestone for relations between the federal government and tribal nations. It was the centennial of the Indian Citizenship Act, also known as the Snyder Act, which granted full citizenship to all Native Americans. Despite that citizenship, it would take decades for all 50 states to comply with the act and grant Native Americans the right to vote. This 100-year anniversary is a time to recognize and reflect upon all the change, challenges and progress made over this period.

The challenges include entire eras of displacement and dispossession, paternalism and assimilation through federal policies and practices that aimed to erode and even extinguish tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and identity. Through a flood of civil rights actions and advocacy of Native Americans and allies in the latter half of the 20th century, a new era of tribal self-determination began and is still growing and taking shape.  

As Forest Service leaders, we must examine how the mission of our entire agency fits into this undertaking. A fundamental shift has taken place in the last 20 years, beginning gradually (some may say sluggishly) with the enactment of the Tribal Forest Protection Act in 2004, and then gaining significant momentum with the 2021 signing of Joint Secretarial Order 3403, “Fulfilling the Trust Responsibility to Indian Tribes in the Stewardship of Federal Lands and Waters,” which promoted co-stewardship as part of the president’s Initiative on Tribal Homelands. This monumental order was soon paired with the infusion of once-in-a-generation Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and Inflation Reduction Act investments and an opportunity for a watershed moment through widespread demonstration of the long overdue co-stewardship concept.

This combination of leadership intent, enabling authorities, significant funding, and ready and able partnerships with tribes ushered the Forest Service into a new era of co-stewardship. This new era is punctuated by the acknowledgement that public lands and waters are ancestral homelands of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, who have stewarded these places since time immemorial. As such, they can and must play a vital role in managing these lands and waters.  

While words and intents are well and good, we must look at how this has translated to work on the ground. Are we putting the energy into building respectful relationships and partnerships with tribes per our nation-to-nation relationship and trust responsibility? And what of these investments? I’m proud to say that investments in fiscal year 2022-2024 dwarfed (many times over) our total tribal investments of the preceding (nearly) two decades (2012-2024). Overall, the nearly 950 combined grants and agreements between 2004-2024 total over $197M, with over 56% of that amount made possible in the last three years (2022-to date), and we still have four months in fiscal year 2024 (see Figure 1).  

Specific to co-stewardship support within these overall figures, in fiscal year 2022, the Forest Service entered into more than 60 co-stewardship agreements valued at $19.8M, and more than 120 valued at $68M in fiscal year 2023. Many would say that we are the leading federal agency outside of the Bureau of Indian Affairs engaged in co-stewardship with tribal nations. But this is no time to stop and pat ourselves on the back. We must continue to monitor and assess to identify opportunities to improve and grow.

This centennial moment is also a time to acknowledge the growth across the agency in strengthening tribal relations through investing in our people. We have hired more tribally focused staff and managers than ever before and are integrating their work across our agency. One such example is our colleague, Randy’L Teton, a Shoshone Bannock Tribal member, who serves in the Office of Communication, amplifying the messaging around the tribal work across the Forest Service to the public. She is also the inspirational face (literally!) for the U.S. Mint’s 2024 Sacagawea $1 coin, re-released this year in honor of the centennial of the Snyder Act (Indian Citizenship Act). The coin features an eagle staff, long a widespread symbol of respect and honor to so many tribes, and retains the facial representation of Sacagawea and her infant son.

We have now come full circle, and I am proud to be a part of this hoop with you all. “Toksha Aki”—until we meet each other again.

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