U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced ways the Biden-Harris Administration is fulfilling long-standing Tribal requests for USDA to support and better partner with Tribal Nations in empowering Tribal food sovereignty and co-stewardship of federal lands and waters. Secretary Vilsack announced the first grant recipients under the Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant Program, as well as advances in Forest Service co-stewardship with Tribes, including 120 new agreements totaling more than $68 million in investments. Secretary Vilsack also announced the inaugural appointees of the new Tribal Advisory Committee.
Secretary Vilsack made the announcements at the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit, where Tribal leaders gathered for Nation-to-Nation conversations with President Biden and senior administration officials on key priorities, new policies and critical issues facing Tribal Nations.
“As Tribes have requested, we are reshaping our programs to incorporate Tribal and Indigenous perspectives, remove barriers, and encourage Tribal self-determination. USDA is working directly with Tribal Nations to support their decisions on how best to co-steward federal lands and forests and the traditions that have been passed down from ancestors and elders,” Secretary Vilsack said. “These investments will also create economic opportunities in Tribal communities, elevate the agency’s work to increase co-stewardship in forest management, while also increasing the availability of affordable, healthy protein sources from Indigenous animals that have been the backbone of Tribal food systems for generations.”
Four Tribal Nations are receiving Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grants in the first round of funding announcements, two are in Alaska:
The Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor in Alaska is receiving a $1 million grant to buy and modernize an unused processing facility that will help the community address food shortages due to climate change. Members of the Tribe live in a remote village accessible only by boat or small plane. Severe weather can delay food deliveries, and algae are depleting fishing stocks. The funding will allow the Tribe to increase the amount of local game and fish they can process using traditional methods. This includes meat from the Sitkalidak Bison Herd the Tribe manages.
The Tribal Government of St. Paul Island in Alaska is receiving a grant of more than $668,000 to re-establish a local reindeer meat processing operation at the Aleut Community Store. The Aleut community will use the grant to develop a program to harvest, process, market and sell local reindeer products. The project will increase the availability of locally sourced organic meat products and drive profits back to the island. It also will help Tribal members remember, relearn and practice traditional herding techniques important to the cultural heritage of the island.
In 2023, the Forest Service signed 120 new co-stewardship agreements, and nearly tripled annual co-stewardship investments with Tribal communities, to $68 million in Fiscal Year 2023, up from nearly $20 million in Fiscal Year 2022. These co-stewardship agreements align with Tribal priorities, like improving watersheds and wildlife habitat, managing invasive species, and addressing the conditions that fuel destructive wildfires. They also incorporate Indigenous knowledge like traditional plant management and ethnobotany, cultural interpretation, and traditional land stewardship methodologies and techniques.
These agreements mark important milestones in relationship-building with Tribal governments and are significant advancements in the co-stewardship of the ancestral lands of Tribal Nations.
For Alaska, the Forest Service and the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida have implemented a Memoranda of Understanding on co-stewardship of the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area Federal Lands and Resources. This agreement will ensure that the history and cultural connection Tribes have to the glacier and the surrounding lands are represented through cooperative interpretive programs.
