Tribal Forest Protection Act Signed By Michigan Tribe

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians formalized a Tribal Forest Protection Act proposal with the Hiawatha National Forest.

This proposal establishes a collaborative stewardship agreement and involves a $364,000 contribution from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to aid co-stewardship efforts in managing the health of residual boreal forest ecosystems in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This area spans 4.7 million acres and contains significant portions of the 879,000-acre Hiawatha National Forest.

These forests offer a diverse array of resources to various stakeholders, such as timber production and outdoor recreation. As per the tribe’s statement, over half of all Sault Tribe members engage in hunting and gathering activities within the Hiawatha and Huron-Manistee National Forests. They harvest a wide range of species, including large and small game, waterfowl, furbearers, as well as medicinal plants and mushrooms.

The need to manage forests meticulously arises from the various competing interests they serve, as acknowledged by the tribe.

Sault Tribe Chairman Austin Lowes stated, “Our ancestors have lived on these lands for thousands of years, so we’re glad to be able to combine generations of traditional local knowledge with forestry management science.”

Lowes expressed the Tribe’s aspiration to develop a new management model through their partnership with Hiawatha National Forest, which incorporates Western science and age-old Anishinaabe knowledge frameworks.

The Sault Tribe Wildlife Department will spearhead the planning and supervision of prescribed fires and other forestry management projects aimed at enhancing the ecosystem’s resilience under the new proposal. The USFS will then execute these plans.

Lowes noted, “This approved proposal is really a codification of more than a decade of collaborative work between our tribe’s wildlife program and the Hiawatha National Forest.” He added, “Our goal is to ensure that the forest is not only here for the next generation but the next seven generations.”

The Tribal Forest Protection Act, enacted in 2004, empowers the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to grant special consideration to tribally-proposed Stewardship Contracting or other projects on Forest Service or BLM land adjoining or bordering Indian trust land, in order to safeguard tribal resources from fire, disease, or other threats.

Over the past decade, the Tribe has received over $2 million to support collaborative efforts in understanding the remnant boreal forest ecology in the Upper Peninsula, with the recent USDA investment included. Other projects have encompassed the research and management of species such as the gray wolf, ruffed grouse, snowshoe hare, and marten, as well as exploring the use of prescribed fire and silviculture to bolster resilience in these vital ecosystems.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the latest investment, saying, “Many of these projects will tackle our most pressing issues, including climate change and the wildfire crisis while creating job opportunities for tribal members with the benefit of incorporating indigenous knowledge into ecological restoration activities.”