MOU signed between Nooksack Indian Tribe with Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie NF

By Elizabeth Munding
elizabeth.a.munding@usda.gov

Deming, WASHINGTON—With arms outreached, the Nooksack Indian Tribe Chair wrapped a blanket around the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Supervisor. It was a sign of importance on a day of importance. “When we wrap someone with a blanket, it signifies that we are wrapping their thoughts and their heart and everything that will come as a trouble to them,” said Nooksack Indian Tribe Chair RoseMary LaClair. “It signifies a blessing.”

The gifting of the Indian blanket concluded the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Nooksack Indian Tribe and the USDA Forest Service’s Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest (MBS), on Feb. 16, 2023. The MOU formalized the relationship between these government-to-government entities—recognizing their co-stewardship of the land. “This was a very powerful commitment that we made,” said Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Supervisor Jody Weil.

The emotional event has given voice to the Nooksack people—cementing its relationship with the Forest Service now and into the future. “We often give a blanket to cover as well as to honor our bond,” said George Swanaset Jr., the Director/Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Nooksack Cultural Resource Department. “This was our way of sealing the deal.”

Referring to the humble tone of the event, LaClair said: “The floor was open in our way, that means that everyone present was able to speak what’s on their mind and on their heart, and that was really helpful for the US Forest Service to understand where we’re coming from as tribal people.”

The Nooksack Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe, with its ancestral homeland in the northwest corner of Washington state from time immemorial. The tribe is one of many Indian groups named in the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, in which title to the land in western Washington was exchanged for recognition of fishing, hunting, and gathering rights. The primary Nooksack area follows the Nooksack River watershed from near its mouth to its headwaters surrounding Mt. Baker, which overlaps the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Today, the tribe has approximately 2,000 members, with its tribal offices located in Deming.

Given challenging histories, tribes have experienced losses as a result of signing a piece of paper; therefore, this elevated the significance of the signing. “We’ve already had our treaties signed, but now we are signing MOUs,” Swanaset said. “… We had to wait until there was leadership there at the Forest Service that was grounded.”

As defined by the MOU, the tribe has a seat at the table, through guaranteed quarterly meetings to discuss co-stewardship of the land. “We get to sit at the table, and we get to be heard,” Swanaset said. “Our concerns become more important to other side of the table,” Swanaset said.

The Forest Service side of the table guarantees it will listen and converse. “It’s an opportunity for Nooksack to say, ‘Here are the things we like, here is what we’d like to see done, and here are the concerns that we have,’” Weil said.

The MOU recognizes the tribe's cultural continuity is tied to the constant ebb and flow of natural resources. “Our natural and cultural resources are one in the same—just two sides of the same coin,” said Trevor Delgado, the Assistant Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and Wildlife Policy Representative.

Both entities share paramount concern to protect the land, including for future generations. “As tribal people, we protect it because it’s our obligation and our responsibility. We’re here; we’re not going nowhere, so it’s our responsibility,” Swanaset said. “The Forest Service looks at it as it as their obligation because they have to provide for recreational and different interests. Both have interests of protection—it's just the reasons why are different.”

Prior to the MOU, the Forest Service admits it would only reach out to the Nooksack when a project existed in the Nooksack area. Standard tribal consultation, through the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), failed to meet the need. “We realized that the NEPA process is not the right process to document and guarantee that involvement,” Weil said.

Despite consultation hurdles, the tribe continued to push for ongoing involvement in the consultation process. “In the past, we had to deal with what they called drive-by consultation, meaning we would get a letter from the Forest Service that states it has projects on Forest Service lands,” Swanaset said. “By the time it would get to the right person, the window of opportunity for comments would have passed. The consultation efforts would fall short. … Without meaningful consultation, how can we move forward with any project? How can we rest easy?”

The Nooksack, with a relationship focus, prefer in-person engagements that build trust and understanding before sharing indigenous knowledge. “I am a very young leader,” said LaClair, who has served since March 2022. “For me to want to seek traditional knowledge, I can’t just send a text message to my elder. I need to go and see them. I need to give them time to think about what I am asking of them. In a way, we are requesting that the US Forest Service allow that time for us.” LaClair laughed, as she added: “… So, a drive-by consultation kind of does feel like a text message.”

During a series of 2021 objection meetings for the North Fork Nooksack vegetation management project, the Nooksack tribe expressed resource concerns without feeling heard. The tribe’s prime request was tied to increased riparian buffer widths. To complicate matters, the Nooksack River severely flooded in November 2021—affecting the course of the project.

“It was an opportunity for us to take a time out,” Weil said. “I said we need to evaluate if we have a changed condition based on the flood. …  Then, we said, ‘OK, how can we make sure that we address these concerns?’ That's when we started talking about the MOU.”

Based on past experience developing memoranda of agreement with the Tulalip Tribe in 2007 and the Muckleshoot Tribe in 2017, the MBS shared an example agreement with the Nooksack that could be the basis of a shared understanding and improved communication.

This new MOU invites input before, during, and after the NEPA process. The North Fork Nooksack Vegetation Management Project, which is about to be signed, will be the first project under this new cooperative framework. The Nooksack, looking to have boots on the ground across the project area, will let the Forest Service know if cultural concerns exist. Weil said: “We can make sure that we adjust the operation to make sure those things are protected.”

Looking to the future, the MOU will live on, even as Forest Service leadership may change. “This MOU will survive our tenure,” Weil said. “…This document commits the Forest Service, the agency, to do this. So, whether I’m here or not, it’s a commitment by the agency, which is larger just than one or two people.”

The Nooksack-Forest Service MOU aligns with the Forest Service’s new action plan titled “Strengthening Tribal Consultations and Nation-to-nation Relationship,” released February 2023. The 40-page internal guide instructs agency personnel how to address goals, including enhancing co-stewardship.

“Enhancing co-stewardship asks what can we do together to meet our mutual goals, including enhancing Forest Service lands—forest lands for future generations. When we do all of that, it advances tribal relations with the agency as a whole.”

The Nooksack tribe sees a strengthening in tribal relationships, per the Forest Service action plan, as giving value to tribal interests. “No one else can convey that message but the tribes ourselves. We are the ones that have the indigenous knowledge of these areas.” Swanaset said, “… To us, that in its own is a victory for our people because the US Forest Service is honoring that our interests are important and need to be met.”

Credit: Kimberly Cauvel / Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Nooksack Indian Tribe Chair RoseMary LaClair wraps Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Forest Supervisor Jody Weil in an Indian blanket to celebrate the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government entities on Feb. 16, 2023, at the Nooksack Indian Tribe offices in Deming, Wash.

Credit: Kimberly Cauvel / Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Nooksack Indian Tribe Chair RoseMary LaClair and Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Forest Supervisor Jody Weil embrace after the gifting of an Indian blanket to celebrate the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government entities on Feb. 16, 2023, at the Nooksack Indian Tribe offices in Deming, Wash.

Credit: Kimberly Cauvel / Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Forest Supervisor Jody Weil, left, and Strategic Operations and Shared Stewardship Coordinator Dan Kipervaser sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Feb. 16, 2023, at the Nooksack Indian Tribe offices in Deming, Wash.

Credit: Kimberly Cauvel / Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Nooksack tribal council member Victoria Joe, back left, and Chair RoseMary LaClair, back center, prepare to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, including Shared Stewardship Coordinator Dan Kipervaser, front center, Forest Supervisor Jody Weil, front right, and Deputy Forest Supervisor Cynthia Sandeno, back right, on Feb. 16, 2023, at the Nooksack Indian Tribe offices in Deming, Wash.

Credit: Kimberly Cauvel / Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Members of the Nooksack Indian Tribe and the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest stand together in Deming, Wash., on the tribe’s ancestral homeland in northwest Washington. From Left to right: George Swanaset Jr; Victoria Joe; Dan Kipervaser; Tammy Cooper-Woodrich; Jody Weil; RoseMary LaClair; Cynthia Sandeno; Michael Maudlin; and Veronica Washington.