Bridges to a New Era: A Report on the Past, Present, and Potential Future of Tribal Co-Management on Federal Public Lands

• Date: 01 August 2022
• Author: Monte Mills, Martin Nie

8-2022 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 52 ELR 10661

HONORABLE MENTION

BRIDGES TO A NEW ERA: A REPORT

ON THE PAST, PRESENT, AND

POTENTIAL FUTURE OF TRIBAL

CO-MANAGEMENT ON FEDERAL

PUBLIC LANDS

by Monte Mills & Martin Nie

Monte Mills is Professor and Co-Director of the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic at the Alexander

Blewett III School of Law. Martin Nie is a Professor of Natural Resources Policy and Director of the Bolle Center

for People and Forests in the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana.

Editors’ Note: This abstract is adapted from Monte Mills &

Martin Nie, Bridges to a New Era: A Report on the Past,

Present, and Potential Future of Tribal Co-Management on

Federal Public Lands, 44 PUB. LAND & RESOURCES L. REv. 49

(2021), and used with permission.

Federal public land management agencies regularly

disassociate their land management activities from

their interactions with Indian tribes. Moreover, fed-

eral public land law generally provides state governments

and private interests broad powers and authorities not yet

extended to Indian tribes. Public land management agen-

cies must be compelled to work with tribes on a co-man-

agement basis. While the term “co-mana gement” is subject

to inconsistent interpretations, the core attributes of a co-

management approach include: (1) recognition of tribes

as sovereign governments; (2) incorporation of the federal

government’s trust responsibilities to tribes; (3)legitima-

tion structures for tribal involvement; (4) meaningful

integration of tribes early and often in the decisionma king

process; (5) recognition and incorporation of tribal exper-

tise; and (6) dispute resolution mechanisms.

A presidential administration could build a bridge to

tribal co-management through multiple proactive mea-

sures. New executive orders can explain how existing

authorities and processes enable tribal co-management.

e administration should also ensure that federal land

planning regulations and agency-specic manuals, hand-

books, and policies comport with the principles of tribal

co-management. Further, tribal consultation requirements

must be implemented as a federal objective on equal stand-

ing with the existing federal land management priorities:

multiple-use, wilderness, refuge, and others. Finally, pro-

tocols for tribal involvement in monument designations

under the A ntiquities Act should be adopted.

New legislation can also enable tribal co-management

on federal public lands. Place-based legislation could eec-

tively codify forms of triba l co-management specic to a

particular unit of federal land, and systemwide legislation

could provide tribes an opportunity to submit their own

proposed co-management plans for consideration by the

Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture. Bridging into

a new era of tribal relations does not mean surrendering

national interests in public lands; instead, a co-manage-

ment regime portends a future of increased engagement

and enhanced protection for those resources.

Copyright © 2022 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.