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Tribal
Consultation
Long before European-Americans arrived
in the Western Hemisphere, Native Americans lived on and used
the lands the BLM now administers as public lands.
Successions of mobile hunting and
gathering peoples relied on the lands and their natural resources
in differing ways for at least 10,000 years. In the last two millennia,
farming and fish-harvesting economies encouraged permanent settlements
in some areas, but in most parts of the West occupation remained
seasonal and temporary.
The Indian tribes whom the European-American
explorers and settlers encountered after the 16th century were
carrying on their own cultures' refinements of age-old land-use
patterns. Many of those traditional land-use patterns were lost
as a result of European-American encroachment and displacement.
Certain rights are guaranteed to Indian
tribes and Indian individuals because of their status as Indians.
The Constitution of the United States, the treaties executed with
some tribes, a comprehensive body of Federal Indian law, and many
other laws, executive orders, and secretarial orders define tribes'
special status and rights.
Federally recognized Indian tribes
are sovereign nations exercising government-to-government relations
with the United States. Where the public lands are concerned,
these relations usually take the form of legally required consultation,
and in most day-to-day consultations with tribes, the BLM field
office manager serves as the official representative of the United
States.
For BLM, the essential reason for
Native American consultation is to identify the cultural values,
the religious beliefs, the traditional practices, and the legal
rights of Native American people, which could be affected by BLM
actions on Federal lands.
Tribal consultation regarding public-land
activities has 4 essential elements:
• Identifying appropriate
tribal governing bodies and individuals from whom to seek input.
• Conferring with appropriate tribal officials and/or individuals
and asking for their views regarding land use proposals or other
pending BLM actions that might affect traditional tribal activities,
practices, or beliefs relating to particular locations on public
lands.
• Treating tribal information as a necessary factor in
defining the range of acceptable public-land management options.
• Creating and maintaining a permanent record to show how
tribal information was obtained and used in the BLM's decision
making process.
For more information, go to the BLM 8100 Manuals and use Adobe's search function to go to the 8120 section. You will find both the
Native American coordination and consultation manual
and handbook there. See also the links
below.
BLM
Tribal Coordinators
Tribal
Historic Preservation Officers
Indian
Lands of the United States
Indian
Country Criminal Jurisdiction
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