USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region Interactive Story Map Now Available
The USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region in Oregon and Washington are working together with American Indian Tribes to collectively address forest health and resilience challenges.
The Forest Service has published an interactive story map highlighting this important co-stewardship work.
Indigenous cultures, traditions, and knowledge help define the Pacific Northwest.
The USDA Forest Service oversees millions of acres of forestlands where Tribes retain the rights to hunt, fish, and conduct spiritual practices as per ratified treaties and agreements with the United States. It is the responsibility of the Forest Service to ensure the sustainable management of these landscapes for the benefit of future generations, encompassing both their natural and cultural wealth.
The Forest Service has invested in co-stewardship opportunities with Tribes to collectively address the forest health and resilience challenges impacting the national forests and grasslands.
The purpose of the interactive story map is to implement land management activities across Oregon and Washington in a manner that recognizes Tribal treaties, reserved rights, and Indigenous knowledge.
“By taking time to understand the deep connections that Indigenous Nations have with their ancestral homelands, we can make a greater difference in conserving our shared natural resources over the long-term,” said Merv George, Deputy Regional Forester for the Pacific Northwest Region of the Forest Service.
As an agency of the USDA, the Forest Service continually strives to be more diverse, open, and inclusive. This story map represents meaningful ways the Forest Service is living out the agency’s federal trust responsibility to conserve the treasured landscapes now and into the future.
This is an important part of the agency’s overall commitment to strengthen nation-to-nation relationships, honor American Indian Tribal history and culture, and respect Tribal sovereignty.
Additional information about the Forest Service’s Tribal Action Plan is available on the agency’s website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/working-with-us/tribal-relations.
Source: USDA Tribal Relations