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Forest Service invests $4.9 million for Tribal Forest Protection Act co-stewardship projects with Tribes in Pacific Northwest
Release Date:
Contact(s): Catherine Caruso
Tribal Forest Protection Act leverages Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to accomplish critical work on national forests and grasslands.
PORTLAND, Ore., June 24, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced it will invest $4.9 million in seven projects across Washington and Oregon in projects to be implemented in co-stewardship with Tribes to improve forest health, address Tribal priorities, and accomplish other shared restoration objectives on national forests and grasslands in the Pacific Northwest.
The funds are part of the $18 million USDA recently announced it will invest in Tribal Forest Protection Act projects nationally during fiscal year 2024, using funding made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“This funding is essential for protecting tribal lands and resources,” said Jacque Buchanan, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Regional Forester. “Being able to support these projects honors our trust responsibilities and benefits both Tribal and national forest lands.”
Projects to receive funding in Washington and Oregon include work to increase Tribal involvement in forest planning, reducing wildfire risk, historical preservation, planning to support continued availability and harvest of culturally-significant forest products and First Foods, and implementation the national Native Seed Strategy.
“All of these projects are important and it’s exciting to see a couple of them will advance the National Seed Strategy,” said Buchanan. “By having the right seeds in the right places at the right time, we’ll be able to better tackle issues like invasive species and extreme weather and make a real difference in large-scale restoration efforts across the States.”
The Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 authorizes tribes to engage in natural resource management and restoration that protects tribal lands and communities. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law offers funding that can be used to work directly with Tribes, using authorities provided in the Tribal Forest Protection Act, on watershed health, fuels reduction, and timber management projects, to promote co-stewardship objectives, and to plan future projects.
Projects funded in the Pacific Northwest Region for fiscal year 2024 include:
Oregon
- Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland, Deschutes National Forest, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Burns Paiute Tribe, and Klamath Tribes
This funding will finance an agreement with the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers to support tribal 106 consultation with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Burns Paiute Tribe, and Klamath Tribes on Traditional Cultural Property inventory, evaluation, and mitigation activities under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. $450,000
- Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and Nez Perce Tribe.
This project will fund creation of a restoration strategy based on Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation First Foods to assist the Forest Service and Tribes, and their forestry and botanical staffs, to more fully engage and work as equal partners on co-stewardship related planning and activity. $500,000
- Umatilla National Forest, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Malheur National Forest, and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
This funding will be used to implement the National Native Seed Strategy, with a specific emphasis on tribal interests. The project will focus on seed collection, seed increase, container stock, and outreach and education. $150,000
- Umpqua National Forest, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, and Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians
Funds will assist in implementing the National Native Seed Strategy, with specific emphasis on tribal interests pertaining to gathering native plants for cultural use. Work will focus on seed collection, seed increase, native plant nursery work, and outreach and education. $150,000
- Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and Nez Perce Tribe
This project will fund Tribal work to capture traditional usage history of locations on Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, with the shared goal of enhancing exercise and protection of cultural and treaty rights. The results of this project will help inform to land use management activities to ensure they support long term, sustainable forest uses that are historically and culturally significant to the Nez Perce people. $150,000
- Fremont-Winema National Forest and Klamath Tribes
The Klamath Tribes will receive funding assist the tribe in conducting work that reduces wildfire risk to the Chiloquin wildland urban interface through mechanical treatments, prescribed fire, and cultural burning. $1 million
Washington
- Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
This project will support planning and implementation capacity of Wildfire Crisis Strategy objectives by Tribes, focusing on increasing tribal capacity to become more involved in wildfire risk reduction efforts on the forest and to assist the forest in complying with cultural and natural resource goals. $2.5 million
Related news release:
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Actions to Strengthen Tribal Food Sovereignty, Co-Stewardship, and Knowledge of Tribal Agriculture Policy
Additional information:
For more information about the Tribal Forest Protection Act, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/national-forests-grasslands/restoration/tribal-forest-protection-act-638.
For a link to this release and more news & information about National Forests in the Pacific Northwest, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/r6/news-events.
For more information about the USDA Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r6.
For more information about the USDA Forest Service visit https://www.fs.usda.gov.
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