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    ARTICLE

    Updates on the Biden Administration’s Commitments to Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge

    Megan Elizabeth Wagner

    Apr 20, 2023

    3 min read

    Indigenous & Tribal Indigenous & Tribal Justice Public Lands Resources & Land Management Tribes, Justice, & Community

    Summary

    • Discusses the Biden administration’s promise to further its promises of acknowledging Indigenous communities and cultures. Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledges (ITEKs).
    • Evaluates the proposals from the Biden administration to support native communities.
    Updates on the Biden Administration’s Commitments to Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge
    Delmaine Donson via Getty Images

    Following the November 2021 Tribal Nations Summit, the Biden administration signed numerous memoranda that promised, among other things, to further its promises of acknowledging Indigenous communities and cultures. Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledges (ITEKs) was of particular importance regarding consulting with Indigenous communities around the National Environmental Policy Act environmental review process. Despite the administration’s effort to make ITEKs a priority consideration, concerns were voiced about how the administration would put its promises into action. This article presents updates on some of those concerns in light of the second Tribal Nations Summit.

    The administration achieved several cognizable agency successes in 2022, including the establishment of new Tribal Advisory Committees at the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Homeland Security, the establishment of a new Office of Tribal and Native Affairs at Treasury, and the appointment of the Office of Management and Budget’s first-ever Tribal Policy Advisor. DOI has celebrated numerous co-stewardship agreements, to include the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Bison Range Restoration in Montana, the Rappahannock Indian Tribe’s Homeland Restoration in Virginia, and the Dworshak National Fish Hatchery Transfer to the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service signed 11 new co-stewardship agreements with Tribes, with another 60 under review. The Department of Commerce signed Joint Secretarial Order 3403, formally joining these co-stewardship efforts.

    The November 2022 Tribal Nations Summit brought with it new proposals from the Biden administration to support native communities. President Biden signed a new memorandum establishing uniform consultation standards across federal agencies, and nine agencies have been set to implement new or updated consultation policies. Seventeen federal agencies released a new best-practices report, developed in consultation with Tribal Nations, that integrates Tribal treaty and reserved rights into agency decision making. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Council on Environmental Quality announced government-wide guidance for federal agencies to include ITEKs in federal research, policy, and decision-making.

    1.  Utilization and Incorporation of ITEKs

      DOI and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) announced the publication of new Indigenous Knowledges (IKs) guidance. DOI instituted guidance from the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service to support collaboration with Tribes and the use and protection of IKs. In particular, Secretary Haaland stated that “Indigenous knowledge will benefit the Department’s efforts to bolster resilience and protect all communities.”  

      ACHP developed a policy on the role of IKs in historic preservation in order to “advance greater incorporation of and consideration for IK” throughout the section 106 review process. 

      USDA announced partnership with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) to fund an IKs research track at AISES’ annual conference “for students who conduct science and engineering research at the intersection of western science and IK[s].”
    2. Environmental Justice Concerns

      USDA and Department of Housing and Urban Development established Tribal Advisory Committees “to ensure that Tribal leaders have direct and consistent contact with federal agency decisionmakers and to institutionalize Tribal voices within policymaking.” The Department of Defense established a permanent senior advisor and liaison for Native American affairs position to provide “more permanence and certainty” to Tribal Nations working with the agency. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration added a tribal coordinator position in Alaska and the North Atlantic region, and AmeriCorps created a senior political appointee position for a strategic advisor for Native American affairs—the first in its nearly three decade history.  

      While 2022’s agency successes present an encouraging step forward in the Biden administration’s commitment to Tribal consultation and acknowledgment and implementation of ITEKs, concerns still remain, as there are still many details that have yet to be fully developed.

    Update as of March 15, 2023.

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