co-management Archives - Native Organizers Alliance

Trump Rolls Back Biden Order Strengthening Tribal Sovereignty

March 18, 2025/in Current Events, Indian Country News, Press Releases, Uncategorized/by Shea Vassar

Move is “a huge setback for federal-tribal relations”

New York, NY — President Trump revoked an executive order signed by former President Joe Biden directing federal agencies to strengthen tribal sovereignty and address how the agencies carry out their duty to consult with Tribal nations. The following statement from Judith LeBlanc (Caddo), executive director of Native Organizers Alliance and NOA Action Fund, can be quoted in part or in full.

“The actions by the Trump administration to roll back an order to strengthen Tribal sovereignty, that hundreds of Tribal nations and tens of thousands of Americans called for, is a direct attack on our sovereignty and a huge setback for federal-tribal relations.

President Biden issued this executive order in response to demands by sovereign nations, Native organizations, and thousands of Americans, to do more to protect and uphold Tribal sovereignty. For too long, federal agencies have done too little or nothing at all in their essential role of consulting and engaging with Tribes. As sovereign nations, Tribes have the right to determine how lands are used and developed but too often the federal agencies charged with consulting with Tribes about their ancestral homelands did the bare minimum, or nothing at all, to ensure that tribes had a say in the future of their lands and people. This is in violation of the inherent and constitutional rights of tribes to make decisions about their lands and the well-being of tribal members.

In recent years, there has been significant progress in strengthening the federal-tribal relationship. In rolling back this order, President Trump is not only acting in opposition to the will of tens of thousands of Americans, he is setting back the significant progress that has been made in strengthening Tribal sovereignty.

While the Trump administration may have decided against the will of the American people by rolling back this executive order, it is critical to note that this does not change the fact that the Trump administration and all federal agencies are still required to consult with and engage Tribes on matters that impact Tribal members and Tribal lands and resources. That has not changed, and neither has the Constitution.

Indian Country will be watching to ensure that the rights of sovereign nations are upheld and sovereignty is respected.”

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Contact:

Ruby Stacey, Pyramid Communications

rstacey@pyramidcommunications.com

360.565.6956 cell

Contact the Interior Department about Bears Ears

May 31, 2024/in Current Events, In The News, Our Work/by Shea Vassar

As the first national monument proposed by a coalition of Tribal Nations, Bears Ears gained protections under the Obama administration but lost protections under the Trump administration.

The five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission (BEC) — Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe — are among the many Tribal Nations with deep cultural connections to the entire Bears Ears landscape.

They helped win the reinstatement of protections under President Biden, who restored the original designation and re-established the BEC as collaborative managers of these sacred lands and waters.

In an unprecedented collaborative process, the BEC worked directly with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to develop a draft resource management plan for the monument, which has just been released — and it needs our support.

Alternative E was created from the input from over 90 community meetings which gathered input and concerns. As outlined in this newly released plan, Alternative E would set a new standard for sustainable management of public lands.

Specifically, Alternative E incorporates the most Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and TraditionalEcological Knowledge — both needed to balance public access with protecting the area’s cultural and natural resources. It would represent a sustainable collaboration that:

Upholds the sovereignty of the Tribes and honors Indigenous peoples’ personal, traditional, and cultural connections to the land.
Reflects time-tested best practices for land management passed down over centuries from the original, and ongoing, stewards of this land.
Protects the habitat, wildlife, and resource biodiversity.
Responsibly manages access and use of the Monument in a way that allows current and future visitors to recreate, hunt, and fish, while also responding to the needs and health of the land.

Our work together has already generated more than 63,000 comments in support of the plan, but that’s not enough to ensure its adoption before the final decision is made — and the deadline is fast approaching.

We must back-up this unprecedented community-driven federal-Tribal co-management plan for Bears Ears National Monument. Please add your name now to show strong public support during the official comment period.

Together, we’re re-Indigenizing national parks and protecting sacred places across the country.

Hawwih (thank you) for supporting grassroots community-powered Tribal sovereignty.