Friday 22, January 2016

Contact: Jared King
Communications Director
Navajo Nation Washington Office
202-682-7390

For Immediate Release

President Begaye congratulates the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its Native American Policy Team at signing ceremony

WASHINGTON—At a signing ceremony held this week at the U.S. Department of the Interior, President Russell Begaye extended his congratulations to 16 tribal and Alaska Native representatives who are members of the Native American Policy Team and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials for their tireless work over the last two years to create the revised measure. The policy will guide the Service in government-to-government relations between tribal nations and the agency.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe signed the updated policy before tribal and Alaska Native representatives and agency officials.

President Begaye expressed his heartfelt thanks to all the tribal and Alaska Native representatives who worked diligently in developing this revised and important policy. Joining the president at the signing ceremony was Navajo Division of Natural Resources Director Bidtah Becker. President Begaye and Becker extended a special thanks to Navajo Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Gloria Tom for her work serving on the policy team. The Native American Policy Team includes members from the: Navajo Nation, Cherokee Nation, Chugach Regional Resources Commission, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine of Fort Belknap, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Native Village of Emmonak, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Penobscot Indian Nation, Quinault Indian Nation, San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, and Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

The revised policy provides a consistent, yet flexible national framework that encourages efficient and creative ways to maximize tribal resource conservation through improved federal-tribal working relationships. It underscores co-management and collaborative management of natural and cultural resources; places added emphasis on implementation and accountability; promotes building tribal capacity, the use of tribal ecological knowledge in the Service’s decision-making, and greater Service and tribal training and education; and enhances collaborative Service-tribal law enforcement efforts where possible.

“This policy represents years of hard work and open dialogue between tribes, Alaska Natives and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in natural and cultural resource protection. The process of revising this 20-year-old policy was a great learning experience and went a long way in developing trust between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Indian Country. We hope and expect this new policy is implemented down to the staff level within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We encourage other federal agencies responsible for natural and cultural resource protection to look to this living document as a way to improve their government-to-government relationship. The Navajo Nation looks forward to when consistent collaboration between federal agencies and tribal nations becomes the new norm. This will take the necessary resource allocation within the agency, continuous education and dialogue,” said President Begaye.

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